Excavations at the megalithic complex in Carnac, France, have revealed that it may be the oldest site of its kind in Europe. Archaeologists working at Le Plasker—a newly discovered section of the heritage region—unearthed the foundation pits of standing stones which have been found to date back more than 6,300 years old.

This marks the first time that such accurate dates have been assigned to any part of the complex, where thousands of huge stones stand in parallel lines at different sites. Carnac was originally excavated in the 19th century, but these early investigators found it difficult to assign clear dates to the monuments and left little for future archaeologists to discover. 

The rarity of organic material such as charcoal—used for radiocarbon dating—clearly associated with the stones, further hampered efforts to establish a chronology, leading experts to develop a wide range of theories about when the stones were erected.