Corso Saint-Martin de Corléans lies in the Aosta valley in northern Italy. A dolmen excavated here in 1969 produced a wealth of objects and artefacts covering a time span of 5,000 years from the Stone Age to the present day.
A museum now stands on the spot surrounding the excavation site and the dolmen and the finds can now be seen inside the museum.
The displays in the museum cover five periods, from the New Stone Age (end of the 5th millennium BC), through the Copper Age (4th – 3rd millennium BC) up to the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC). The exhibition explains how the site began as a holy place where rituals were performed and later (in the third millennium BC) expanded into an important burial site with graves and megalithic monuments of various kinds.
In a later period (beginning in the third millennium BC) a row of 24 wooden totem poles was erected, later to be replaced by large steles (stone tablets or pillars bearing carved inscriptions) displaying human traits.
One of the most striking megalithic monuments is Tomb 2, in which were found the remains of 39 people. This tomb was in use for almost 1,000 years.
You can find more information about the museum in English at:
Not far from here is another archaeological museum:
http://www.lovevda.it/en/database/8/museums/aosta/mar-regional-archaeological-museum/723
The address for visitors is: Piazza Pierre-Leonard Roncas, 12, 11100 Aosta AO, Italië
Text Harrie Wolters
Translation Alun Harvey
