Filitosa is a megalithic site in southern Corsica,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. The period of occupation spans from the end of the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

era and the beginning of the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

, until around the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

times in Corsica.

Location

The site lies on road D57, a few hundred metres from the hamlet of Filitosa, west of

Sollacaro Sollacaro (; it, Sollacarò, ; co, Suddacarò) is a Communes of France, commune in the Corse-du-Sud Departments of France, department of France on the island of Corsica. Geography The village is located at 450 m of altitude in the Taravo val ...

, in the canton of Petreto-Bicchisano,

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements ...

Sartène Sartène (; co, Sartè ; it, Sartena or ) is a commune in the department of Corse-du-Sud on the island of Corsica, France. Its history dates back to medieval times and granite buildings from the early 16th century still line some of the ...

, north of Propriano in the

Corse-du-Sud Corse-du-Sud (; co, link=no, Corsica suttana , or ; en, Southern Corsica) is (as of 2019) an administrative department of France, consisting of the southern part of the island of Corsica. The corresponding departmental territorial collect ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

''. It is located on a hill, overlooking the Taravo valley.

Site history and features

The site was discovered in 1946 by the owner of the land, Charles-Antoine Cesari, and brought to the attention of archeologists by the British writer, Dorothy Carrington (see her masterpiece, ''Granite Island: Portrait of Corsica'',). Systematic excavations started in 1954 by

Roger Grosjean Roger Grosjean (25 July 1920 – 7 June 1975) was a French Air Force pilot, a double agent during World War II, and one of the founding fathers of Corsican Prehistoric archaeology. Early life Grosjean was born in Chalon-sur-Saône, the son of Jo ...

. Finds of arrow heads and pottery date earliest inhabitation to 3300 BC. Around 1500 BC, 2-3 metre

menhir A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be found ...

s were erected. They have been carved with representations of human faces, armour and weapons.

thought the menhirs may have been erected to ward off an invasion of a group of people called the ''Torréens'' ( Torreans). However this was unsuccessful: the menhirs were cast down, broken up and reused in some cases as building material by the ''Torréens''. The ''Torréens'' built circular stone structures on the site, known as '' torri'' (or ''torre''), which may have been used as temples. The ''torri'' are remarkably well preserved. This theory had been disputed by later works of F. De Lanfranchi, M.C. Weiss and

Gabriel Camps Gabriel Camps (May 20, 1927 – September 7, 2002) was a French archaeologist and social anthropologist, the founder of the '' Encyclopédie berbère'' and is considered a prestigious scholar on the history of the Berber people. Biography Gabrie ...

.CORSICA Enciclopedia dell' Arte Antica (1994)
/ref> In total, about twenty menhirs of various times were counted in Filitosa. They constitute approximately half of the total staff of these monuments in Corsica.

Layout

The site of Filitosa is approached down a track through an ancient olive grove. The first monument to be seen is a rock overhang and surrounding wall. Then the visitor comes upon the central monument. Various hut platforms are all around, and the track leads a further 50m to the Western Monument or ''torri''. From there, one can enjoy a view down the hill to a stone alignment of five megaliths, set around the base of a 2000-year-old olive tree. Behind the olive tree is the

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

from which the megaliths were extracted.

References

External links

Pictures

Filitosa official website
{{Authority control Archaeological sites in France Bronze Age Europe Buildings and structures in Corse-du-Sud Megalithic monuments in France Archaeological sites in Corsica Former populated places in France Tourist attractions in Corse-du-Sud