Carved standing stone from Capo di Ponte, Cemmo, Valcamonica in the Italian Alps. c.2500 BC. Standing stones created enduring connections between heaven and earth, and the natural and human worlds. Like Stonehenge this stele was raised as a place or worship. It depicts a fiery sun over gatherings of people, the migration of wild animals and the farming seasons. A band of parallel lines near the base may indicate ploughing or a river. In the age of the first farmers, the heavens governed the timing and tempo of ritual and domestic life.