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Le site de Balchiria est localisé dans la région de Sartène (Corse du Sud) sur un petit plateau granitique d'une vingtaine d'hectares situé à la jonction des vallées de la Conca et de l'Avena, au sein d'un territoire riche en occupations préhistoriques (les alignements mégalithiques de Palaghju sont localisés à 3,8 km au sud-est). Le site qui s'ouvre en direction du sud-ouest de l'île et plus loin vers la Sardaigne, se caractérisait en surface par une nappe de mobilier lithique. La découverte des deux stèles, suite à des travaux agricoles, a entraîné la mise en œuvre d'une opération de relevés et de prospections géophysiques, suivie par deux campagnes de fouilles programmées ayant entraîné, entre 2021 et 2022, la mise au jour de structures architecturées dont la nature reste à définir. La stèle 1, se rapproche de certaines stèles méridionales pré-dolméniques et pré-statues-menhirs. Son iconographie renvoie à des expressions connues dans les productions de diverses cultures néolithiques et notamment au registre iconographique des cultures Ozieri-Sub-Ozieri. La stèle 2 correspond à un modèle qui apparaît sur le continent dès le Ve millénaire. The Balchiria site is located in the region of Sartène (South Corsica) on a small granite plateau of about twenty hectares located at the junction of the Conca and Avena valleys, within a territory rich in prehistoric occupations (the megalithic alignments of Palaghju are located 3.8 km to the south-east). The site, which opens up towards the south-west of the island and further towards Sardinia, was characterised on the surface by a layer of lithic material and the suspected presence of a dismantled megalithic monument. The discovery of the two stelae, following agricultural work, led to the implementation of a geophysical survey and prospection operation, followed by two programmed excavation campaigns which led, between 2021 and 2022, to the discovery of architectural structures whose nature remains to be defined. Stele 1 is similar to certain southern pre-Dolmenic and pre-statue-menhirs stele. Its iconography refers to expressions known in the productions of various Neolithic cultures and in particular to the iconographic register of the Ozieri-Sub-Ozieri cultures. Stele 2 corresponds to a model that appeared on the continent from the 5th millennium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The provenance of twelve un-worked blocks and one part-knapped block recovered from the surface of five Middle Neolithic sites in the vicinity of Porto Vecchio, southeastern Corsica (western Mediterranean), was determined by ion beam analysis (PIXE). This is the first such discovery on Corsica of actual raw blocks of this exotic material. Twelve of these samples come from sources associated with the Monte Arci volcanic complex of Central-West Sardinia, with six each of the SA and SC chemical types. The only possible origin for the remaining block is Lipari, a raw material previously only attested by three artifacts from a Neolithic site of NW Corsica. This piece is aberrant for its unusual facies and its poor quality, making it quite unsuitable for knapping, and by extent distinct from the high quality glassy obsidian from Lipari that was used regularly by Neolithic peoples. This raises the question of the archaeological significance of this surface find. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The detailed study of the Miocene strata of Bonifacio has revealed an atypical Miogypsinid assemblage. In addition to the three already cited genera, Miogypsinoides, Miogypsina and Miolepidocyclina from this region, Miogypsinodella is for the first time represented by two new species (Mdella corsicana nov. sp. et Mdella pillaria nov.sp.). The stratigraphical ranges of each genus in the Miogypsinidae are not verified here. However, Mdes bantamensis is still present in the Upper Burdigalian and the genus Miogypsinoides is also present in the Lower Langhian. Six species of Miogypsina coexist in the Upper Burdigalian (M. tani, M. globulina, M. intermedia, M. cf. sabahensis, M. cushmani, M. mediterranea) and two species are present in the Lower Langhian (M. antillea, M. digitata). This distribution is apparently an example of palaeoendemism resulting from the geographic isolation and the rotation of the Corso-Sardinian block and also from the palaeogeographical and palaeoecological favourable environment during that time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A complete section of the southern realm of the Variscan orogenic belt can be restored in the Corsica–Sardinia segment. Northern Corsica exposes a nonmetamorphosed Palaeozoic succession lying on Panafrican mica schist related to a microcontinent (most likely Armorica or from a microcontinent from the Hun superterrane) that had drifted away directly from Gondwana. These formations are thrust over the Variscan Internal Zone composed mainly of anatectic high-grade Palaeozoic formations that crop out from central Corsica to northern Sardinia; the metamorphic peak of the eclogite remnants has been dated at c. 420Ma. The Variscan Internal Zone interpreted here as a collision zone, and also the Eovariscan suture, was intruded in Corsica by Mg–K granite from 345 to 335Ma. The thrust of this Internal Zone onto the stack of parautochthonous nappes in central Sardinia is cross-cut by the Posada Asinara dextral shear zone. To the south, parautochthonous nappes overthrust the North-Gondwana margin which displays a possible Panafrican basement topped by an Iglesiente–Sulcis nonmetamorphic/anchimetamorphic Palaeozoic succession. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]