Stones of France - Er Lannic stone circle

Er Lannic

Stone circles
Morbihan, Brittany
Nearest town: Vannes Nearest village: Larmor-Baden

A view from the air of the half submerged stone circle on the islet of Er Lannic, in the Gulf of Morbihan. On mainland, it is possible to see the highest stone of the site, 5.4 m (17.7ft) high

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On the islet of Er Lannic, 500m (0.3mi) south of Gavrinis, there are two stone circles, both made of some 60 stones. They are now half submerged by the waters of the Gulf of Morbihan, but in prehistoric times they stood on the mainland. Only the northern circle can be seen, the southern one being entirely submerged.
  Er Lannic is now a Bird Reserve and cannot be visited, so the northern stone circle is visible only from the air or by boat (the boat to Gavrinis passes nearby: Don't forget your binoculars for a good view). This circle, half submerged, is 65m (213ft) in diameter and its stones are 2 to 5.4m (6.5 to 17.7ft) high.
  The site was excavated in the 20s by Zacharie Le Rouzic, who calculated that Er Lannic had been erected about 5000 years ago. He found around each stone a cist containing charcoal, animal bones, worked flints, pottery, and a lot of polished axes. Two stones are carved with axes and a yoke, and one of the uprights' packing stones has nine cupmarks (according to Le Rouzic, arranged to form the outline of the constellation Ursa Major). The southern submerged stone circle is horseshoe-shaped open to the east, 61m (200ft) in diameter.
  Two outlying stones, now fallen and below the water, lie east and west 50m (164ft) and 90m (295ft) from the circle, on a line tangent to the visible ring's northern corner, marked by the highest stone of the circle (5.4m - 17.7ft). At the southern tip of the submerged horseshoe there was a great pillar called the blacksmith's stone by fishermen. These lines to cardinal points had probably some astronomical connections, presumably to the moonsets.

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