Statue menhir

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Card with statue menhirs in Europe. [1] Photographs and drawings: 1 + 4. Bueno u. a. 2005; 2. Santonja + Santonja 1978; 3. Jorge 1999; 5. Portela + Jimenez 1996; 6. Romero 1981; 7. Helgouach 1997; 8th Tarrete 1997; 9, 10, 13, 14, 29, 30, 31, 32. Philippon 2002; 11. Corboud + Curdy 2009; 12. Muller 1997; 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 April 1976; August 24 + 25, 1972; 26 + 27. Grosjean 1966; 34. López et al. a. 2009.

A statue menhir is a plate- shaped or stele-shaped stone, worked on all sides, which shows a more or less distinct anthropomorphic shape, or at least the stylized outline of a human body. In addition to the outline of the head, a chiseled pair of eyes, face or hands or feet as well as the representation of clearly identifiable items of clothing or weapons often serve to characterize such a stone as a human statue.

There are several main distribution areas in the western Mediterranean area . Tim Darvill assumes that these are largely independent developments.

Frédéric Hermet , who was the first to deal with this type of monument, gave the name “statue-menhir” to a sculpture stuck in the ground , the shape of which is reminiscent of a menhir . This designation established itself scientifically.

Statue menhirs in alignment from Stantari , Corsica - while the stones on the right show human faces, the two on the left lack anthropomorphic features; A sword can be seen on the second stone from the left.

Demarcation

Menhir group from Filitosa , Corsica. In Corsica (especially in Filitosa) there are about 630 undesigned steles opposite only 73 statue menhirs.
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Since the beginning of the 20th century, a multitude of engraved stone steles or stele fragments have been summarized under the generic term "Statuenmenhir" in various individual articles, which in many cases do not meet the above criteria. In the case of some fragments, it is sometimes claimed that the ornaments are weapons, breast ornaments ( pectorals ) or clothing (belts, fringes, etc.), which at least represents a justification for classifying them into the group of statue menhirs - but it is in many Cases barely recognizable.

In groups of menhir many stones lack anthropomorphic details, but swords are still recognizable in some; In addition, the otherwise uniform design of the stones and the context of the find play a certain role in these groups, so that all stones in such a group (e.g. in the alignment of Stantari , in Filitosa or the so-called Bamberg idols ) are called statue menhirs can.

Steles without engravings, or those with curvilinear engravings such as stone 3 of the so-called Statuenmenhire de la Gruasse or with geometrical engravings such as the so-called Statuenmenhir von Latsch are more like some stones of the Breton megalithic art (e.g. Pierres-Plates or Gavrinis ); they certainly still require a more detailed scientific investigation and classification.

Appearance

Statue menhirs are stone slabs that have been trimmed to show the stylized outline of the human body. They originally stood upright and can also show clothing, weapons or jewelry in relief.

Statue menhirs represent male or - recognizable by their breasts - female, sometimes gender indeterminate beings. On Corsica they apparently also carry weapons ( Castaldu I ).

A later, highly abstract expression are the Sardinian baityloi , which seem to represent the worship of a pantheon of six gods who can be classified as female by means of their clear breast-like arches near the giant tomb of Tamuli .

In Brittany and Great Britain there are plate menhirs with a more or less pronounced elevation in the middle of the upper edge of the head or neck, but otherwise undesigned. In Northern Ireland , County Fermanagh is home to small anthropomorphic stone figures that have come to be known as Caldragh idols . Their time of origin is not known. Also because of their small size of only about 60 cm, they are not counted among the statue menhirs, the larger of which - the Pierre Plantée of Lacaune - reached a height of over 4.50 meters.

distribution

Concentrations of statue menhirs can be found in Spain, southern France and northwestern Italy, as well as on Corsica, Sardinia and the Channel Islands. Individual Statue menhir, there are some countries in Europe where they often with raw menhirs occur socialized. A small number have been found in Bulgaria, Germany, England, Greece and Switzerland. On the north coast of the Black Sea, the greatest concentration of stones can be found in the Crimea and in the steppes of Ukraine, where 300 steles and statue menhirs are found. In the western Mediterranean region, statue menhirs can be found in northwest Italy, in Apulia as well as in Corsica , Mallorca ( Lady of Son Matge ) and Sardinia as well as in Portugal and Spain.

South France

There are three large areas with a total of over 140 statue menhirs in the south of France:

In the south of France and on the Iberian Peninsula , some specimens are engraved with a crook ( báculo ).

Corsica

In 1967 Roger Grosjean presented a 6-level typological classification of the Corsican menhirs and statue menhirs, based primarily on the presence or absence of weapons.

  • Level 1: Monoliths or baityloi less than a meter high ,
  • Stage 2: Protoanthropomorph, the human form shown schematically,
  • Level 3: Anthropomorphic figure with separate head and body; rarely more than two meters high, divided into:
  • Level 4: "Southern statue menhirs, unarmed" have anatomical details, especially in the face (eyes, nose, mouth).
  • Level 5: "Southern statue menhirs, armed" with swords, daggers and helmets or breastplates; anatomical details are not worked out (belt and loincloth).
  • Level 6: "Northern statue menhirs, unarmed", thinner and slimmer than the previous statues; long neck and ears.

Sardinia

In Sardinia , the most important statuary find is that of Monte Prama . Around 50 completely different specimens were found around Laconi . In 2005 a new fragmentary statue menhir was discovered at Laconi, and more were found in 1996 at the giant grave of Murisiddi near Isili. In 2008 innumerable broken menhirs were found at Cuccuru e Lai . A certain form of prehistoric menhirs is called baityloi (ital. Betili). They are usually not very large, slender, grenade-like stones that stand upright. Some have holes in place of eyes, others have breasts. One has a human face.

Liguria, Tuscany

  • On the Italian mainland, more than 60 statue menhirs were found in the historical region of Lunigiana (today largely identical to the provinces of La Spezia and Massa-Carrara ), including several female ones. Many stones were moved to the Museo delle statue stele della Lunigiana in Pontremoli in the second half of the 20th century .

Others

Estàtua-menhir del Pla de les Pruneres (Mollet, Catalonia) [2]

Estatuas menhir of the Iberian Peninsula:

Stellae Kalishe Bulgaria

Dating

Most researchers date the statuary menhirs of Western Europe, which are regularly smoothed on the front (mostly as a whole), to the end of the Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age , i. H. into the 3rd or 2nd millennium BC BC and therefore much younger than most other menhirs. In addition, experts are discussing whether the anthropomorphic representations on some steles correspond to the original condition when the stones were erected or whether they are later modifications.

See also

literature

  • Enrico Atzeni: Tombe megalitiche di Laconi (Nuoro). In: G. Bartoli (ed.): Congresso Internazionale l'Età del Rame in Europe. Viareggio 15-18 October 1987 (= Rassegna di archeologia. Volume 7). All'Insegna del Giglio, Florence 1988, pp. 524-527.
  • André D'Anna: Les statues-menhirs et stèles anthropomorphes du midi méditerranéen. Éditions du Center National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris 1977 ( digitized ).
  • Joseph Cesari, Franck Leandri: Note sur la découverte de quatre nouvelles statues-menhirs en Corse. In: Archeology in Languedoc. Volume 22, 1998, ISSN  0221-4792 , pp. 93-103.
  • Marta Diaz-Guardamino: Iconical Signs, Indexical Relations. Bronze Age Stelae and Statue-menhirs in the Iberian Peninsula. In: Journal of Iberian Archeology. Volume 10, 2008, ISSN  0874-2677 ( online ).
  • Roger Grosjean: La statue-menhir de Santa-Naria (Olmeto, Corse). In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française. Comptes rendus des séances mensuelles. Volume 71, 1974, pp. 53-57.
  • Tim Kerig: A statue menhir depicting an ax of the Eschollbrücken type? To an enigmatic stone monument from Gelnhausen-Meerholz (Mainz-Kinzig district). In: Prehistoric Journal. Volume 85, 2010, ISSN  0079-4848 , pp. 59-78.
  • Michel Mailé: Les statues-menhirs rouergates: approches chronologiques. In: Documents d'archéologie méridionale. Volume 34, 2011, pp. 13-19 ( online ).
  • Pablo Martinez-Rodriguez, Andreu Moya i Garra, Joan B. Lopez Melcion: Catalunya, tierra de colosos. Las estatuas-menhires decoradas del Neolítico final-Calcolítico catalán: singularidades y vínculos con la estatuaria del Midi francés. In: Gabriel Rodriguezet, Henri Marchesi (eds.): Statues-menhirs et pierres levées du Néolithique à aujourd'hui. Actes du 3e Colloque International sur la statuaire mégalithique: Pierres levées et statues-menhirs au Néolithique. Saint-Pons-de-Thomières, 10 to 12 September 2012. Maraval, Saint-Pons-de-Thomières 2010, pp. 269-284 (online) .
  • Pablo Martinez-Rodriguez, Andreu Moya i Garra, Joan B. Lopez Melcion: Èssers de pedra. Estàtues-menhirs i esteles antropomorfes al´art megalític de Catalunya. In: Cypsela. Volume 18, 2010, pp. 11-41, (online) .
  • Jean-Pierre Serres: Les statues-menhirs du Sud-Aveyron. Éditions du Beffroi, Millau 2005, ISBN 2-908123-65-7 .
  • Jürgen E. Walkowitz: The megalithic syndrome. European cult sites of the Stone Age (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Volume 36). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3 .
  • Detert Zylmann : The riddle of the menhirs. Probst, Mainz-Kostheim 2003, ISBN 3-936326-07-X .

Web links

Commons : Statue menhirs  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Tim Darvill: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archeology. 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-172713-9 , keyword: Statue Menhir
  2. ^ Frédéric Hermet: Statues-menhirs de l'Aveyron et du Tarn. In: Bulletin archéologique. 1898, pp. 500-536 ( digitized version ); for the statement, see Matthias Willing: Encoded information from the Bronze Age: The statue menhirs of Rouergat (southern France). In: Ancient World . Volume 35, 2004, pp. 39–46, here: p. 39.
  3. ↑ see e.g. B. Statues-menhirs - An outline of all visited statues-menhirs.
  4. ^ Tim Darvill: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archeology. 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2008, keyword: Statue Menhir, eISBN 9780191727139.
  5. ↑ Matthias Willing: Encoded information from the Bronze Age: The statue menhirs of Rouergat (southern France). In: Ancient World. Volume 35, 2004, pp. 39–46, here: p. 39.
  6. ↑ i Sintineddi - les Sentinelles (French.)
  7. ↑ Sara Champion: Menhir. Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed August 24, 2015, Menhir