Close to the village of Lumio, the spur of Monte Ortu seems to have caught the attention of Neolithic groups and especially the Bronze Age for essentially defensive. The steepness of its flanks and the establishment of a chamber large or very large boulders seem to demonstrate. The elongated spur, which rises to 213 m, dominates the bay and the hinterland of Calvi. It is a typical element of the landscape Balagne.
The area north of the summit of the spur combines nine terraces located in the middle of granitic rocks of imposing size. These terraces, whose area is quite cramped, seem to form a natural organization able to promote or even cause a settlement. Even if they are at slightly different altitudes, they communicate easily between them, in fact, none of these flats is isolated. While the west side door of an enclosure inhabited area of large boulders (some have a width substantially greater than 2 m), alignment of elements placed on the granite bedrock. The Wall is interrupted several times, with some blocks could slide down the slope.
After a drilling campaign in 1978, excavations on Monte Ortu took place from 1981 to 1993 at a rate of one month per year.
This work has unquestionably brought a lot of valuable new information and helped consolidate a number of ideas generated during other studies or excavations.
First, we must stress the complementarity of the two benches exploited, decks 4 and 8. These places have been visited at the same time (so that the Bronze Age is represented in both sectors interested in key sequences), but it is equally obvious that developments medieval focus on the fifteenth century of our era, concern only the flat top, which is also the case of Bronze Age or the Middle Bronze Age. In terms of the Neolithic, it is more difficult to decide because the basis of filling the terrace 4 has not been completely stripped.
Then, the number of organized soil uncovered soil entirely or almost entirely, is quite important. For a period from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages, we can now reconstruct the evolution of the local habitat and an acceptable offer at least refund graphics. Indeed, among the noteworthy documents uncovered during the various excavations, mention the two cabins of terraces 4 and 8. The home of the Bronze Age of first flat extensive use of natural rock abutments place. A beautiful home appliances, a tiled floor and an entry in the rock are the essential characteristics of this cabin roof a slope. As for the habitat structure of the deck 8, the announcement of modern forms of construction: significant area, two additional documents, gabled roof and mud walls. Moreover, unlike the early Bronze Age, it carefully avoids the strong rock abutments, probably for reasons of runoff. This new design is perhaps one explanation is that the station was influenced Balagne a current emphasis, in this case subapenninique.
If multiple levels reveal indisputable habitats, there are few, on the terrace, 8 which may correspond to sites that specialize in certain activities related to cooking.
One fact deserves a brief comment: the use and regulation of several rock masses of the site, to facilitate the transition between two flats (eg between terraces
6 and 8) or to install a home. It is also one of the characters of ancient or traditional home of Corsica.
Only Late Bronze Age appears to have interested the entire site, at which time there was a village at the Monte Ortu well organized and defended retaining a substantial population. However, it should not be forgotten that the prehistoric occupation also extended at the foot of the high rocky area studied so far.
The site still shows land tenure evolved from the Neolithic and Neolithic terminal, echoing the findings of the nearby site of A Fuat. But also, more surprisingly, the remains of the Neolithic, found primarily in connection with surface collections made in sunken relief, in an area easily accessible. The nature of this site is also quite comparable to other facilities Balagne this phase.
Several stages of evolution of the station have been dated by the method Carbon 14:
-Early Bronze Age (1540 ± 100 RC. for the layer ID of the survey 2 of terrace 4); it
Bronze (900 and 880 ± 60 BC for the layer of the terrace na 8);
-the Middle Ages (1420 ± 80 AD for layer 2 Th survey of the terrace 4).
If we consider that the remains of Neolithic date back to the sixth millennium BC and that they evolved from the Neolithic-terminal part at least the third millennium, we realize that this deposit of Balagne Western, by the number of millennia concerned but also and above all, we have seen, because of the originality and the importance of documentation, is one of the most significant archaeological point of the whole island.
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