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The Torrean civilization was a Bronze Age megalithic civilization that developed in Corsica, mostly in the area south of Ajaccio, during the second half of the seconnd millennium BC.
Contents
History
The characteristic buildings of this culture are the "torri" (towers), megalithic structures similar to the Sardinian nuraghes (although the torri were smaller and less impressive), from which the culture takes its name, and the castelli (castles), more complex buildings that include a wall, a tower and huts.
According to preliminary investigations conducted during the 1950s by the French scholar Roger Grosjean, the Torrean civilization began when, at the end of the second millennium BC, the Sea People known as Sherden landed on the island from the Eastern Mediterranean, subduing the native megalithic population. The Sherden brought metallurgy to the island and built the torri, which Grosjean thought were temples dedicated to the worship of fire and the dead. They also erected statue menhir representing their leaders armed with swords and a horned helmet, similar to the Sherden immortalized in the temple of Medinet Habu in Egypt.
Currently, the Torrean civilization is seen as an indigenous civilization, the result of a local evolution started since the Neolithic with possible Sardinian (Bonnanaro culture), North Italian (Polada culture) and later Central Italian (Apennine culture) influences. In fact, according to modern dating, the first towers and castles were built a millennium earlier than Grosjean thought, at the end of the third millennium BC, at the same time or even before the appearance of the first protonuraghi in Sardinia. Also contrary to what Grosjean thought. metallurgy had existed in Corsica for centuries before the supposed "arrival of Shardana near Porto Vecchio." the Terrina site, near Aleria, shows that the processing of copper had spread on the island from the early centuries of the third millennium B.C.
However, some scholars still think that Sherden may have migrated to Corsica, although possibly from the west instead of the east, and that they themselves pushed toward the Eastern Mediterranean for piracy, possibly in the pay of the Mycenaean lords.
During the Iron Age, the towers and castles were still occupied, but the relationships with Sardinia become less intense (the characteristic bronzetti are absent in Corsica), while in the north there were increasing contacts with Tuscany and Liguria.
The Torrean civilization disappeared in the middle of the first millennium BC when Corsica was settled by the Greeks of Phocaea, the Etruscans, the Carthaginians, and then the Romans.
The Torrean people are probably identifiable with the Corsi, a people that lived in Corsica and north-east Sardinia during Roman times, described as one of the main ethnic groups of the islands together with the Ilienses and the Balares of Sardinia. The Corsi were formed by several ancient tribes that dwelt in Corsica: (Belatoni), Cervini, (Cilibensi), (Cumanesi), Licinini, Macrini, Opini, Subasani, Sumbri, Tarabeni, Titiani, and Venacini. Potential Corsi tribes in Sardinia included the Corsi Proper (for whom Corsica is named), who dwelt at the extreme north-east of Sardinia; Longonensi; and Tibulati, who dwelt at the extreme north of Sardinia, around the ancient city of Tibula.
Politics
The Torrean society was not organized into a complex political system with a strong central power; the villages of huts at the foot of the castles rather indicate that it was structured into small chiefdoms that dominated the valleys.
Society
The representations in anthropomorphic statues reflect a hierarchical society led by a warrior class that flaunted its military virtues. Some interpretations also reveal the existence of lower classes such as traders and craftsmen.
Religion
Torrean buildings with specifically religious functions are unknown, making it difficult to identify a possible priestly caste; religiosity was expressed, as in the past, in the maintenance of places like coffres (circular tombs with stone cists) and the dolmens.
Economy
The economy was based mainly on agriculture and livestock, particularly of cattle, goats and pigs. In Bronze Age Corsica there was a notable expansion in metallurgy and trade with the East, as evidenced by the discovery at Borgo of a copper oxhide ingot and some cobalt beads, goods coming from Cyprus and the Aegean, respectively. However, there have been only sporadic discoveries of Mycenaean goods, which are quite common in Sardinia.