——————————— Long Stone ———————————

Also “Lapis Longus”, protected by a glass case is a stele of gneiss at the Lungo Piazza d’Armi in Chivasso in the metropolitan city of Turin in Piedmont in Italy.

The stele is about four meters high and one and a half tons heavy. Large round lead-filled cuts from the chains of the pillory stone are reminiscent of similar finds in Mazzè and Lugnacco, underscoring the spread of these types of stelae in the Canavese area. Compare with stelae of the 7th-6th Century BC BC, especially with the stele of the Golasecca culture of Castelletto sopra Ticino, have been made.

In 1499, the stone found near the church of St. Michael was turned into a pillory for the punishment of insolvent debtors and placed in the middle of the Palace Square. This message was made available in 1533 by B. Siccardi with the issuance of a collection of legislation of the municipality of Chivasso. The circumstances of the original discovery of the stele, which was considered a landmark between Piedmont and Lombardy, suggest that a memory of the discovery existed outside the city of Kreis. After the middle of the 17th century, with the renewal of the square, the pillory received its new place on the walls of the western side. With the arrival of the French and the revolutionary ideas in 1798, the stone was removed as a symbol of the past government. At the beginning of the 20th century, the stele was turned into a park bench.

The local historian Luciano Dell’Olmo recognized the significance of the find and pointed it out to the Superintendent, who, after discovering the archaeological interest, prompted the restoration of the stone.

Various elements suggest a dating of the stele of Chivasso in the 7th to 6th century BC. To Chr.