Filitosa: 8,000 years of history and the Bronze Age standing stones

1946: the farmer’s discovery

The site was discovered in 1946, in entirely unremarkable circumstances: Charles-Antoine Cesari, the landowner, spotted carved stones beneath the maquis. He later alerted archaeologist Roger Grosjean, and systematic excavation began in the 1950s.

What Grosjean uncovered transformed understanding of Corsican prehistory: not only had the site been occupied since the 6th millennium BC (Early Neolithic), but it revealed standing stones with carved human faces of an entirely unique kind.

The standing stones: a people represented

The site contains thirteen standing stones of the Corsican group, sculpted in the Bronze Age. All display human features: frontal face, sometimes with schematic eyes and nose, some bearing a sword belt or sword carved at the shoulder.

Several interpretations coexist: portraits of deified ancestors, representations of defeated warriors, funerary idols. No interpretation commands consensus among archaeologists. What remains certain is that the stones are not anonymous; each has its own face, rendered with remarkable technical care for the period.

The Torréans, Bronze Age builders

In the Bronze Age, the site’s inhabitants erected circular monuments. Archaeologists, lacking a historical name, baptised these builders the Torréans, after the torre (circular dry-stone towers) they constructed. The remains of three Torréan monuments are still visible on the site.

A particularly valuable feature for archaeology: standing stones were broken and subsequently reused in the monument walls, at a contested date. This paradoxically enabled the stones to endure across millennia, buried within the masonry, protected from erosion, until their exhumation by Grosjean.

The visit route

The site can be visited in 1 to 1.5 hours, following a marked path through the oppidum, around the torre and past the principal stones. A small museum at the entrance displays Neolithic tools, ceramics and the most fragile items. The ancient olive tree (estimated between 1,000 and 1,200 years old) that stands near the site is itself another living monument.

The terrain is in full sun for most of the route; hat and water are essential in summer. Late afternoon offers the best light for observing the carvings, whose details are revealed in raking light.

When to visit

The site is open from April to early November. May, June and September, October are the best windows: maquis still green (or coloured again in autumn), manageable temperatures, moderate visitor numbers. July, August remains feasible, but prefer the first or last hour of the day to avoid the heat.

Planning a stay at Propriano

AEC Collection selects and represents fine villas and houses at Propriano, Olmeto, Sollacaro and around the Valinco gulf. Tickets can be reserved online or on site.