<< Our Photo Pages >> Megalithic structure above Arma Strapatente - Cave or Rock Shelter in Italy in Liguria
Submitted by mpwpir on Friday, 01 October 2010 Page Views: 6967
Natural PlacesSite Name: Megalithic structure above Arma StrapatenteCountry: Italy Region: Liguria Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Nearest Town: Orco-Feglino
Latitude: 44.211530N Longitude: 8.350280E
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Along the course of the cave there are large stalactites, stalagmites, columns (formed by the merger of stalactites and stalagmites) and small secondary branches. The eastern entrance is facing to a large amphitheater space cluttered of rocks collapsed from the roof of the cave itself. Is right on top of a rocky outcrop, which extends further east into the Val Sciusa (Sciusa Valley), about 30 feet above the eastern entrance, that there is the megalithic structure in question.
The coordinates of this artifact, obtained by a GPS device, are:
Altitude: 348 m above sea level; Latitude: 44°12'41,508'' North; Longitude: 8°21'1,008'' East.
The existence of the structure has long been known (7), but a systematic description of this artifact is due to the work performed in 1997 by Mario Codebò (3).
The site is located in the Municipality of Orco - Feglino, near Finale Ligure (Savona Province, Liguria, Italy) and can be reached by following the path of the east ridge of Val di Nava. Thanks to the specifications of Mario Codebò I could find and restore the lane, filled with a tangled vegetation.
Advancing along this path, that runs through the east ridge of Nava Valley, it leads above the eastern entrance of the previously described amphitheater of Arma Strapatente. Along this route, we find two stone tablets of Pietra del Finale (Finale Stone is a bioclastic miocenic limestone) that seem to indicate the way. Also visible is a pile of stones that, in light of recent interpretations have a significance of places of worship of the dead from the late Bronze Age.
Having reached the eastern end of the plateau, overhanging the sciusa Valley, the megalithic structure that has the characteristics of a "stone – altar" appears.
This artifact, in fact, consists of a horizontal table in Finale Stone, quite irregular, of approximately 1.5 meters per side, presenting two communicating basins on his surface, resting on five smaller stones. Below the table there is a room (1.2 m long, 0.17 m wide and 0.5 m high) oriented in the north – south axis.
The rudimentary basins on the surface of the horizontal beam, could be the meaning of "cups" for the collection of liquids. We recall, what is reported in numerous studies that point to what is described in the sanctuary of Panoias, in northern Portugal where, beside a large rock with pools, channels and cups, there is the following Latin inscription dating from the third century A.D. (6):
"HVIVS HOSTIAE QVAE CADVNT HIC IMM(OL)ANTVR EXTA INTRA QVADRATA CONTRA CREMANTVR -SAN(GV)IS LAC(I)CVLIS (IVXTA) SVPERFV(NDI)TVR-"
(Here are devoted to gods the victims who are killed: their insides are burned in the square pools and their blood is spread in small basins surrounding).
The presence of large rocky outcrops with similar characteristics to those described for the sanctuary of Panoias, is a frequent finding in the Finalese area, such as in the adjacent fossil Nava valley, Ciappo (he term "Ciappo" in Finalese, points to a stone slab) delle Conche, Ciappo dei Ceci, Ciappo del Sale (to cite only the most extensive and popular) and you may think that they, at least for a while, had a similar function.
The fact also that the "stone-altar" is built on a high place means, probably, the desire to choose an appropriate site from which you could have some sort of visual inspection of the land below, also in relation to the sacredness of the hill stations and mountain peaks, typical of the Ligurian-Celtic populations.
Nearby are petroglyphs engraved with a "sigmoid" and other oriented incisions, and stone slabs polished and grooved, difficult to date.
Another significant finding is the presence of the pile of rocks described above, not convincingly correlate with falls of dry stone walls, however, not present here, never as outcomes (11) of an impossible agricultural activity because of the roughness of the rocky terrain and the difficulty of water supply.
In these circumstances, given the very similar morphology between this mound and the one cited by Codebò near the Dolmen of Verezzi (2), (3), (4), (5) with the other Western Liguria, near Sanremo (Imperia Province), the most likely hypothesis is that relating to the possible burial use of these mounds (1). Surely, this hypothesis should be corroborated by the discovery of some confirming findings. This would entail the need to initiate a campaign that could be of uncertain archaeological outcome, given full exposure to weathering, typical of archaeological sites "outside", common in this area (8), (9), (10), (12).
Discussion
The dating of the finds described is a difficult problem, as the petroglyphs are located in a place "open", easily modified by meteorological and human factors.
The creation of megalithic structures, such as menhirs, dolmens and similar “stone - altars”, is placed, in fact, over a period of time between the end of the fifth millennium at the end of the third millennium BC, corresponding roughly to a period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.
The clarity and depth of the cuts on the nearby stone artifacts, suggests, however, that have been obtained with metal tools, presumably dating from the Iron Age that, in Liguria, developed between 900 and 180 BC .
Bibliography
1) ALESSI C. Sanremo (IM). Siti Archeologici a Monte Bignone. Archeomedia - Rivista di Archeologia On-line (settembre 2009). http://www.archeomedia.net/tutela-e-salvaguardia/36475-sanremo-im-siti-archeologici-a-monte-bignone.html
2) CODEBÒ M., Archaeo-astronomical hypotheses on some ligurian engravings "Proceeding NEWS95 - INTERNATIONAL ROCK ART CONGRESS, North East West South 1995
Turin, Italy, by Ce.S.M.A.P. & I.F.R.A.O., Survey supplement 1999, Pinerolo, Italy”.
3) CODEBÒ M. 1997: PRIME INDAGINI ARCHEOASTRONOMICHE IN LIGURIA, Pubblicato sulle Memorie della Società Astronomica Italiana - Journal of the Italian Astronomical Society, vol. 63, n. 3; 1997
4) CODEBÒ M. 1993. I menhir di Torre Bastia. Notiziario C.A.I., Sez. Ligure, Sottosez. Bolzaneto, 11: 30-31.
5) CODEBÒ M.1994, I Primi Passi di un Archeostronomo. Bollettino dell'Osservatorio Astronomico di Genova, n.66, Genova, pp. 12-20.
6) Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (C.I.L.II, 2395 ).
7) GIUGGIOLA O. (1984). Una costruzione megalitica a Finale. In: Rivista Ingauna ed Intemelia, XXXIX,
8) PIRONDINI A. 2010. Osservazioni su un sito di interesse archeologico nei pressi del Castelliere delle Anime (Rocca di Perti - Finale Ligure). TRACCE Online Rock Art Bulletin
http://www.rupestre.net/tracce_php/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=43
9) PIRONDINI A. 2010. Castelliere of Verezzi - Hillfort in Italy in Liguria. The Megalithic Portal. http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=26775&mode=thread&order=0
10) PIRONDINI A. 2010. Site near Finale Ligure. The Megalithic Portal.
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=26588
11) SCHIPANI DE PASQUALE R., RICCOBONO F. (1991). Originale utilizzo di materiali "da spetramento" in area suburbana. In: Colloquio Int.le Archeologia ed Astronomia di AA.VV., R.d.A., supplem. n. 9. Roma.
12) TIZZONI M. 1975. Incisioni all'aperto nel Finalese, Liguria. Bollettino del Centro Camuno Studi Preistorici, 12, Capodiponte (Brescia).
Article © Alfredo Pirondini
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