An idiosyncrasy of the Filitosa site is that it encompasses
many eventful periods of Prehistory such as Protohistory.
A first occupation occurred during the early Neolithic (Vth
millennium BC); the rocky blockfield offered some fine-looking shelters
which were used as dwellings. There, shards of pottery decorated with a
cockle shell are found in the same layer as fragments which have been decorated
before firing, with holes or a blade, and the discrete presence of ceramic
from Basi indicates occupation of the site in the middle Neolithic period
(IVth and beginning of the IIIrd millennia BC).
The middle and, above all, late Bronze Age are amply evidenced.
The majority of the structures well-preserved today, can be dated to the
second half of the IInd millennium BC, and lasted until the beginning of
the Iron Age (around 700BC).
Finally, the presence of an important group of statue-menhirs
at the foot of the "Turrichju" oppidum is explained by the existence of
an alignment which was certainly the target of destruction during the Middle
Ages, and significant elements of which have been rebuilt, strengthening
the enigma of this place a little more.
Man's first settlement in Corsica dates from the VIIth millennium
BC. The proximity to Taravo's fertile plain, the presence of an easily developed
butte and numerous rock shelters make this site ideal for a very long period
of occupation.
The researches carried out in a rock shelter at Filitosa, date
the beginning of the site's occupation to the VIth millennium which corresponds
to the early Neolithic period. At that time the population was sparse. They
lived exclusively from hunting, fishing and gathering. The group used wooden
or hard stone tools, such as flint or obsidian. The presence at Filitosa
of this black volcanic rock is all the more surprising since obsidian does
not naturally occur in Corsica. It presumably needed to be brought from
Monte Arci in Sardinia. The earthenware remains from this period show evidence
of original decoration. The potter decorated the sides of the vase with
the edge of a shell valve, often the cockle shell.
In the late Neolithic period, there was a general increase
in the population of Corsica. That was due to the increased spread of farming
practices. The numerous saddle querns and rubbing stones found on the site
attest to that. The Filitosa promontory was settled by herdsmen and growers.
Late Neolithic society dominated its environment and slowly became organised.
In Europe, monuments shaped from huge blocks of crude, rough-hewn stone
began to be builtMegalithism (from the Greek megas: big and lithos: stone)
overwhelmed Europe. At Filitosa we can see the execution of the first simple
stone slab menhirs, badly wrought, and unpolished, stuck vertically into
the ground.
Certain peoples embraced and developed megalithism best. Corsica is the
principal European region for its megalithic statuary, by quantity and quality.
Today, it counts 73 carved megaliths, which is 40% of all French statue-menhirs.
If this distribution of menhirs, of statue-menhirs is uneven over Europe,
that's also true in Corsica. The south is favoured, and more specifically
the lower Taravo valley, with the Filitosa promontory. The Bronze Age statue-menhirs
displayed on the site most probably represent the "Paladin", the warrior
chiefs, dead or alive.
The inhabitants of Filitosa have throughout their history,
demonstrated a need for spiritual faith. Thus when the primitive megalithic
"religion" was abandoned at the end of the Bronze Age (1100BC) it gave
way to other beliefs, of which the most significant physical manifestation
is the circular monument: the torre (tower). At Filitosa three monument
complexes can be identified, two of which were ultimately "religious". Later
the statue-menhirs would be smashed and reused in their construction.
