The Archaeology of Corsica
Summary
Corsica, the l'Île de Beauté, is an island accustomed to being passed over in the archaeological imagination, overshadowed by its grander neighbours to the south and east. Yet beneath its wild interior and along its sun-bleached shores lies a record of human endeavour that stretches back more than six thousand years. This tour explores the full sweep of the island's past: from the extraordinary megalithic monuments of the Neolithic and Bronze Age through the Phoenician and Greek trading world that touched these shores, to the Roman colony of Aleria, whose excavations have yielded one of the finest collections of Etruscan, Greek and Campanian pottery in France. We shall also take time to consider the medieval Genoese towers that punctuate the coastline like chess pieces, and the Pisan Romanesque churches that bloom, unexpected, from the scrubland of the interior.
What to Expect
- Stand among the warrior-menhirs of Filitosa, Bronze Age figures carved in granite, gazing across the Taravo valley for three thousand years
- Explore the megalithic plateau of Cauriam stone alignments, standing menhirs and chambered tomb set in open, fragrant maquis
- Uncover Corsica's classical past at Aléria — Etruscan bronzes, Greek red-figure pottery and Roman sculpture from the island's great colonial capital
- Walk the Bronze Age fortress trail at Cucuruzzu linking two remarkable castellu settlements unique to Corsica
