The megaliths emerged around 4000 BC.
When the Celts came and settled in Brittany, Great Britain and Ireland they found the standing megaliths.
They used to believe that their ancestors came from the lost continent named AVALON, the sacred island of the Atlantic Atlantis that was swallowed up after the ice thawed.
According to the geo-biologists all the megalithic sites are on the spots where there are crossings of geological faults or telluric cracks that were widened by subterranean streams.

THE MENHIRS

From the Breton men : stone and hir : long
Made of one vertical slab. They are isolated or gathered in alignments in a circle, a semi-circle or, like those of Carnac, in parallel lines.
The stone can be rough or made even, sculpted or engraved.

THE DOLMENS WITH A CORRIDOR

From the Breton dol : table and men : stone
They have a corridor that leads up to one or several chambers.
Originally they are covered by a tumulus that is mostly made of dry stones which are assembled in terraces and called CAIRN.
The size varies, from 20 m˛ to more than 700 m˛.
The ground shape can be oval, square or trapezoid.
They are often placed on the top of a hill, either to catch the sunlight, or to mark a territory, or to be closer to the sky for instance.
The corridors are generally low-ceilinged, and it has been noticed that most of them had their entrance in alignment with the sunrise of that time's winter solstice
 

COVERED PATHS

The major difference between dolmens with corridors and covered paths is the absence of chamber.
Originally they are also covered with a tumulus made of stone or earth.
The covered path has a constant width, it is built with symmetrical stone pillars.
Some are also like a "flying buttress" with leaning pillars, and with or without a covering slab.
It can be from 10 to 20 metres long.

BUILDING OF A DOLMEN
Setting of the Table on the two slanting legs
Placing of levers on each side of the Dolmen
Erection of the Dolmen
 
 
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