Editing Brittany (section)

===Prehistoric origins===
[[File:4735.1099 Menhire,bis zu 4 Meter hoch,von OstnachWest in 1167 Meter Langen Alignements(Granit-Steinreihen) in einem Halbkreis endend Le Ménec,Carnac ,Departement Morbihan,Bretagne Steffen Heilfort.JPG|thumb|The [[Carnac stones]]]]
Brittany has been inhabited by humans since the [[Lower Palaeolithic]]. This population was scarce and very similar to the other [[Neanderthal]]s found in the whole of Western Europe. Their only original feature was a distinct culture, called "Colombanian".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Le " Colombanien ": un faciès régional du Paléolithique inférieur sur le littoral armoricano-atlantique|author=Nathalie Molines and Jean-Laurent Monnier|publisher=Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française|year=1993|page=284|volume=90|issue=4}}</ref> One of the oldest [[hearth]]s in the world has been found in [[Plouhinec, Finistère]].

[[Homo sapiens]] settled in Brittany around 35,000 years ago. They replaced or absorbed the Neanderthals and developed local [[archaeological industry|industries]], similar to the [[Châtelperronian]] or to the [[Magdalenian]]. After the [[last glacial period]], the warmer climate allowed the area to become heavily wooded. At that time, Brittany was populated by relatively large communities who started to change their lifestyles from a life of hunting and gathering, to become settled farmers. Agriculture was introduced during the [[5th millennium BC]] by migrants from the south and east. However, the [[Neolithic Revolution]] in Brittany did not happen due to a radical change of population, but by slow immigration and exchange of skills.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Thomas|first=Julian|date=1 December 2004|title=Current debates on the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Britain and Ireland|journal=Documenta Praehistorica|volume=31|pages=<!-- 113–130 -->|at=p. 117|doi=10.4312/dp.31.8|issn=1854-2492|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Neolithic Brittany is characterised by important [[megalithic architectural elements|megalithic production]] and sites such as [[Quelfénnec]], it is sometimes designated as the "core area" of megalithic culture.<ref>Mark Patton, ''Statements in Stone: Monuments and Society in Neolithic Brittany'', Routledge, 1993, p.1</ref> The oldest monuments, [[cairn]]s, were followed by princely tombs and [[stone row]]s. The [[Morbihan]] ''[[département]]'', on the southern coast, comprises a large share of these structures, including the [[Carnac stones]] and the Broken Menhir of Er Grah in the [[Locmariaquer megaliths]], the largest single stone erected by Neolithic people.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}