Statues of the Lunigiana
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The statue menhirs of Lunigiana were built in 1200 BC. Built in BC. The Lunigiana is a historical region in Italy , which is located in the south of Liguria and in the north of Tuscany . The more stele-shaped statue menhirs in the Lunigiana, smoothed on all sides, have an anthropomorphic shape and, like most of the others of this genus in Europe, show details of clothing or weapons. The much larger number of monuments depict men, some of whom carry weapons.
There are three types of statues.
- The statues of the type "A" are the oldest and only vaguely resemble human forms. They originated between 3000 and 1800 BC. The face is shown as a U-shape. The youngest have accentuated the arms and the dagger.
- The "B" type statues have more human shapes and a hat-shaped head. They originated between 1800 and 1100 BC. Chr.
- The "C" type statues have a human appearance. They originated between 1100 BC. BC and the Roman conquest. The head and neck connect with the body. The face is formed and Etruscan axes and inscriptions are present. The male statues are distinguished by axes, daggers and rods from the female ones with breasts and ornaments. The statues were placed in villages, in cultivated fields and in the holy locality Filetto near Villafranca and Pontevecchio in Fivizzano.
Discovery story
To date, around 80 statue or stele menhirs have been discovered in the Lunigiana. Most were found in rural areas on pastures, fords or mountain passes. The first statue menhir was discovered in 1827 in the village of Nova in the municipality of Zignago in the province of La Spezia . In 1886 two small rectangular steles were found underwater in the Gulf of La Spezia , but they were lost. In 1905 nine statues were buried in Fivizzano . The discovery was made by a farmer, who found them lined up, sorted by height, facing east. The stone statues of Pontevecchio are among the oldest finds. The most recent discoveries were made in 2005 in the municipality of Mulazzo .
The youngest group was formed in northern Italy, close to the Swiss and Austrian borders, during the Iron Age.
In 1997 the first two steles were found in Piedmont . They are decorated with horizontal stripes and have outlined features of a face. These steles are similar to those of Aosta and Sion in Switzerland and, like most of the others, are dated to the Copper Age (3rd and 2nd millennium BC).
Statue menhirs have been found in Switzerland, France, Corsica and Sardinia, Apulia, the Iberian Peninsula , Germany and the Channel Islands.
The Museo delle statue stele lunigianesi (Museum of Statues Steles) in the Castello del Piagnaro in Pontremoli , inaugurated in 1975, collects all the statues in Lunigiana, as originals or copies.
meaning
The meaning of the statue menhirs , which exist in different types (with ax, knife and a kind of crook ( báculo )) is unclear as no other archaeological material has been found in their vicinity. Many are exhibited in the "Museo delle Statue Stele della Lunigiana" in the Castello del Pianaro in Pontremoli , including several female statue menhirs.
literature
- 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 .
- Detert Zylmann: The riddle of the menhirs. Probst, Mainz-Kostheim 2003, ISBN 3-936326-07-X .
