Olivier Lepick, mayor of Carnac in Brittany, western France, gave the green light to bulldoze about 40 “menhirs”, seen as part of “the French Stonehenge”, thought to be 7,000 years old.

The stones were 50-100cm tall and stood about a mile from the main Alignement de Carnac, a vast site that predates Stonehenge by 1,000 years and encompasses thousands of standing stones spread across 27 communes – one of the largest in the world.

The mayor granted Mr Bricolage DIY chain a building permit in August. The menhirs have since been razed, as revealed by archaeologist Christian Obeltz. Mayor Lepick claimed he was unaware they were part of the heritage area, despite presiding over the group about to apply for Unesco World Heritage status for the 397 megalithic sites around Carnac.

According to Ouest-france, an archaeological survey in 2014 rejected planning permission as it could have impacted “archaeological heritage”. However, it appears the stones were omitted from updated planning maps.

The builder also claimed he was unaware. “I’m not an archaeologist, I don’t know menhirs; low walls exist everywhere. If we’d known that, we’d obviously have done things differently,” Stéphane Doriel told The Daily Telegraph.

Carnac is renowned for its vast fields of stone megaliths which stand in long lines close to the Atlantic coast. There are about 3,000 of them on the two main protected areas which extend over four miles.

The mayor said he was the victim of a witch hunt.

“It’s as if I’ve destroyed the Mona Lisa. Everything is in place for me to get lynched,” he told Le Monde.

He said he and his family were under police protection.