They have been there for millennia without anyone really knowing who put them there. Or how. And even less why. Perfect mix of power, immobility and silence, the megaliths saw their tranquility shaken in June, when an amateur archaeologist revealed the destruction of an ancestral alignment in Carnac. Cleared by construction machinery to make way for a Mr Bricolage store, these menhirs were at the center of a media storm probably unprecedented in 5,000 years of existence. All over France, self-proclaimed defenders of Breton heritage have cried foul. Proof, if one were needed, that these mysterious standing stones continue to fascinate.
A month after the scandal of the missing menhirs, 20 minutes asked Joëlle Chautems and Pascal Lamour about their work Megaliths of Brittany. Posted this Thursday at Favre editions, the book presents fifty mysterious places in the mother region of the menhir. One speaks fluent Breton, the other cannot hide a slight Swiss accent. Lovers of megaliths, the two druids cast an admiring gaze on these sacred stones which they describe as charged with energy. Interview with two voices.
How did you experience the announcement of the destruction of the Carnac menhirs?
Pascal Lamour: I find what happened to be unacceptable. It’s always the same thing. Everyone blames themselves, saying: it’s not me, it’s him. We face a mixture of political errors, personal squabbles. These menhirs, everyone knew they were probably very old. It was not necessary to issue this building permit, it was a mistake. They had to be protected, and that was not done. How can one debate the interest of stones that have been there for 6,000 years. Who are we to do this? I found that shocking.
Are you surprised by the media coverage of the case?
PL: Far too many things were said and we tended to mix everything up. But this is not the first time that this has happened in Brittany. There is at least one a day that disappears in the region. In Carnac, it is estimated that 60% of the stones have been moved or have disappeared. For a while, we wanted to make “menhirsland” out of them, but we did anything. But I have the feeling that the Covid has stirred something in us. Today, we feel that people pay attention to their environment, that they are looking for authenticity. With Plogoff or Notre-Dame-des-Landes, people saw that the Bretons did not let it go, that there was a culture of protest here. When we touch stones, it is as if we were touching our ancestors.
Joelle Chautems: There is always a human fascination with great historical sites. As with the pyramids of Egypt or the Inca temples. We are fascinated because we think that modern man can do everything. We relegate the human of the past to a primitive form while admitting that he knew how to do things that we no longer know how to do today.
Was it this fascination that sparked your passion for megaliths?
PL: The stones, I was born in them. I grew up in Theix and stones were everywhere. I remember the consolidation work at my parents’ house when I was 12 (in 1970). I saw whole lines of dolmens destroyed to enlarge the fields. And all this with the backing of the institutions! At the time, the pundits of the equipment kept even the most beautiful stones to put them in their garden, because it looked good. It was a real shock for me. This is where I became aware of the fragility of the environment. I told myself that I was going to make sure that it did not happen again.
JC: I have always had a connection with nature. Ever since I was little, I have always loved stones. There are some in Switzerland where I live but many have been destroyed. At home, we have lost a lot of the link with the rites of the past. Brittany has kept this link. We have the impression that it is a land rich in memories, which we no longer have in Switzerland. When I go to Brittany, I have the impression of reconnecting this link with nature, of rediscovering this questioning around ancient cultures and the passage of time. What questions me is above all to know what this could be used for.
Did you find the answer? Even for the greatest experts, the role of these megaliths remains a mystery.
JC: This is a question that bothers me. I have plenty of leads but I am not convinced of anything. For me it could be directions, pathways or paths to something. A kind of cartography. The hypothesis that I like the most is the dimension of the afterlife. The dolmens and chambers represent mother earth. With the stones, our ancestors had to recreate a form of womb in the earth. I like this dimension. To know where I come from and where I am going, through the cycle of time and death. The dolmen would represent the link with the afterlife. There is a dimension that escapes us.
PL: Unlike us, our ancestors did not put themselves at the center of the world. They were expressing things with these stones. But why such a passion for stone cutting when there was already so much to do to survive? It fascinates me to think that people have carried stones for several kilometres.
How do you enjoy exploring these sites?
JC: It’s an endless quest. There are probably still sites buried underground or under water that have not been discovered. Above all, there are never two alike stones. We feel it when we approach. When we went to visit the sites with my daughters, they were sometimes very calm and attentive and sometimes very playful, jumping and running around. We feel a real energy. I do not venerate the object of the menhir, it is not an icon. It is rather the state that it generates in me that pleases me.
Aren’t you afraid of distorting certain sites by making them known to the general public?
JC: We were careful not to mention some sites that seemed too fragile to us. Sometimes, when I arrived there, I felt an energy and I said to Pascal: that one, we will not put it in the book. I took the risk of depositing an energetic dimension in this book, of sharing emotions. I would like visitors to come with a very broad outlook, to make everyone want to question themselves. This is not a museum! When I went to Carnac, I was struck to see that some tourists were visiting the alignments as if they were looking at a car show. For me, there is a form of veneration, it’s like a temple. The dimension of respect is important.
PL: We have tried to present only sites accessible to the general public but not the best known. We wanted to share our knowledge, but also our feelings, our feelings of the places. Everyone must remain free. We want to leave part of the dream to visitors.