The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Fieldnotes by wido_piemonte

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Menhirs di Cavaglià (Biella) (Standing Stones)

One of the biggest group of menhirs of the region. It was part of a bigger megalithic site, destroyed and covered by new buildings until between the 70's and the 90's. Now what remains of the site is protected and some stone re-erected with the help of some old pictures and signs on the stones.
In fact on the monoliths there are some cup marks and a medieval cross.

Musinè standing stones

(Monte Musinè, is sure one of the most famous place for misteries. Peter Kolosimo wrote about it and about some stones on it. It's known for UFO too! But anyway, it's sure that this place it's allways been a very special place since prehistoric times).

Along the way to the top of the mountain you can find a lot of standing stones, but most of them are surely natural. I found this "alignement" on a book about megalitism on italian and swiss alps called "spiriti di pietra" by Massimo Centini, and I decided to go and to find it.

Susa's cup marks (Cup Marked Stone)

This is one of the most powerfull site I visited.
The big rocks are visible on the archeological area of Susa, just in the center of the city (main city of the Susa's Valley).

There are many cups connected with a lot of channels and one bassin. The most visible cups are very regular, deep and larger, executed with metal tools. The water still runs from cup to cups!
In roman times an impirtant aqueduct was built on the rocks, close to the Arc of August. So, this was a very important cult site in prehistoric, celtic and roman times. The site look to one of the most "holy" mountains of the Alps: Rocciamelone, also the Arc of August is built exactly to watch the top of the mountain from the engraved rocks/main arc of the aqueduct.

Pietra di Santa Varena, Villa del Foro/Alessandria (Christianised Site)

One of many christianized stones of the area is still visible on face of the church of Villa del Foro, a small village near Alessandria, big center in prehistoric, celtic and roman times. Object of cult but expecially object of superstition is dedicated to the holy woman called Varena that in many legends saved the stone and the village from the pagan cults. Is not sure if it was a menhir or an altar stone.

Pera Crevolà - Menolzio (Cup Marked Stone)

Pera Crevolà", means in dialect "riddled stone". It's near Mattie Municipality (TO - I), 25 minutes walking from the Menolzio village (Val Susa, Torino Province). The altitude is 950 m.
This incredible rock is not very big (150 x 170 cm), but it's totally covered by engravings: 237 cup-marks, 13 channels and 5 crosses.

Lugnacco's Menhir

Lugnacco's menhir is another one of the 3 (Chivasso, Mazzè, Lugnacco) similar menhir in this area. This is the smaller one (3.85 m tall) and it's placed outside the small cemetery of the village, I don't know if this is the original position.
There are some holes on it. In my opinion this engravings are newer than the menhir, but I don't know.

Sant'alosio's cup marks (Cup Marked Stone)

Sant'alosio is a little village on the top af an high hill on the south/east of Piedmont. The rocks are partially covered by the eastern tower and also by lots of vegetation, but you can still see some cup marks expecially in winter without snow. Some cups looks very old and little, one is bigger (20 cm) and, I think, more recent. From this place you have a great 360° view, you can see all the western Alps, Ligurian Appennino and hills.

Chivasso's menhir (Standing Stone / Menhir)

Chivasso's menhir is one of 3 (Chivasso, Mazzè, Lugnacco) similar menhir survived trhough the centuries, part of bigger group in these area.
It's 4 meters tall, it have a cup mark on it (and 2 holes made in medieval times) and now it's conserved in a big glass box in a central square (piazza d'Armi) in Chivasso. The exact original position is not known.
Recently, the local historian Prof. Luciano Dell'Olmo recognized the importance of the piece and the town administration decided to restore it.

Chiusella Valley Rock Art - Sentiero delle Anime (Engraved stone)

This valley it's full of engraved rocks, and every years new sites are found.
Some of the most important rocks (cup marks, anthropomorphic figures, crosses and strange tables) are situated along the so called "Way of the souls" path (Sentiero delle Anime) near the village of Traversella (Torino). From prehistoryc times untill the the last centuries local alpine culture is rapresented here on the rocks: cup marks, anthropomorphic figures are the most ancient engravings, most of the rocks were cristianised with crosses.

Another important site (not rapresented here) in this valley is the "Pera dij Cros" (it means "Rock of the crosses" in piedmonteis) where it is possible to notice many prehistoric anthropomorphic figures.

Pietra della Vita - Oropa (Christianised Site)

"La Pietra della vita" (The Stone of life) is a big natural stone, glacial erratic, in Oropa near Biella. The stone is still visible on the backside of the shrine and it was object of strong fertility cults in the ancient times. The cult survived untill the christian era but christianized with a lot of crosses engraved on it first, than with a chapel built on it.
I live in the north west of Italy.

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