After About and Seven Black Widow Spiders, Gavrinis is my most viewed ponder. Go figure.
Most people have some knowledge of Stonehenge; without question the mack daddy of Neolithic sites. A sprinkling have heard of Carnac; over 3000 carefully aligned stones – some of monolithic proportions – erected between 3300 – 4500 BC around the village of Carnac in France. Very few have ever heard of Gavrinis.
Gavrinis, a tiny island off the coast of Brittany in France; was part of the mainland when a burial tomb was constructed sometime between 3500 and 5000 BC. Not much more than a bumpy little outcropping of rock – only 750 by 400 metres, uninhabited Gavrinis slept undiscovered until 1835. French archaeologists poked around the sunken entrance to the burial tunnel but it wasn’t until the 1930’s that serious excavation began.
Gavrinis is unlike any other Neolithic site; consisting of over 50 stone slabs, placed to form the entrance tunnel and inner chamber – carvings on these slabs…
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