Statue menhirs between the Caucasus and the Atlantic ocean - Svend Hansen

"Statue menhirs between the Caucasus and the Atlantic ocean"

Svend Hansen

Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Eurasien Abteilung, Berlin (Germany)



Date: February 23, 2023, Thursday

Time: 16:00 (Rome)

Place: https://unive.zoom.us/j/89243241245

ID: 89243241245



Abstract

The starting point of my reconsideration of statue menhirs is the
great Kurgan of Nalchik in the Caucasus with its almost unique burial
chamber. The building material is insofar remarkable, as it consists
of 31 anthropomorphic stelae reworked for the chamber. 24 vertically
placed stelae formed the walls of the chamber, seven stelae were used
as grave covers. In the last 20 years statue menhirs came into the
focus of research. Statue menhirs are the first anthropomorphous
statues in Europe and clearly an innovation. They are distributed in
many areas of Europe from the Atlantic in the West to the Caucasus in
the East. Despite this wide distribution area and clear stylistic
differences, the similarities of the stelae on a European scale are
remarkable. To understand this media innovation it will be necessary
to outline the (pre)history of setting up large stones since the Pre
Pottery Neolithic. Archaeological excavation could clarify the dating
of the menhirs in Western Europe since the 6th millennium which offers
the chance to describe the statue menhirs in a long tradition.

Nearly all statue menhirs were found in secondary use in later graves
or as single finds without any associated archaeological material. A
reconsideration of the material and the evidences for dating show that
all the statue menhirs between the Atlantic ocean and the Caucasus
were made in the 4th and maybe the very early 3rd millennium. They are
not related to either the Yamnaya or the Bell Beaker cultures of the
3rd millennium.