Pontevecchio

Pontevecchio, in Bardine in the municipality of Fivizzano, is surely the most important place in Lunigiana among those discovered in two hundred years of studies on Stele Statues. These stone sculptures with a stylized humanoid appearance had a function that still remains a mystery to this day: it is speculated that they represented ancient local divinities or that they were funerary symbols or memorials; what is certain is that they testify to the culture and spirituality of the ancient populations who inhabited Lunigiana.

Found in 1905 by locals during work in a fruit chestnut grove, the Pontevecchio stele statues belong to the oldest group and represent something never witnessed before: nine perfectly aligned menhirs at what was a strategic point along prehistoric routes in eastern Lunigiana.

Eight of these stele statues were found perfectly intact, only one partially damaged.

Carbon-14 analyses have allowed the area where the menhirs were placed to be dated to the 4th millennium BC, furthermore, from the studies carried out, it is believed that this was a real ‘cultural area’ placed at crossing point of the prehistoric routes where everyone had to pass by. Probably the burial ceremonial was very complex and happened in several places, different and even distant from each other, so Pontevecchio was a stage, perhaps the initial one, while the final one could be in a cave where the ashes were deposited.

In fact, not far from Pontevecchio is the Tecchia di Tenerano, a natural cavity dug into the Apuan limestone, in which artifacts compatible with this function have been found, as well as human bones, animal remains and ceramic fragments indicating its frequentation as early as Neolithic times.

This ancient shelter under the rock, discovered in 1865 by geologist Iginio Cocchi from Lunigiana, is located at an elevation of 480 m and consists of an entrance of about 43 m of width and a hall of about 100 m of depth, 60 m wide and about 20 m height, in which during non-drought periods is present a small lake and whose vault is adorned with stalactites.