THE STATUE STELE

Statua Stele of the Lunigiana
Statua Stele of the Lunigiana

The original people fo Lunigiana, the Liguri, expressed an anthropomorhic cult of stone divinity, the Statues Stele. From the III millenium before Christ, the statues represented male and female divinity, whose cult ended when the Romans conquered the region.
Three basic typologies of Statues exist. The statues stele of type "A" are the most ancient, constructed from 3000 b.C. till 1800 a.C., and remind vaguely to the human shape. The face is represented with a U, and the most recent have the arms and the dagger pointed out. The staues stele of type "B" are defined with head like a hat. They start having a more human shape and they were made between 1800 b.C. and 1100 a.C. The last type, "C", collects the most evolute statues stele, between the 1100-1000 b.C. and the Romans. The head joins the rest of the body with a neck, assuming elements characterizing human appearances. Etruscan axes and inscriptions are present. Eyes, ears, nose and mouth are much more defined with greater cure.
The male statues stele are distinguished by crews, daggers, axes and nozzles, the feminine ones from breast and ornaments. The statues were placed in villages, cultivated fields, one or many, as in the sacred locality of Filetto, near Villafranca, and Pontevecchio, in Fivizzano.
The Museum of the Statues Stele in the Piagnaro castle in Pontremoli collects all the statues find in Lunigiana, original or copies.