It Belongs In a Museum

We had made tentative reservations for the mining tour today. It was dependent on having at least two other people for the underground tour. Unfortunately, no one else signed up. However, they told us that we could join the tour at the same time the next day. So instead we decided to go to the Archaeological Museum, right next door to our rental.

We walked into where we thought was the Museum and were surprised to find out we were actually in the Tourist Office. Whoops. We took advantage of our mistake and spent some time with Milena. She pointed out a bunch of places that we should take a look at. 

Since we had already covered most of what Massa had to see, she pointed out a few places in the nearby areas. I guess we won't be short on places to visit for awhile. I list them here, mostly for our own reference.

• Lago dell'Accesa (after we visit the Archaeological museum)
• Valipiana (for the Aquarium)
• Marina Di Scarlino
• Villa Colle Felice
• Castiglione della Pescaia
• Tatti
• Roccatederighi
• Roccastrada
• Monterotondo Marittimo

She sent us off with a bunch of maps and then directed us next door to the Museum.

  

Between 10 and 5 million years ago, the territory in Massa Marittima was inhabited by an anthropomorphic primate, Oreopithecus Bamboli. Namely the ape (pithecus) of Mount (oreos) Bamboli where the first mandible had been found in 1862.

In 1958 Dr. Johannes Hürzeler discovered a complete fossil of Oreopithecus still in "anatomical connection" in a recently detonated mine.

In 1783, this small bronze statue was discovered during the construction of the road between Massa and Follonica. The statue was donated to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Peter Leopold. It depicts the Greek hero Heracles (the Roman Hercules) cloaked with the skin of the Lion of Nemea which he slayed in the first of the twelve labors. 

stelae statue or menhir (Breton men=stone and hir=long)

It is believed that the stelae were in some way connected to funeral rites and/or the worship of deities. In all probability they had symbolic implications tied-in to religion, possibly representing celestial gods, mythical ancestors or chieftains. The images of these protective entities were placed as landmarks guarding specific routes.

Oddly enough, this was not the first time I had come across a menhir since I arrived in Italy. The first time was when I was reading my comics from the library. Here is Obelix with his menhir.

Funny, right?

The settlement of L'Accesa is currently the largest among those investigated in Etruria. It represents a settlement model that was not known until its discovery. The settlement is subdivided into smaller districts each consisting of a maximum of ten buildings. The districts infer a social structure based on family clans and may be related to the nearby deposits of lead, iron, copper and silver. To date, five districts have been fully excavated.

They had many many exhibits of items found in the Lago L'Accesa site that now, it makes sense to visit the site. But for today, the only thing left to do was walk to Coop. And look what happened, a panettone / pandora explosion! And this was only one of the displays.

Some are filled with nutella, pistachio cream, lemon cream, chocolate bits so many choices! But for now, we still have to finish the one we bought at La Novella.

A dopo!