Museo e Area Archeologica della Maddalena di Chiomonte

Archaeological museum opened in 2004 with prehistoric and protohistoric finds from the Maddalena site, from the Late Neolithic to the Second Iron Age; currently closed.

Temporarily closed

Website Directions

Temporarily closed. The museum's website reports that the museum and archaeological area are temporarily closed, with no reopening date given.

About the museum

The Chiomonte archaeological museum, opened in June 2004, documents the prehistory and protohistory of the Maddalena site, from the Late Neolithic (last quarter of the 5th millennium BC) to the Second Iron Age (4th century BC). The finds come from the adjacent archaeological area, investigated in excavations linked to the construction of the Fréjus motorway between 1986 and 1992, and in subsequent research by the Soprintendenza (heritage authority).

The exhibition is arranged in chronological order and takes visitors through the daily life of an Alpine settlement six thousand years ago, with pottery, stone tools, traces of dwellings and the tombs of the Late Neolithic necropolis; on the upper floor a rich Middle Iron Age female burial is presented. The materials belong to a community of farmers and herders linked to the Chassey culture, in the western Alpine arc.

The guided visit is completed by a route through the contiguous archaeological area, with the large rock shelters and, near the entrances to the Ramat tunnel (galleria Ramat), the late Neolithic necropolis with ten stone-cist tombs.

Highlights

Chronological route from the Late Neolithic to the Second Iron Age
Female burial from the Middle Iron Age
Pottery and tools in polished green stone and flint
Archaeological area with rock shelters and Late Neolithic necropolis