Megalithic Monuments

This contribution explores the meaning of prehistoric relief stelae ("vishaps") from the South Caucasus representing monumental fish. It lays out a method to decode their symbolic meaning inte­grating quantitative analysis, iconographic analysis, and semiotic analysis. Quantitative analysis of the original al­titude of these stelae shows that they are only found high in the mountains, as opposed to other stelae, which were also also erected at lower altitudes. Iconographic analysis indi­cates that these stelae represent large-size fish naturally living in the rivers and lakes of the lowlands, such as catfish, pikes, or carps. As a result, we observe a specific desire to monumentalize fish known from a lowland envi­ronment at a location far away from its habitat, thus envisioning a precise connection between high-altitude mead­ows and lowland environments. A semiotic analysis of piscis vishaps supports the hypothesis that they are part of a religious cult of water, with a focus on mountain springs. Bronze Age parallels and a structuralist analysis of the symbolic code of vishaps suggest that they reflect a cult based on a dual origin of water, a subterranean and a ce­lestial origin. Specifically, we argue that they represent a local numinous entity connected with the idea of vast, primaeval expanses of subterranean water as the origin of the water of mountain springs, rivers, and lakes, but also of life and wisdom. Conversely, we propose to interpret connected stelae decorated with images of caprid hides as images of bloody sacrifices to a local storm god, based on a cultic offering of blood in exchange for rainfall water.

À peine quelques jours après l'ouverture de la nouvelle exposition «Mégalithes d'ici, Mégalithes d'ailleurs» proposée par le Laboratoire d'archéologie préhistorique et anthropologie, la crise du coronavirus nous a contraint de fermer nos portes.

En attendant la réouverture de la salle, prévue pour le 1 er septembre, nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter à découvrir cette exposition dans un format virtuel accessible par ce lien : http://www.unige.ch/expositions-virtuelles/megalithes/

Research on the third millennium BC in Western Europe has tried for decades to understand the mechanisms of the large-scale cultural changes that took place during its course. Few studies have focused on technological traditions, although these are key to considering continuities and disruptions. In this article, we used pottery technology to approach the evolution of social and symbolic practices at a major megalithic site in Switzerland: the necropolis of Sion, Petit-Chasseur (Valais). We reconstructed technological traditions for the Valaisian Final Neolithic (3100–2450 BC), the Bell Beaker Culture (2450–2200 BC), and the Early Bronze Age (2200–1600 BC). This was done using the chaîne opératoire approach, analyzing fashioning methods, finishing treatments, and decoration. The sequence of these technological traditions, along with architectural and historical aspects, confirms that significant breaks happened during the use of the site with specific traits coinciding with the emergence of the Bell Beaker Culture and then again with the Early Bronze Age. These findings support the idea that the transition between the Final Neolithic and the latter periods marked an important cultural and symbolic shift in Western Europe and that this shift was, at least in Western Switzerland, linked to several exogenous components.

Manuscript Draft Manuscript Number: JARM-123
This paper offers a précis of the methodology and results of a research project on standing stones in western Scotland. The focus is a case-study of sites in Coll and Tiree. Significantly, phenomenology is used as the particular guiding principle for the methodological approach and interpretations for this area. These follow the empirical research used to establish some understanding of standing stones as a group phenomenon across the region. This project includes accurate reconstructions of the paths of astronomical phenomena as seen by the naked eye through the development and use of sophisticated GIS software developed to weave together both sky- and land-scapes in one viewing. In this way, the dominant visualscapes of various peoples pasts are revealed and so too something of their belief systems.

Our research on Megalithic Art in the Iberian Peninsula covers questions related to the role of human figures in domestic
and funerary contexts of megalithism. In this paper we intend to analyse the graphic and ideological course manifested by the
representation of armed figures in northern Iberia. The emergence of metal weapons does not imply a drastic ideological change but
rather the transformation and use of already known mythologies to justify the prominent position of leaders who reiterate the graphic
and funerary gestures of their ancestors. They set up as heirs of the tradition. At present, graphic representations assists in the
analysis of significant aspects related with metallurgy in this area, supporting more complex perspectives than those traditionally
admitted and disqualifying categorical statements about a degree of marginalization, which has never been documented by
archaeological evidence. The study of the armed stela of Soalar, Navarra, provide elements for discussing the role of armed figures
in Northern Iberia as well as issues on the presence or absence of specific weapons typologies, especially halberds. Statues, stelae,
menhirs and decorated stones allow us to reconstruct an aggregated population model that, perhaps from the Mesolithic onwards,
associates domestic areas and funerary monuments presided by anthropomorphic images. The respect for the memory of the
ancestors enjoys a wide validity. Also, the confluence of later structures, like the stone settings of Sejos, Peña Oviedo or Soalar,
allied to the use of natural caves in the 1st millennium BC, confirm that this memory still endorses the settlement of groups in the
same territories. Naming these territories as ‘traditional’ is consistent with their constant use and, above all, relates with the
ideological justification used by their inhabitants that rests upon long-standing consuetudinary recognition up to the Iron Age.
Keywords: Neolithic, Copper Age; metalwork; ancestors; graphic expressions