Hi Hermione ... French to English

"In Carnac (Morbihan), a DIY sign comes out of the ground… on a site that housed menhirs, identified by the Drac (Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs). The building permit had nevertheless been granted. What happened ?

“Yves Coppens must be turning in his grave…” The alert came on Friday June 2, 2023 from Christian Obeltz. This Carnacois alludes to the Breton paleontologist, famous in particular for his discovery of the Lucy fossil, in a post published on the site of the Sites and Monuments association, which aims "to defend the natural and built heritage".

This researcher on Neolithic populations, also a correspondent for the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (Drac) and collaborator of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Nantes, mentions the fact that "several brutal developments were carried out this winter and spring, near the alignments of menhirs of Carnac, distorting this world-famous site".

Consequence: “The destruction of the 39 menhirs of the Montauban path, he is indignant. It is completely illegal! A building permit was indeed issued on August 26, 2022 by the town hall of Carnac (Morbihan) to SAS Au marché des Druides, for the construction of a Mr Bricolage store, south of the Montauban business park. . The constructions are in progress and the building is coming out of the ground.

The problem is that this area, located near the Saint-Michel tumulus, has been referenced since 2015 on the Heritage Atlas, an online catalog established by the Drac, listing the archaeological sites present. "It is a site also made for elected officials to consult, for any building permit", underlines Christian Obeltz.

The site of Montauban was also on the indicative list of the project for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List, which concerns 397 megaliths on the banks of Carnac and Morbihan, spread over 27 municipalities.

Of known historical interest

The historical interest of the Montauban site was however known. In December 2014, the same SAS Au marché des Druides applied for a building permit. The prefecture of Morbihan had then requested, by decree, an archaeological diagnosis. “Because of their location, the works envisaged are likely to affect elements of the archaeological heritage”, then justified the State services.

The Inrap (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research) report, which resulted from the excavations, concluded that the probable discovery of “an unprecedented megalithic alignment” in April 2015. The site included two rows of small granite stelae, each spreading out over fifty meters in length.

The building permit was then revoked. "The small menhirs on the Chemin de Montauban were undoubtedly one of the oldest sets of stelae in the town of Carnac, judging by the carbon 14 dating obtained in 2010 on the neighboring site of the ZA de Montauban", specifies Christian Obeltz. They have now disappeared.

In these conditions of proximity to a site now identified, how could a new building permit be filed, and above all accepted? Contacted, the mayor of Carnac, Olivier Lepick indicates that he was not aware that the area was referenced, and refers to the Drac. “The building permit is granted by the town hall and the state services, indicates the one who is also president of Landscapes of the megaliths, which carries the application file for UNESCO World Heritage. We are extremely attentive to this kind of thing, we look at areas of archaeological pre-registration. In this matter, on our side, we scrupulously respected the legislation. »

“If we had known, we would have done otherwise! »

The case seems indeed complex. According to the town hall, the Drac had placed the site in a prescription zone in the former Land Use Plan (POS). But not in the current Local Urban Plan (PLU).

For his part, the manager of the SAS, Stéphane Doriel, wants to show him “his good faith”: “I filed a building permit, which was instructed, displayed, which served the appeal periods. No service, no document has ever warned us of a prescription, he explains. I am not an archaeologist, I do not know the menhirs; there are walls everywhere. If we had known that, we would have done otherwise, of course! The previous building permit had been refused, according to him, not because of these menhirs, but for a wetland problem. The Drac could not be contacted at the start of the week.

"The law is formal: any destruction of an archaeological site is punishable by a heavy fine", recalls Christian Obeltz. Who had already alerted the Drac in 2013 on a building permit issued at the location of the Lann Granvillarec mound, a small tumulus, also appearing on the megalithic sites retained in the UNESCO classification project. At the time, the work had been stopped. The house had been moved."

Truly sad.

My guess is that someone was paid off big time. Mr. Bricolage: [en.wikipedia.org]

db

"There is nothing as impenetrable as a closed mind"
and ..." if everything is a coincidence what is the point of studying or measuring or analyzing anything ?" db