Statue-menhirs, Human Remains and Mana at the Ossimo ‘Anvòia’ Ceremonial Site, Val Camonica

Abstract

Survey in 1988 brought to light statue-menhirs in their primary context at Anvòia and Plassagróp, two sites near Ossimo in Val Camonica. Detailed excavation of the Anvòia site in 1988–2002 has provided substantial information about Copper Age ritual sites in the valley and the Central Alps, particularly the finding that human skeletal remains were introduced and ritually treated at Anvòia. Such contextual data modify interpretation of the symbolic monoliths that define such sites. Here a brief account of the site and excavations is given, with particular attention to ritual behaviour, the sense of place and ideology. An ideology of ancestors and memory may have provided the context for statue-menhir sites in the Copper Age (3rd millennium BC) Alps.