Stantari

About

The alignment of I Stantari is a megalithic alignment, composed of fifty-five monoliths, including statues-menhirs, located on the plateau of Cauria, municipality of Sartène, in the department of South Corsica in France.

History: The site was mentioned at the end of the 19th century, but the descriptions of the period were mainly related to the nearby dolmen of Fontanaccia and the close alignments were fairly briefly described. Prosper Mérimée, in his Notes of a journey to Corsica published in 1840, lists nine "stantare" of which five are still trained. Under the name of Rinaiou's alignment, Adrien de Mortillet mentions "seven menhirs, measuring 1.30 m to 3 m high, arranged in a single straight line. There are only four standing; the other three are lying down." No author reports sculptures on these menhirs until July 1964, when Roger Grosjean identified, in a nearby fence wall, the back of the head of a statue-menhir and undertook a complete excavation of the site. Grosjean will discover in total twenty-two monoliths, seven statues-menhirs that he will name Cauria I to VII and fifteen menhirs. At the end of the excavation site the stones were restored to...