The funerary monument at Barnenez is probably the oldest structure in Europe. It is a
powerfully impressive place to visit. This enormous cairn (now 75x28m),
orientated east/west, was constructed in two phases: five tombs built from
local dolerite date to about 4600BC, and another six made from granite taken
from nearby Ile Stérec were added perhaps a thousand years later. The dry-stone
work of the overall structure, a huge carapace of smaller stones protecting the
graves, is remarkable for its time, and the actual tombs show a range of
techniques from chambers shaped by megaliths to tholos-style circular roofs.
The architectural abilities and degree of organization demonstrated rather give
the lie to the concept of a primitive prehistoric society.
The land was acquired in the 1950s by a developer involved in public
works construction. He used another nearby cairn as a quarry, destroying it in
the process, and had begun breaking into the existing monument in 1955 when
protests led to a halt in the demolition and the first prosecution in Finistère
for deliberately damaging an important historical site. Four tombs in the
westernmost later section had already been slashed through by the diggers,
leaving an unexpected cross-section view for visitors today, demonstrating the
variety of design and execution by the Neolithic builders.
Careful excavations were carried out in the following twelve years, as
well as conservation and restoration work. André Malraux, the minister of
culture in the 1960s, famously and fittingly, called Barnenez the ‘neolithic
Parthenon’. Finds were not prolific, but they included pottery fragments,
polished axes, arrow-heads, flints and a later copper dagger, attesting the
continued or renewed use of the site. Some equivocal carvings include an idol’s
head with spiky head (or is it a shield), cup-shapes and wavy lines (like those
seen at Carnac). Recently, traces of red
and black colouring have been identified, suggesting artwork.
The landscape has changed considerably since the construction of the
monument. Now the sea of the Bay of Morlaix laps at the
foot of the prominence where the cairn was situated. This gives quite a
different impression from the original setting, where the bay was grassland
with a river running through it. Rather than being sited to astonish passing
travellers or signal a ritual rendezvous to those arriving by boat, perhaps its
size and solidity are more a weighty reminder to those on the low hills across
the water – this is our territory, marked by the graves of our significant
ancestors.
A great degree of confidence and security led to the foundation of this
cairn, and ensured its re-use by later generations. As the balance between men
and the earth began to shift for the first time with settlement and incipient
farming, control of the environment became an issue. Construction of monuments
that carry a sense of permanence and anchor a people to their land is one
manifestation. The pride and satisfaction of extending their practical
knowledge and skills to complete such a memorial must have been enormous. It is
an expression of living community as much as reverence for the dead. Smiles and
laughter, mixed with grief.
