We found ourselves going way back in time today when we took a stroll to a nearby menhir. Nestled in a patch of pleasant woodland, just off one of the local footpaths, it stands 2.5 metres high and is said to date, rather inaccurately, from between 2 & 5 thousand BC.
Our Neolithic ancestors were very fond of standing up stones. The word ‘menhir’ comes from old Breton, derived from ‘maen’ meaning stone and ‘hir’ meaning long.
Mystery surrounds what their true purpose was, this one is thought to be some kind of territorial marker, maybe for the nearby spring.
Whatever their purpose, it was strange that Skip the Dog was none too keen on the ‘long stone’ and started a-whimpering. He is sometimes scared of tall people so maybe he doesn’t like tall stones either! Maybe he could sense those ancient spirits?
Most likely, he just has no interest at all in ancient history and wanted to get on with the walk. OK Skippy, on y va!
PS. The Asterix character, Obelix owns the quarry where he chisels menhirs. It is never directly stated what the menhirs are used for, though it is hinted that they are just oversized knick-knacks!
