Statue menhirs of Cuccuru e Lai
The statue menhirs at Cuccuru e Lai near Samugheo in the province of Oristano in Sardinia were discovered in 2011 as fragments in a dry stone wall made of broken statue menhirs erected in the 1930s. The 300 pieces of stylized figures could make Cuccuru e Lai one of the most important prehistoric places on the island, comparable to the statues on Monte Prama . The menhirs date from the Copper Age (3000 BC). Archaeologists found the fragments when excavating Paule Lutturi's tomb nearby. The largest of the discovered statue menhirs measures around 1.2 m.
In the 3rd millennium BC In BC, anthropomorphic statues, which are to be regarded as successors to simple menhirs , spread in large parts of Europe, as bronze made the processing of stone much easier. The oldest anthropomorphic representations were made at the end of the 4th millennium BC. In the area of the Kemi Oba culture in the Crimea and in the neighboring Ukraine . Most of them are rough stone slabs with simple sculptures of eyes, breasts and heads. About 20 copies are more complex and show ornaments, weapons, and human or animal figures. In Sardinia, some of the recently discovered statues carry a dagger, as shown by the statue menhirs of the Lunigiana . On the other hand, the shapes and symbols of Cuccuru e Lai are completely different from those found at Laconi and in the museum there. The meaning of these stones is unknown.
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Coordinates: 39 ° 56 ′ 58.6 ″ N , 8 ° 56 ′ 23.6 ″ E