Filitosa
Filitosa-Torraean Site
Late Neolithic to Bronze Age·Corsican Megalithic → Torréen (Bronze Age)·🇫🇷 Corsica, Corse-du-Sud, France
About
About Filitosa
Corsican megalithic site in Taravo Valley with Neolithic originally (3500 BCE) later Torréen Bronze Age (1200 BCE) statue-menhirs with sculpted faces, swords and daggers, protected by cyclopean Torri dry-stone towers. About twenty anthropomorphic menhirs, five reused in later structures, plus habitation terraces with defensive walls. Discovered 1946 by Roger Grosjean who reconstructed fallen monoliths.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Torréen invasion vs indigenous evolution to statue-menhirs
Theories
- 01Bronze Age warriors commemorated as ancestors with daggers
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 3500 BCE (menhirs); c. 1500–1200 BCE (Torre towers)
- Period
- Late Neolithic to Bronze Age
- Culture
- Corsican Megalithic → Torréen (Bronze Age)
- Purpose
- Anthropomorphic statue-menhir alignment and fortified hilltop settlement
- Abandoned
- c.500 BCE (Iron Age)
- Rediscovered
- 1946 Roger Grosjean; excavation 1954-68
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c. 3500 BCE (menhirs); c. 1500–1200 BCE (Torre towers)
Initial construction
c. 1170 CE
Rediscovery
On the ground
Structures & features
41.7417° N · 8.8695° E · 80 m · 2 mapped features
Alignment of Statue-Menhirs
alignmentRow of five anthropomorphic menhirs with carved swords
41.7417° N · 8.8695° ETorri Centrale
torreCyclopean tower with corbelled chamber protecting menhirs
41.7419° N · 8.8698° E
Gallery