Page 40 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Italian Riviera

38  INTRODUCING THE IT ALIAN RIVIER A

Prehistoric Liguria

The long rocky coast, with steep, vertical cliffs facing the
sea, made Liguria a particularly attractive destination for
our ancient ancestors. The rise and fall of the sea level,
over the course of millennia, has brought about the
emergence and disappearance of hundreds of caves
which have been inhabited by man since the prehistoric
era. As well as offering coastal shelter, food and fishing
possibilities, Liguria also provided a series of staging
posts between the coast and the hinterland and the
plains of the Po Valley. At the end of the prehistoric era,
man regularly made use of the remote Monte Bego and
the Vallée des Merveilles, just across the border into
France. In the western Riviera, in the meantime, a new Monte Bego
In the area around Monte Bego
urban and military set-up had emerged: the settlements (a sacred mountain), and in the
known as castellari, which protected villages and Vallée des Merveilles, prehistoric
pastures from invasion by peoples approaching from man has left more than 100,000 rock
the sea, intent on expanding their dominion in carvings of religious significance on
rocks smoothed and etched by the
the hinterland. passing of ancient glaciers.

The Triplice Sepoltura
(Triple Grave)
Found in the Barma Grande at
Balzi Rossi, this provides important
evidence of human presence
in the area. Accompanying Pieve di Teco
the skeletons of one adult,
a boy and a girl, was a
rich collection of Triora
funerary objects.

Imperia
Taggia
San Remo
Ventimiglia
The caves of the Balzi Rossi form part of a
reddish, calcareous wall jutting out over the
sea. There are 12 caves altogether.

Craftmanship in Liguria
The first crafts to be discovered in
the region date back 35,000 years,
to the late Palaeolithic period. Treasures
from the Balzi Rossi caves (now in the
museum) include a unique Przewalski
Horse incised on a wall of the Grotta del
Caviglione 20,000 years ago, and 15
Venus soapstone Venus figurines, symbols of
fertility, found in the Barma Grande.
figure Przewalski horse

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