Étude de provenance et implications économico-culturelles des parures vitreuses et résineuses du Bronze moyen de l’abri 1 de Campu Stefanu (Sollacaro, Corse-du-Sud)

What is it about?

Archaeological excavations at the Bronze Age settlement of Campu Stefanu (Corsica) have been conducted between 2005 and 2011. These excavations investigated a house built during the Early Bronze Age and a natural shelter with a stratigraphy dating from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age. In the shelter, the Middle Bronze Age levels yielded a necklace made of vitreous and resinous beads. A radiocarbon dating showed these artifacts were deposited during the 13th century BC (last part of the Middle Bronze Age). The range of shapes identified for the resinous artifacts shows similarities with forms diffused in the Aegean area during the Late Helladic period. Their analysis by Infrared and Raman spectroscopies have identified amber of Baltic origin. Glass beads, analysed using LA-ICP-MS, have exhibited an elemental composition indicating a Mesopotamian origin of the raw glass. The identification of an Eastern provenance for this exceptional assemblage is fueling the debate concerning the place of Corsica in the exchange networks linking up the Eastern and Western Mediterranean basins during the second part of the 2nd millennium BC.

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