National and international comparative analysis has been conducted on a large group of some one hundred monuments. In an attempt to define points of comparison, several types of monuments and different periods were selected: megaliths, necropolises, temples, habitats and towns, rock art, and cultural landscapes.
This comparative analysis reveals the original, essential place of the Morbihan territory, both from a thematic and geographical point of view. The combination of the five attributes of the OUV is not found to such a complete or significant extent at any other site examined in the analysis.
- In particular, there are more stone rows, and these are more imposing
- The graves attributed to the early European Neolithic form a unique ensemble
- Rock art of incredible diversity is found on the standing stones and walls of the monuments, bearing witness to an exceptional symbolic system
- Highly valuable deposits resulting from long-distance trade reinforce the ostentatious, symbolic nature of the structures and deposit sites.
All of the components in the property form a unique coastal landscape that combines a specific coastal environment with a symbolic architectural framework, organised by humans.
The megaliths in Carnac and on the shores of the Gulf of Morbihan are the only example in the world of a territory shaped over centuries, since very ancient times, by a huge diversity of extraordinary architecture. Linked as it is with a large number of engraved symbols and a collection of polished artefacts of distant origins, this cluster is much more than a monument; it forms a vast, complex territory, and an original landscape with great symbolic power.