TheTorrean civilization was aBronze Agemegalithic civilization that developed inSouthernCorsica, mostly concentrated south ofAjaccio, during the second half of the second millennium BC.
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The characteristic buildings of this culture are thetorri ("towers"), megalithic structures similar to theSardiniannuraghes, from which the culture takes its name, and thecastelli ("castles"), more complex buildings that include a wall, a tower and huts.
According to preliminary investigations conducted during the 1950s by the French scholarRoger Grosjean, the Torrean civilization began when, at the end of the second millennium BC, theSea People known asSherden landed on the island from theEastern Mediterranean, subduing the native megalithic population. The Sherden broughtmetallurgy to the island and built thetorri, which Grosjean thought were temples dedicated to the worship of fire and the dead. They also erectedstatue menhir representing their leaders armed with swords and a horned helmet, similar to the Sherden immortalized in the temple ofMedinet Habu inEgypt.[1]
Currently, the Torrean civilization is seen as an indigenous civilization, and the result of a local evolution started since theNeolithic[2] with possibleSardinian (Bonnanaro culture),North Italian (Polada culture) and laterCentral Italian (Apennine culture) influences.[1][3][4] 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 firstprotonuraghes in Sardinia.[5] Also, contrary to what Grosjean thought, metallurgy had existed in Corsica for centuries before the supposed "arrival of the Sherden nearPorto Vecchio."[1] The Terrina site, nearAleria, shows that the processing of copper had spread on the island from the early centuries of the third millennium B.C.
However, some scholars think that Sherden may have migrated to Corsica from the west (Sardinia) instead of the east,[6] and that they themselves pushed toward theEastern Mediterranean for piracy, possibly in the pay of theMycenaean lords.[1]
During theIron Age, the towers and castles were still occupied,[7] but the relationships with Sardinia become less intense (the characteristicNuragic bronze statuettes are absent in Corsica), while in the north there were increasing contacts withTuscany andLiguria.[8]
The Torrean civilization disappeared in the middle of thefirst millennium BC, when Corsica was settled by theLigurians, theGreeks ofPhocaea, theEtruscans, theCarthaginians, and then theRomans.
The Torrean people might be associated with theCorsi, a people that lived inCorsica and north-eastSardinia duringRoman times, described as one of the main tribal groups of the two islands together with the SardinianIlienses and theBalares. TheCorsi were in turn divided into several other tribes that dwelt in Corsica: theBelatoni,Cervini,Cilibensi,Cumanesi,Licinini,Macrini,Opini,Subasani,Sumbri,Tarabeni,Titiani, andVenacini. PotentialCorsi tribes in Nuragic Sardinia included the properCorsi, from whomCorsica derives its name, and who dwelt at the extreme north-east ofSardinia; Longonensi; and theTibulati, who dwelt at the extreme north of Sardinia, around the ancient city ofTibula.
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 smallchiefdoms that dominated the valleys.[9]
The representations in anthropomorphic statues reflect ahierarchical 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.[3]
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 stonecists) and thedolmens.[3]
The economy was based mainly on agriculture and livestock, particularly of cattle, goats and pigs. In Bronze Age Corsica there was a notable expansion inmetallurgy and trade with the East, as evidenced by the discovery atBorgo of a copperoxhide ingot and somecobalt beads, goods coming fromCyprus and theAegean, respectively. However, there have been only sporadic discoveries of Mycenaean goods, which are quite common in Sardinia.
