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Alignments of Renaghju and I Stantari to Sartène en Corse-du-sud

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine Celtique
Alignement de Menhirs
Corse-du-sud

Alignments of Renaghju and I Stantari to Sartène

    Scaglio
    20100 Sartène
Alignments of Renaghju and I Stantari to Sartène
Alignements de Renaghju et I Stantari à Sartène
Alignements de Renaghju et I Stantari à Sartène

Timeline

Néolithique
Antiquité
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
5400 av. J.-C.
5300 av. J.-C.
2800 av. J.-C.
100 av. J.-C.
1800
1900
2000
5700–5000 av. J.-C.
Old Neolithic Occupation
Fin du Néolithique/début âge du Bronze
Second alignment
Ve millénaire av. J.-C.
First megalithic alignment
1883
First description by Mortillet
1975
Historical monument classification
1994–2002
Archaeological excavations
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Key figures

Adrien de Mortillet - Prehistory Described the site in 1883.
André D’Anna - Archaeologist Directed the excavations (1994–2002).
Henri Marchesi - Archaeologist Collaborated in the excavations of the site.
Roger Grosjean - Specialist in Megalithism Classified proto-anthropomorphic menhirs.

Origin and history

The alignments of Renaghju and I Stantari, located in the municipality of Sartène in South Corsica, form an exceptional megalithic ensemble. The site, occupied as early as the ancient Neolithic (5700-5000 B.C.), reveals traces of earth habitat, stone fireplaces and flint cutting plants. Ceramics decorated with a cardium bear witness to cultural ties with Sardinia and Tuscany.

The site has 178 monoliths, resulting from two construction phases. A first alignment, dated the second half of the fifth millennium BC, includes 64 menhirs of crude granite, organized in north-west/south-east lines. A second monument, probably built at the end of the Neolithic or early Bronze Age, includes 50 large menhirs (up to 3.20 m), partially reusing the small menhirs of the first alignment as setting.

Among the notable discoveries is a statue-menhir, Rinaiu I, representing a character armed with a sword, now altered. The site, searched clandestinely and studied scientifically between 1994 and 2002, was classified as a historical monument in 1975. The excavations revealed a central pit and remains of ceramics, confirming continued occupation until the end of Bronze Age.

Menhirs, mostly raw, sometimes have proto-anthropomorphic forms, according to Roger Grosjean's classification. Their arrangement in parallel or curved lines recalls other corse alignments, such as those of I Stantari or Pallaghju. A megalithic chest, now destroyed, once completed the whole.

The site was first described in 1883 by Adrien de Mortillet under the name of Caouria's alignment, at which time there were 32 menhirs. Recent studies, conducted by André D.

External links