Decoration

"...What distinguishes the Gavrinis monument from all the dolmens I've ever seen, is that nearly all the stones making up the walls are carved and covered with odd motifs.
There are curved, straight or broken lines, combined in a hundred different ways… In this intricate mish-mash of lines… shapes can be made out, and their regularity and strange layout can make them look like handwriting… There are also chevrons, zigzag lines and a lot of other lines that cannot be described"...

(Prosper Mérimée, Notes de voyage dans l'ouest de la France, 1836)

The uneasiness that transpires in what Mérimée described in his capacity as Inspector of French Historical Monuments, is still felt today by many visitors to Gavrinis when faced with the prolific decoration, so difficult to decipher at first sight.