In summer you come across archaeologists on their digs and explorations. (Have they finished their examination of Dun Aengus on the big island of Aran?) A French newspaper has an account, with pictures, of former standing stones, being brought upright again, and in at least one case, after being toppled some 3,000 years ago. This was at Avrille, close to a holiday resort known to many Irish people, Les Sables d'Olonne, on the Atlantic coast.
There were five of these, and a team under an expert in prehistory, Gerard Beneteau - and a giant crane. For one of these stones was 34 tonnes in weight, and, from a photograph, would seem to be about 20 feet high, at least. And, for all that they had the crane, it took three hours and more to get it upright. The others were a little lighter, and one was in pieces and will have to be put together before it can be raised. The article says the central stone would have fallen 3,000 years ago, and the others much later. Probably, the reporter hazards, about the year 980, when in the Christian era, these stones would be seen as evidence of some pagan cult.
So, from dawn to dusk the teams worked and got them into a position where they face east, taking steps to secure their base with cement and then earth. And, very forward-looking, to put a few coins dated 1997 in with that, for the guidance of any of their successors who might have to deal with a new fall. This site at Avrille, we learn, is part of a line of between two hundred and two hundred and twenty such stones, dating from 550 BC to 1800 BC, according to the above-mentioned Gerard Beneteau. The line goes through six communes and is 12 kilometres long. The stones are from two tonnes to 60 tonnes.
The whole operation could have taken place over three generations; so, you could say, those early folk, probably hunter-gatherers had time to settle there and put down their roots.