The region is located in the Brittany region of France, on the Atlantic coast and is known for its extensive fields of stone age stones known as “menhirs”.
A site of ancient menhirs in western France has been destroyed to make way for a new hardware store, prompting criticism from a local mayor.
Olivier Lepick, mayor of Carnac, insisted he respected the law when granting building permission for the new Mr Bricolage hardware store.
The region is located in the Brittany region of France, on the Atlantic coast and is known for its extensive fields of stone age stones known as “menhirs”.
According to Lebig, excavations carried out in recent years at the site, 3 kilometers from the protected tourist site, have determined that it is of “low archaeological value” and does not deserve archaeological protection.
The removal of the menhirs was made public through the blog of local amateur archaeologist Christian Oebelts, who accused local authorities of taking various actions to “misrepresent this world-famous site”.
“The last one is the authorization given by the Mayor of Carnock to destroy 39 menhirs and build Mr Bricolage’s shop,” Oebelts said in a blog post earlier this month.
The site is part of a candidacy for UNESCO World Heritage status that must be submitted to the French Ministry of Culture by the end of September, the blog says.
“Whether it’s small or not, [o sÃtio] has an archaeological value,” Obeltz told CNN affiliate BFMTV.
However, Lepick told French news channel CNews on Thursday that French media coverage of the dispute “does not reflect the reality” of the situation underground.
“There were never 39 menhirs at this site. Our preventive excavations in 2015 clearly show this,” Lebig said.
According to him, the stones are located in a commercial area, in front of a service station, near a supermarket and a recycling center.
“It’s not really the images described in some media articles. Reading some articles I feel like I’ve destroyed the Mona Lisa,” Lebig insisted.
“There are no archaeological remains of sufficient value to refuse planning permission,” the mayor said.
On Thursday, Marine Le Pen, a French far-right politician, shared on Twitter a link to an article in the Ouest France newspaper that described the removal as “deplorable” and asserted that the French government “did not or did not even protect our citizens”. Our heritage”.
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