Extract Nineteen
St Malo clearly requires investigation but the intense development of both the port and the Rance estuary in modern times means this is not a straightforward proposition. Was it, for instance, ever a causewayed tidal island? The present layout of land and water would indicate this to be a definite possibility:
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Did it have one or more Venus Pools? Again, one can only say these are unusual and not to be found in run-of-the-mill port cities:
As for allowing boats to get far into the hinterland one could say that St Malo is rather extraordinary in that regard though the Rance Estuary, as the site of one of the world’s largest tidal power stations, is not likely to be the same today as it was thousands of years ago. But even so, since tides seem to be play a large part in Megalithic shipping generally one would have to say that St Malo and its environs are just about the most tidal piece of real estate in the entire world. Which is presumably why they sited a tidal power station there.
In fact the best way to view St Malo – and as we shall see it is also true of its British counterpart – is not to try to work out in detail what part it played in ancient cross-Channel transport links but merely to come to the conclusion that St Malo is thoroughly peculiar, even unique, and that therefore it is an example of human construction on a scale (including a time-scale) that we have yet to come to terms with, rather than just another natural 'coincidence'.
The route out of St Malo would also appear in need of some human intervention: