Le Plasker in Plouharnel (fifth millennium cal BC): a newly discovered section of the megalithic complex of Carnac

Audrey Blanchard, Jean-Noël Guyodo, Bettina Schulz Paulsson et al., 2025. Antiquity 99(406), 915–934.

Rescue excavation in autumn 2020 of a 7000 m² plot in Plouharnel, 2 km west of Le Ménec: a Late Mesolithic hut, a pre-megalithic mound with a dry-stone cist, foundation pits for at least two rows of standing stones, and cooking pits. Forty-nine radiocarbon dates on short-lived charcoal from 33 features, modelled in OxCal with outlier analysis, give six phases from 5700 to 4050 cal BC; the standing stones went up between about 4670 and 4250 cal BC.

Carnac alignmentsArticleCopy of Standing-stone foundation pits with wedging stones, Le Plaskerdoi: 10.15184/aqy.2025.10123Checked against the original0

What it's used for here

The first modelled radiocarbon chronology for a section of the Carnac alignments; source of the dataset.

The document 20 pages

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Cited by on this site 41 records

Large parts of the complex have been removed, leaving buried foundation pits that can be mapped.

Answer

ANS

Rows grew by additions over centuries along a common axis.

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Standing stones at Carnac began with late hunter-gatherers before 5000 BC.

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The rows marked and monumentalised the ground of the dead, linked to the tombs they were built beside.

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The rows were a communal monument built and added to over generations at gatherings, with fires and feasts…

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The rows were raised in the fifth millennium BC, from about 4670 to 4250 cal BC, in stages over about three…

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Charcoal samples from 33 features (49 dates)

ART

Pre-megalithic mound and dry-stone cist, Le Plasker

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Standing-stone foundation pits with wedging stones, Le Plasker

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The standing rows of Le Ménec, Kermario and Kerlescan

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Charcoal samples from 33 features (49 dates): map

CPY

Pre-megalithic mound and dry-stone cist, Le Plasker: map

CPY

Pre-megalithic mound and dry-stone cist, Le Plasker: photo

CPY

Standing-stone foundation pits with wedging stones, Le Plasker: photo

CPY

Le Plasker Bayesian model outputs (Table S3)

Dataset

DAT

Le Plasker radiocarbon dates (Table S1)

Dataset

DAT

A 300-year gap separates the Mesolithic phases from the first Neolithic building; the rows begin after 4670…

Evidence

EVD

At Kerlescan the boulders increase in size up the slope.

Evidence

EVD

At Le Plasker 46 unworked granite boulders from more than 2 km away were laid face-up around the tomb to…

Evidence

EVD

At Le Plasker the first standing stones went up within decades of the cist mound, a few metres from it.

Evidence

EVD

At Le Plasker the rows grew over three centuries by additions on one axis.

Evidence

EVD

Charcoal analysis excludes grain roasting and smoking; residue, phytolith and eDNA results are pending.

Evidence

EVD

Cooking pits with charred stones lie beside the foundation pits, some in line with them, and date to the same…

Evidence

EVD

Le Plasker is a lost section 2 km from the surviving rows; no row at Le Ménec, Kermario or Kerlescan is yet…

Evidence

EVD

Le Plasker's standing stones were all removed, leaving the wedging stones in place.

Evidence

EVD

Nine foundation pits at Le Plasker date to 4668–4368 cal BC and a last stone to 4372–4249 cal BC (95.4%).

Evidence

EVD

Staggered dates within the Le Plasker rows.

Evidence

EVD

The rows at Le Plasker were added at different, partly overlapping times along a common axis.

Evidence

EVD

Three small monoliths stand beside the Late Mesolithic hut at Le Plasker, set before the later cairn.

Evidence

EVD

Three subphases of standing stones and a final stone at Le Plasker span 4670 to 4250 cal BC.

Evidence

EVD

A small mound with a dry-stone cist is built over the hut

EVT

An oval ditched hut is built at Le Plasker

EVT

Antiquity publishes the Le Plasker chronology

EVT

Archeodunum excavates Le Plasker ahead of a business park

EVT

Rows of standing stones and cooking pits are added in stages

EVT

Audrey Blanchard

FIG

The Carnac alignments

The mystery article

MYS

Archeodunum

ORG

Were the rows planned as one design or accreted over time?

Question

QST

When were the Carnac rows raised?

Question

QST

Why were the rows built?

Question

QST

Cite it

Blanchard, A., Guyodo, J. N., Schulz Paulsson, B., & Montassier, F. (2025). Le Plasker in Plouharnel (fifth millennium cal BC): a newly discovered section of the megalithic complex of Carnac. Antiquity 99(406), 915–934. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.10123

@article{blanchard2025plasker,
  author = {Blanchard, Audrey and Guyodo, Jean-Noël and Schulz Paulsson, Bettina and Montassier, Fabien},
  title = {Le Plasker in Plouharnel (fifth millennium cal BC): a newly discovered section of the megalithic complex of Carnac},
  journal = {Antiquity 99(406), 915–934},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.15184/aqy.2025.10123},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.10123}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Le Plasker in Plouharnel (fifth millennium cal BC): a newly discovered section of the megalithic complex of Carnac
AU  - Blanchard, Audrey
AU  - Guyodo, Jean-Noël
AU  - Schulz Paulsson, Bettina
AU  - Montassier, Fabien
PY  - 2025
JO  - Antiquity 99(406), 915–934
DO  - 10.15184/aqy.2025.10123
UR  - https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.10123
ER  -

Blanchard, Audrey et al.. “Le Plasker in Plouharnel (fifth millennium cal BC): a newly discovered section of the megalithic complex of Carnac.” Antiquity 99(406), 915–934 (2025). https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.10123.