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Menhirs & Cupule rocks
The Menhirs
The stone monoliths stand in all their impressive mystique, bearing their etched and one time actually painted engravings for the world to see. Simultaneously to the ice age men and as a result of the first copper smelting techniques, male, female and neuter stelae figures were strewn along the Alpine mountain ranges and are nowadays classified into groups based on their etched engravings and elements. The eleven menhirs located in South Tyrol plus the seven in the Trento regional districts belong to what is currently defined as being the Etsch Valley group. Common to all stones, are the engravings of a fringed cape decorated with vertical stripes. The male stelae also bear etchings of triangular blade daggers (as in the Upper Italian Remedello Culture), sometimes affixed to beaded neck rings or ornamental disks with additional engravings of hatchets with knee-bent handles, halberds, battle axes, clubs and bows and arrows. The female stelae instead bear etchings of chain necklaces, double spiral-shaped trinkets and medallions as well as dress decorations such as hair bands with mother of pearl plaques or brass pendants. Comparison with tomb and grave excavations and other hoard findings have enabled tracing of the eternally engraved menhir etchings, to as far back as the Calcolithic period (3300 to 2200 B.C.). The erection of such stelae in places of worship and to mark burial grounds was surely an extremely creative feat that encompassed the selection of the right material, raw hewing and carving of the stone, the transport, setting and completion processes of the figure in its chosen settings.
The engraved Menhirs reproduce the ideologically religious hemisphere inhabited by the myths and heroes of our forefathers. They also depict the very beginnings of class differentiation based on social positions and roles resulting from early stages of social wealth connected with copper production yields.
The Engraved Menhir in Latsch
In 1992 in the church "Unsere liebe Frau auf dem Bichl" the Latsch standing stone (3300-2200 B.C.)was found during restoration work by the State Monument Authorities.The stele, which is made from the finest Vinschgau marble, formed the supporting surface of the altar table. The top and bottom parts as well parts of the left upper side of the 107 cm high, 77 cm wide and 12 cm thick stone are missing. It was probably originally located around where the current church stands on the hill and would thus have been visible from afar. As well as the iconic features common to all the male engraved stones from the Etsch valley group, such as scalloped belts, axes, daggers, clubs, bows, various decorative elements and fringed capes, elements
are present that belong to the Lombardy group from Val Camonica and Valtellina, such as suns, deer and a stylised male figure. Thus the Latsch standing stone is great proof of the ancient connection of the Vinschgau and the Etsch valley and the valleys of north-eastern Lombardy.
Guided tours: Every Monday from 18.04. to 24.10.2011
Meeting point: 3:30 p.m. in the Latsch tourism office. (Easter and Whitsun on Saturdays at 10:00 a.m.)
Participation: 5,00 €/person
Cupule engravings
Cupule rock art decorations are nowadays found to be a worldwide spread phenomenon and just as mysterious as menhir standing stones. A varied selection of such cupules consisting in different sized cup-shaped engravings, hand carved by man on stone and rock surfaces, have also been discovered on the Sonnenberg mountain slopes between Kastelbell and Goldrain. They are arranged in either isolated or group settings, alongside paths and road tracks, streams and waterways and are often located on the most exposed rock outcroppings.
Proven archaeological evidence establishes that the beginnings of cupule engravings date back to the Neolithic (with some dating even as far back as the Mesolithic) era. The bronze age too provides records of cupule rock art, up towards the end of the iron age, where the production of cupules then slowly fades away. Even though Christianity is evidently well established by the time, this form of rock art is apparently picked up again towards the end of the early Middle Ages, with a second bout flourishing around the High Middle Ages. It then definitely disappears around the early 18th Century.
The cupules come in various shapes and sizes: conical cavities engraved in 3 to 5 cm widths and 2 to 4 cm deep with supplementary grooves, gouges, crosses and magic quadrilaterals. There is still plenty of speculation going on concerning their functions and uses. Could they have been small sacrificial bowls, celestial charts, or places of worship to sun and fertility gods and to the shamans of old? Might they have been rock art engravings and petroglyphs, or simply signs engraved to lead the way? The need for a bit of magic rock powder, dug out for its miraculous healing effects? Or simply carvings carefully gouged out of the rocks and reused to ward off witches and witchcraft from the medieval household thresholds?
Sun, Menhirs, Cupules and Churches
Since time immemorial the sky and all its celestial bodies, the sun being definitely the most important, have been associated with sacred rites and functions. As does the sun, for most religions, resemble light and divinity. Of all the menhirs belonging to the Etsch Valley group, it is the Latsch Menhir alone that bears etchings on its rear side, depicting two suns separated by X shaped grooves.Latsch is located in an area that, according to research conducted by Hans Tappeiner, is blessed with a relatively long winter sunshine time span. This is due to the fact that compared with the sun’s orbit, the slopes of the Martell Valley are positioned favourably enough to enable the sun’s cone of light to reach most of the Latsch town districts during the winter months as well. The ensuing shadow that is cast also creates its own very distinct impression, as it comprises an exact line up of the town’s four churches: Saint Nicholas, the Latsch Parish Church, the “Heiligen Geist” Spitalkirche (hospital church) and the "Unsere Liebe Frau auf dem Bichl" church.
The first of December and the 10th of January, the last ray of sunlight sparkles and fades on the "Unsere Liebe Frau auf dem Bichl" church steeple. On the winter solstice it is instead the Latsch Parish Church steeple that is kissed by the last ray of sunlight.
If one looks down towards the Martell valley slopes standing from the "Unsere Liebe Frau auf dem Bichl" church, they form a virtually perfect “V”. The left slope of the “V” is extended along the morainic ridge that houses both the Obermontani Burg complex and the Untermontani Burg ruins.
Is it the exact landscape conformation that the Menhir engravings intended to represent?
Looking from Martell in the “outwards” Valley direction, one can observe that the landscape does in fact form an “X”, with the sun shining steadily and lighting up the valley slopes, whilst casting shadows down along the Vinschgau Valley.
A virtually identical setting can be observed in Plars and Gratsch, near Algund. Here too, the St. Vigiljoch mountain pass slopes down towards Töll create a landscape profile that coincides directly with the sun’s orbit. The first of December and the 10th of January, the sun shining from the Vinschgau Valley lights up the Plars Parish Church and the S. Verena Church in Gratsch. The four Menhirs in Algund and the relevant cupules located along the Sonnenberg sunny mountain slopes form a further parallel comparison with Latsch.
The very same phenomena can also be observed both in St. Sisinius in Laas, with the Prad ridges and the Stilfs furrows, as well as in St. Veit am Tarscher Bichl, with the Calva slopes and the Münstertal furrows.
These very same places might thus originally have been founded as being the ideal venues for sun worshipping and, with the passing of the ages, they progressively drifted into their status as present day Churches.
(Test source Dr. Silvia Renhart – Bichlkirche)
