Finale Ligure

This article does not presume to summarize the immense complexity of megalithism in France over a period of nearly three millenia, but rather to contribute a few elements of reflection to the numerous  research directions it inspires. It first insists on the importance of finally eliminating a number of accepted ideas; among which, the tendency to systematically classify the architecture of burial spaces in function of their “apparent” complexity, from the most simple to the most elaborate. Numerous examples show that the megalithic  phenomenon is complex, not linear. Each monument, today in ruins, is the result of several architectural projects, in the true sense of the term. The construction of a site, supposes at the same time a  succession of technical acts that also merit detailed study, in the same manner as that which specialists of the Medieval period call the archeology of construction. We also wish to emphasize the necessity of addressing Megalithism from the perspective of architecture, grave goods and human remains (when they are preserved), as these three aspects are often intertwined. Finally, a megalithic monument must be understood in its space, the funerary space in the broad sense, as well as the burial space. From this perspective, a multitude of question and numerous research directions appear. Megalithism is not an outdated subjet, but an innovative one, for which much remains to be done.

Raffaele De Rossi’s oeuvre is enriched by an important painting, long regarded as lost. The altarpiece depicting the Vision of Saint Bernard in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow – attributed with hesitation to Boccaccio Boccacino – can now be recognised as the Tuscan artist’s earliest known painting; the work sheds light on De Rossi’s initial output in Liguria, mostly in the Riviera di Ponente (the coast west of Genoa) and until a few decades ago attributed to what scholars defined as the Pancalino workshop.
Originally in the convent of Santa Caterina d’Alessandria in Finalborgo, the painting now in Moscow represents a basic element for understanding the appearance of the “maniera moderna” in Liguria. Described by Carlo Giuseppe Ratti in 1780 as “a Saint Bernard after the style of Perugino”, it offers crucial evidence of the relations between Tuscany and the Marquisate of Finale in the Del Carretto period. The article first reconstructs the history of the altarpiece, documenting its patronage by the Carenzo family and original location in Finalborgo, and then addresses its critical fortunes and ownership. The work’s path is traced from the collection of Harry George Powlett (1803-1891) in England, to that of Otto Lanz (1865- 1935) in Amsterdam, before its arrival in Moscow in 1945, following the dispersion of works destined for the Führermuseum in Linz. The section on the rediscovery (‘Una pala ritrovata’) is by Massimiliano Caldera; that on twentieth-century provenance (‘Le vicende collezionistiche
attraverso il Novecento’) is by Andrea Fiore.

http://www.academia.edu/attachments/31604842/download_file?st=MTcyMjc0NzIxOSw3MC40MC4yMjAuMTI5&

"Análisis epigráfico de las inscripciones -presuntamente megalíticas- del tholos de la Zarcita, Huelva.
"Una Golondrina no hace verano"
Georgeos Díaz-Montexano, "Sociedad Epigráfica de España" & "The International Epigraphic Scoiety".

"En la Península Ibérica ya se utilizaba la escritura miles de años antes que los fenicios aparecieran por sus costas", esta la tesis que ahora defiende la doctora en Historia Antigua, Ana María Vázquez Hoys1, si bien hay que señalar que en realidad es la más reciente investigadora que se suma a una vieja teoría planteada y defendida ya desde principios del pasado siglo, por varios autores -nacionales y extranjeros- y que actualmente es también defendida, desde hace un par de décadas, por otros dos investigadores, quienes han reunido indicios por casi toda la península ibérica2. El estudio de la Dra. Vázquez Hoys se centra fundamentalmente en un fenómeno local, unas inscripciones o grafitos, hallados en dos útiles prehistóricos, encontrados en sepulcros megalíticos de Huelva (España), y que se conservan en el museo de la capital onubense, donde se encuentran expuestos al público. No son las únicas muestras, existen otras en el sur peninsular...

Debemos poner en duda lo que hasta ahora se consideró como verdad irrefutable, el que fueran los fenicios quienes nos enseñaron a escribir -sostiene la Dr. Vázquez Hoys- ¿Y si, en realidad, hubiera ocurrido lo contrario? ¿Y si esos pueblos del mar que toda la mitología del Mediterráneo Oriental sitúa en la Península Ibérica, hubieran enseñado, en verdad, a los fenicios? ¿Escribirían los fenicios sus propios Anales en una escritura de Occidente? 3 Son estas las mismas preguntas que ya se realizaron otros autores antes."

Domenico Massaferro, di Finale, da parecchi anni stabilito a Porto Allegre, ove esercitava la professione di macellaio, fu arrestato l’anno scorso, e condotto nelle carceri di questa citta, come implicato negli affari politici di questa provincia... Anno 1838.

Nei primi anni 2000 Giuseppe Vicino segnalò agli scriventi l’esistenza di un’incisione alfabetiforme nella Grotta dei Rucà di Finale Ligure (SV) e guidò alcuni sopralluoghi. L’incisione filiforme, graffita ad altezza d’uomo su una parete di fondo in un punto raggiungibile arrampicandosi su una prominenza rocciosa, consiste in segni alfabetici ricavati in una superficie incavata da alcune coppelle e racchiusi entro una cornice rettangolare.

This article presents the results of six years of excavation at Tumulus C in the megalithic cemetery of Prissé-la-Charrière (Deux-Sèvres). This is a trapezoidal mound 115 metres long, 30 metres wide and 4 metres high, that was constructed in several stages. The earliest stage that has so far been documented consists of a small funerary monument measuring 7.2 metres east-west and 8.8 metres wide. It was built largely of earth, and contained a cist open on one side and enclosed within a circular dry-stone mass. At a later stage, the entrance to the cist was blocked and the monument extended towards the east to form a long mound 23 metres in length. This mound was entirely surrounded by an encircling ditch. Later still, the 100-metre trapezoidal long mound was built, enclosing the earlier long mound within its western terminal. This extended mound contains at least one megalithic chamber of quadrangular plan, accessed by a passage opening from the northern façade approximately 1/3 of the distance from the western terminal. The chamber has yielded Middle Neolithic material. The significance of these discoveries are discussed in relation to existing understanding of the megalithic monuments in this region of France, with particular regard to the question of origins.

The IVth meeting of an international workgroup will gather together, in Rennes, from 10 to 12 May 2012, several of the leading European specialists on the theme of megalithic monuments (about twenty speakers from some ten different nationalities). Following the international colloquium at Bougon (Deux-Sèvres) which was held in 2002 (Joussaume, Laporte, Scarre, 2006), meetings of the European Megalithic Studies Group took place in Göteborg in Sweden ( 2004 ), in Seville in Spain ( 2008 ) and in Kiel in Germany ( 2010 ). This will be the first time for more than thirty years that the city of Rennes will welcome a high-level scientific meeting specifically dedicated to the study of megalithic monuments. It is organized within the framework of a program entitled " Megalithic monuments of the Atlantic zone and beyond " which is supported in particular by the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme de Bretagne. It will comprise two days of oral communications, open to the general public, in the Auditorium of the Museum of Brittany, in Rennes. They will be accompanied by the presentation of posters about current work on megalithic monuments in France, in Europe and in the World.

Segnalazione relativa al ritrovamento di materiali neolitici durante ricognizioni speleologiche.
In: Notiziario di Preistoria e Protostoria 2.I - 2015, "Italia settentrionale e peninsulare", Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, Firenze, pp. 6-7.  ISSN 2384-8758.

"Questo incontro con un gruppo di
specialisti delle discipline storico-letterarie
si propone come la prima
tappa di un percorso articolato in due
momenti, uno storico-letterario e uno, a
seguire, artistico-archeologico -al quale
sono stati invitati studiosi del locale
Museo Archeologico del Finale, della
Soprintendenza Archeologica della
Liguria, dell’Università di Genova - posto
in essere per condividere con
cittadinanza, studenti, colleghi
un’occasione di riflessione sulla figura
dell’imperatore AVGVSTVS, a duemila
anni dalla morte. L’impronta lasciata da
questa figura, indubbiamente ideologica
ed ideologizzante attraverso i secoli, può
ancora tradursi, al netto di passate e –in
parte- presenti interpretazioni
strumentali, nella lettura di un’eredità
storico-letteraria, artistico-archeologica
vive, attuali e in grado di parlare alle
sensibilità, alle coscienze culturali dei
cittadini del Terzo Millennio."