Statue menhir of the
The statue menhir of Die is a statue menhir found in the municipality of Die in the Drôme department and exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Die and des Diois ( Musée de Die et du Diois in French ).
In 1992, six limestone slabs were excavated in Die during the expansion of the Clairette cooperative winery at a depth of 0.6 m . Serge Durand and Daniel Orand recognized engravings on the plates, which were arranged with break edges . The four-part pillar-like statue menhir, with an estimated weight of two tons, and two approximately 1.0 m high steles were given to the Die Museum.
The material comes from an alluvial terrace of the Drôme about 20 km away. The limestone slab of the statue menhir was carefully worked on three sides. The fourth side is natural. The front has several engravings. In the upper part, four arcs of a circle draw a necklace or breastplate. Below are two arches that are connected with a square pattern. An unidentifiable shield adorns the base of the menhir.
The two steles are made of the same material as the menhir. They are square blocks about forty centimeters thick with slightly rounded corners and an almost flat tip. They are not engraved.
See also
literature
- Alain Beeching, Jacques Léopold Brochier and Joël Vital: Une exceptionnelle statue-menhir et deux stèles néolithiques entrent au musée de Die (Drôme) , Archéologia, no.340 , 1997
- Bruno Marc: Dolmens et Menhirs en Languedoc et Roussillon. 27 Circuits de Découverte Prehistorique. Les Presses du Languedoc, Montpellier 1999, ISBN 2-85998-190-X .
- Jürgen E. Walkowitz: The megalithic syndrome. European cult sites of the Stone Age (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Vol. 36). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3 .
Web links
- La statue menhir de Die (Drôme) (French)
Coordinates: 44 ° 45 ′ 18.3 " N , 5 ° 22 ′ 12" E