.JPG/1920px-0_Filitosa_-_Statues-menhirs_(1).JPG 1920w)
Statue-menhirFringe site
Filitosa
Datedc. 720–380 BCE
Photo Jean-Pol GRANDMONT · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Filitosa is a megalithic site in southern Corsica, France, on a hill overlooking the Taravo valley. Its period of occupation spans from the end of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Bronze Age until around Roman times.
About twenty menhirs of various times were counted there, approximately half of the total of these monuments in Corsica.
Read on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Filitosa
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): FilitosaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): FilitosaCC BY-SA 4.0
The site lies on road D57, a few hundred metres from the hamlet of Filitosa, 5 km west of Sollacaro, in the canton of Petreto-Bicchisano, arrondissement of Sartène, north of Propriano in the Corse-du-Sud département. It is approached down a track through an ancient olive grove.
The first monument seen is a rock overhang and surrounding wall, followed by the central monument, with various hut platforms all around.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): FilitosaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): FilitosaCC BY-SA 4.0
The first monument seen is a rock overhang and surrounding wall, followed by the central monument, with various hut platforms all around. The track leads a further 50m to the Western Monument or torri. From there a stone alignment of five megaliths can be seen, set around the base of a 2000-year-old olive tree, behind which is the quarry from which the megaliths were extracted.
ArchaeologySources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): FilitosaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): FilitosaCC BY-SA 4.0
The site was discovered in 1946 by the owner of the land, Charles-Antoine Cesari, and brought to the attention of archaeologists by the British writer Dorothy Carrington. Systematic excavations started in 1954 under Roger Grosjean. Finds of arrow heads and pottery date the earliest inhabitation to 3300 BC. Around 1500 BC menhirs of 2-3 metres were erected, carved with representations of human faces, armour and weapons.
InterpretationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): FilitosaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): FilitosaCC BY-SA 4.0
Roger Grosjean thought the menhirs may have been erected to ward off an invasion by a people called the Torréens (Torreans), but that this was unsuccessful: the menhirs were cast down, broken up and in some cases reused as building material by the Torréens. They built circular stone structures on the site, known as torri (or torre), which may have been used as temples and are remarkably well preserved. This theory has been disputed by later work of F. De Lanfranchi, M.C. Weiss and Gabriel Camps.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): FilitosaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): FilitosaCC BY-SA 4.0
Statue menhirs are carved standing stones of the later European Neolithic, in which a vertical slab or pillar has a stylised human figure cut into it, sometimes with hints of clothing or weapons. They are most commonly found in southern and western France, Catalonia, Corsica, Sardinia, Italy and the Alps.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Statue menhirs of France
A statue menhir is a carved standing stone of the later European Neolithic, in which a vertical slab or pillar has a stylised human figure cut into it, sometimes with hints of clothing or weapons. They are most commonly found in southern and western France, Catalonia, Corsica, Sardinia, Italy and the Alps, and France has most of the Atlas's records. A group from the Iron Age is also known in Liguria and Lunigiana in Italy, and there are two on Guernsey. One of them, La Gran'mère du Chimquière, "the grandmother of the cemetery", stands in a churchyard.
A well-known site is on Corsica. Filitosa, in the south of the island, is a megalithic site occupied from the end of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Bronze Age until about Roman times. Arrowheads and pottery date the earliest habitation to 3300 BCE. Around 1500 BCE menhirs 2 to 3 metres high were erected there, carved with human faces, armour and weapons. About twenty menhirs of various periods have been counted. One interpretation, by Roger Grosjean, was that they were set up to ward off an invasion by a people he called the Torréens, who threw them down, broke them up and reused some as building stone, and then built the circular stone structures called torri; later researchers disputed this theory.
Dating rests on comparison with the Arco stelae, six Copper Age statue menhirs found in Trentino in 1989, which are similar in style to other anthropomorphic stelae of the fourth and third millennia BCE.
When visiting, look at the weapons and belt carved on the stone.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Statue menhir, Wikipedia: Filitosa, Wikipedia: Arco stelae · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 3300 BCE
Finds of arrow heads and pottery date earliest inhabitation to 3300 BC.
Source - 1500 BCE
Around 1500 BC, 2-3 metre menhirs were erected.
Source - 1946
The site was discovered in 1946 by the owner of the land, Charles-Antoine Cesari, and brought to the attention of archeologists by the British writer, Dorothy Carrington (see her masterpiece, Granite Island: Portrait of Corsica,).
Source - 1954
Systematic excavations started in 1954 by Roger Grosjean.
Source - 2000
From there, one can enjoy a view down the hill to a stone alignment of five megaliths, set around the base of a 2000-year-old olive tree.
Source
Photographs
8 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
720–380 BCEHow this date was established: Radiocarbon dating1 radiocarbon date in the p3k14c database (Bird et al. 2022, Scientific Data 9:27 (p3k14c radiocarbon database)), 2500 ± 170 BP; uncalibrated age, shown as calendar years with the conventional BP + 1950 conversion.Source for this date
Measured facts
- Mainstream position
- Later works by F. De Lanfranchi, M.C. Weiss, and Gabriel Camps disputed Grosjean's interpretation of the menhirs and the Torréens.Source: Mainstream position
- Location
- Southern Corsica, FranceSource: Location
- Discovery
- Discovered in 1946 by Charles-Antoine CesariSource: Discovery
- Systematic excavations
- Began in 1954 under Roger GrosjeanSource: Systematic excavations
- Menhir carvings
- Human faces, armor, and weaponsSource: Menhir carvings
- Stone structures
- Circular structures known as torri or torreSource: Stone structures
- Standing stones
- About twenty menhirs were countedSource: Standing stones
- Heritage designation
- classified historical monument, classified historical monumentSource: Heritage designation
Alternative claims
Alternative claims about this site, kept in their own block and labelled with where they stand.
The menhirs were erected to ward off an invasion by the Torréens.
DebatedSource for this claim: The menhirs were erected to ward off an invasion by the Torréens.
Where it stands
France
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 41°44′50″ N, 8°52′17″ EFor a GPS or map app: 41.74722, 8.87139
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
.JPG){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
3 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q1025950wikidata.org
- 02Fringe claim sourceen.wikipedia.org
- 03Source for this datep3k14c.org
Image files
- 0 Filitosa - Statues-menhirs (1).JPGJean-Pol GRANDMONTCC BY-SA 3.0
- Filitosa IX Corsica 1990.jpgJopkeBCC BY-SA 4.0
- Filitosa Ausstellungsraum.jpgClemensfranzCC BY-SA 3.0
- Corse-Du-Sud Filitosa Oppidum - panoramio (2).jpgrene boulayCC BY-SA 3.0
- Filitosa - 5 menhirs.JPGOphelia2CC BY-SA 3.0
- Ancient guardians of Corsica.jpgMousemacCC BY-SA 4.0
- Complexul de la Filitosa..JPGSy.foresterCC BY-SA 3.0
- Dinosaur in Filitosa.JPGLenka JanochováCC BY-SA 3.0
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Lore, kept apart
Legends and claims
These are stories and claims reported by the sources. They are not evidence, and they never stand in for the dating above.
- Tested: not supported
The menhirs were erected to ward off an invasion by the Torréens.
Source
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Filitosa" (English), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (English): FilitosaCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q1025950CC0