THE LE MENEC ALIGNMENT AT CARNAC, BRITTANY

The Carnac Alignments have been treated of extensively by earlier authorities.  These remarkable rows of megaliths that stretch across the Breton countryside have also, unfortunately, been subjected to much inane New Age and Neopagan speculation.  So far, only A. Thom and A.S. Thom have sought to perform a truly systematic, detailed analysis of the rows and associated archaeological features.  While some of their findings have added much to our understanding of the Carnac monuments (for example, they adequately demonstrated that midwinter sunrise and midsummer sunset were indicated by the longer axis of the Menec East cromlech, while the shorter axis of the Menec West cromlech contained sightlines to the midwinter sunset and midsummer sunrise), in general they were unsuccessful in providing a plausible explanation for the complex as a whole. 

In part I believe this failure is due to their attempting to read unnecessarily complex patterns into what is a fairly straight-forward, simple structure.  

FIGURE ONE – THE CARNAC ALIGNMENTS

In this short paper, I will restrict myself to treating of only the Le Menec Alignment (see  http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1972JHA.....3...11T ).  I’m doing this because I’m convinced – as others are – that the other major alignment, that of Kermario, is either a prototype or duplication of Le Menec or, perhaps, an extension.  For those interested in Kermario, I recommend the following article by Thom and Thom:

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1974JHA.....5...30T

For more on Le Menec and Kermario, see MEGALITHIC REMAINS IN BRITAIN AND BRITTANY by Alexander Thom and Archibald Stevenson Thom (Clarendon Press, 1978).

Before I can offer a possible solution to the Le Menec mystery, it is necessary for us to become better acquainted with the stone rows and cromlechs at this location through the use of aerial drawings.  Please see below Figures 2-5, taken from the works of Thom and Thom.

FIGURE 2 – LE MENEC EAST A

 

FIGURE 3 – LE MENEC EAST B

FIGURE 4 – LE MENEC WEST A

FIGURE 5 – LE MENEC WEST B

What is immediately noticeable about the stone rows and cromlechs is that they resemble to an uncanny degree the course the sun takes across the sky at different time of the year, with the Winter Solstice “line” (or row) being at the bottom, the Equinoxes in the middle and the Summer Solstice at the top.  To demonstrate what I mean, here is a nice graphic from http://physics.weber.edu/schroeder/ua/SunAndSeasons.html:

“This simulated multiple-exposure image shows the path of the rising sun through the eastern sky on the morning of the 21st of each month, from December at the right through June at the left. The latitude was set to 41° north. (The spreading of the trails as they go upward is a distortion caused by stretching the domed sky onto a flat semicircle.)”

These lines, showing the course of the sun at different times of the year, run parallel to each other AND IN THE SAME DIRECTION (SW to NE) as the rows of stones at Le Menec (and at Kermario).

The Le Menec Alignment is believed to have been erected sometime between roughly 3,300 and 4,500 B.C.  If simply for the sake of the exercise we select 4,000 B.C. on a computer star program (I use CyberSky), we note that the dates for the solstices and equinoxes are as follows (Julian calendar):

Winter Solstice – 20 January

Spring Equinox – 22 April

Summer Solstice – 25 July

Fall Equinox – 22 October

Now, as the sun appears at the same point of the sky on both equinoxes (although, of course, in different Zodiac constellations), we need to look at the center avenue of the stone rows at Le Menec as the processional avenue that would have been used during Equinoctial rituals.  Twelve rows have been identified at Le Menec by Thom and Thom.  If the outside avenues mark the solstices, then the intervening rows MUST delineate even divided groups of days or, rather, MONTHS.  As we don’t know what the calendar of these ancient people was comprised of, we are left with only one option: divide the number of avenues by groups of days between the solstices and equinoxes. 

Winter Solstice – 20 January

[92 days]

Spring Equinox – 22 April

[93 days]

Summer Solstice – 25 July

[88 days]

Fall Equinox – 22 October

[91 days]

If Le Menec is, then, a calendar, what are the cromlechs on either end?  And what is the odd triangle above the cromlech of Menec West (see Figure 4 above)?

Probably the cromlechs were symbolic of the earth into which the heavenly bodies, most notably the sun, rose and set.  Whether burials of sacred “sun-kings” happened here we may never know.  It is unlikely the cromlechs had celestial designations.

However, the triangle above Le Menec West is another matter.  What might this represent?

Based upon the drawing, this shape has its top roughly on a line with the Summer Solstice alignment, that is, the most northerly processional avenue in the stone rows. It spans, in N-S direction, about one-third of the width of the combined stone rows, leaving approximately two-thirds of the rows to the south of its most southerly point.

We might presume that while sight-lines along the sides of the triangle might be involved, the figure may also stand for an asterism.  If so, the two stars delineating the top of the triangle must be on or near the ecliptic.  This makes us think of the stars Regulus and Spica, which the Sun is between on the Summer Solstice of 4,000 B.C.  We cannot look to the Spring Triangle, because Arcturus lies well above the ecliptic during the Summer Solstice and we are looking for a star well below that line/row.

My guess would be we are looking at a triangle formed of Regulus, Spica and the third brightest star in the night sky, Alpha Centauri.  It is possible that the “large menhir” in the fourth stone row down from the Summer Solstice processional avenue (see again Figure 4 above) points to this star at the bottom of the triangle.