Carnac

Carnac, a village in the French department of Morbihan, 20 miles SE. of Lorient. Population about 700. It is remarkable on account of the number and variety of the Celtic monuments and Gallo-Roman ruins, consisting of Menhirs, Dolmens (q.v.), and Tumuli, with which the neighbourhood is studded. The principal group of menhirs is situated on a sterile moor near the seashore, and consists of 1000 or more rude monoliths of granite, resting with their smaller ends in the ground, rising, many of them, to a height of 18 feet, though a large proportion do not exceed 3 feet. They are arranged in 11 roughly parallel rows, with two slight breaks, extend from east to west about $1\backslash frac\{1\}\{4\}$ mile in length, and have at one end a curved row of 18 stones, the extremities of which touch the outer horizontal rows. The origin and object of the monument remain a mystery. Smaller monuments of the same character as the great one at Carnac are found to the west of it at Erdeven and St Barbe. The Bossenno, a group of mounds, about $1\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ miles from Carnac, otherwise called 'Cæsar's Camp,' contains the principal Roman remains, and was first explored systematically by Mr Miln (1874-80). The result was the discovery of buildings giving evidence of the existence of a Gallo-Roman settlement at the Bossenno. Numerous remains were found consisting chiefly of pottery (some of it very fine), tiles, bronze and iron objects, fine glass ware, Roman coins, statuary, and food refuse. While most of the pottery is evidently of Gaulish and Roman origin, many of the bronze ornaments are of Celtic type, and the coins all Roman, with dates from 200 to 353 A.D. The houses had evidently been destroyed by fire, but no human remains were found. See STANDING STONES, and Miln's Excavations at Carnac (2 vols. 1877-81). For Karnak in Egypt, see THEBES.