* Name UNESCO
** UNESCO Geographical Classification change

The rock art of Valcamonica is one of the largest collections of petroglyphs in the prehistoric world or even 300 000 . Petroglyphs are found throughout the valley but are concentrated in the areas of Boario Terme , Capo di Ponte , Nadro , Cimbergo and Paspardo.

Summary 1 Features 2 Chronology 2.1 Epipaleolithic 2.2 Neolithic 2.3 Age copper 2.4 Bronze Age 2.5 Age of Iron 2.6 Ancient Rome 2.7 Middle Ages Discovery 3 4 Parks Rock Art 5 Notes 6 Related articles 7 External links

Features

The incisions were made over 8000 years, from the Iron Age (first millennium BC) . The petroglyphs are attributed to recent population Camunni mentioned by Latin sources. Petroglyph tradition does not stop abruptly, a very small number of prints - nothing like the prehistoric activity - was awarded to Roman times, medieval or even contemporary, until the nineteenth ^century . Most of the cuts were obtained by the technique of picketing, supplemented by some graffiti .

The figures are sometimes simply stacked without apparent order, but often appear logical relationship between them . Their function is linked to rituals of celebration, remembrance, initiatory and propitiatory, which were held on special occasions, unique or recurrent . Among the best known symbols in Valcamonica stands the so-called "Rosa Camuna (Camunian pink), which was adopted as the official symbol of Lombardy.

Chronology

In the 1960s, archaeologist Emmanuel Anati was one of the first to systematically study all the engravings. He proposed a chronology of rock engravings, based on the style and types of symbols to identify possible correlations with the traditional division into periods from prehistory to the Middle Ages .

Epipaleolithic

According to some researchers the first etching are believed to be Epipaleolithic (VIII - sixth millennium BC approximately), several millennia after the retreat of the glacier that covered the Valcamonica ( Wrm glaciation ). They have been the work of nomadic hunters who followed the passage of animal migration. These prints would be present in the city of Boario Terme Parco comunale delle in Incisioni rupestri di Luine. It goes without saying that these cultural chrono functions are far from unanimous among scientists, and certainly lack of reliable evidence to be accepted without some serious reservations ..

Neolithic

With the Neolithic (V - about the fourth millennium BC) appear farming practices and the first sedentary settlements in Valcamonica. In the field of rock art, performances, some of which date back to Neolithic think they are human figures and sets of geometric elements (rectangles, circles, points). However, again, the truly scientific arguments are severely lacking. Indeed, it is necessary in order to assign an age to a rock carving, or find the stratigraphic situation in which carbon-14 dating, is found in its representations of markers such as weapons and tools (or even some domestic animals like horse for example) that are known to not appear before a certain date. It goes without saying that before the emergence of metallurgy archaeologist has little evidence to judge (as stone tools and with little variety of forms extremely stable throughout the Neolithic), about the horse he n is not attested before the Iron Age ..

Copper Age

During the Copper Age (or Chalcolithic, around the third millennium BC) appear the wheel, the carriage and the first forms of the metal. We are witnessing the creation of menhir statues decorated with celestial symbols, animals, weapons and scenes of plowing, the ranks of human beings and other signs. These monuments, mainly located at the Parco Archeologico Nazionale dei Massi di Cemmo and that of Asinino-Anvia ( Ossimo ), has a ritual function .

Bronze Age

With the Bronze Age (second millennium BC approximately), the engravings on rock outcrops take up the theme of weapons, reflecting the increased importance given to the warriors in the old society Camuna and the geometric shapes (circles and variants) in continuity with earlier periods .

Iron Age

The engravings of the Iron Age (first millennium BC) are allocated to population Camunni and constitute about 70 to 80% of all works identified. They show the heroic ideal of masculinity dominate representations of duels and human figures, displaying their arms, their muscles and genitals. There are also cabins, mazes, footprints, hunting scenes, lattices and various symbols .

Ancient Rome

During the Roman domination of Valcamonica (I - V century AD) the business of engraving has been a sharp and has entered a phase of latency ^, .

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages in Valcamonica marked a resumption of engravings: Christian symbols (crosses and keys) were added to pagan backgrounds in an attempt to Christianize places .

Discovery

The first report on the rock carvings date from 1909 , when Walter Laeng (Italianized Gualtiero) reported to the National Committee for the Protection of Monuments colored nearly two blocks Cemmo. Only in the 1920s that the rocks have met the interest of some researchers, such as Giovanni Bonafini, geologist Squinabol Xenophon and, from 1929, the anthropologist Turin Giovanni Marro and archaeologist Florentine Paolo Graziosi. Soon, many recordings are found on the rocks surrounding the research and by Marro, are also conducted by Raffaele Battaglia for the account, of the Archaeological Superintendence of Padua .

In the 1930s, the reputation of the cuts spread throughout the Italy and abroad, so in 1935 and 1937 a massive study was conducted by German Franz Altheim and Erika Trautmann. Altheim proposed an ideological reading Nazi engravings, seeking to identify them as a testimony of the supposed Aryan ancestry. This reading was soon imitated by a version fascist given by Marro .

Mapping and identification of works resumed after the Second World War , as conducted by scholars of the new Museum of Natural Sciences Brescia edited by Laeng, as by national and international experts. In 1955, the Parco Nazionale delle Incisioni rupestri di Naquane was created at the initiative of the Archaeological Superintendence of Lombardy .

In 1956 began the exploration of Emmanuel Anati who discovered new petroglyphs and conducted a systematic observation of this heritage and these studies have enabled him to publish in 1960 the first volume of general synthesis on the theme of civilization Valcamonica. The same Anati founded in 1964 the Centro di Studi Camuno Preistorici (CPSC) responsible for the systematic search, printing and distribution of different volumes and the publication of the Bollettino del Centro di Studi Camuno Preistorici (BCCSP). In 1968 was organized Valcamonica Symposium, the first in a long series of conferences convened in Valcamonica many art experts and prehistoric life .

After inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage 29 March 1979 , held in Milan, the exhibition I Camuni, alle civilt europea della Radici ( 1982 ).

Parks of rock art

The rock carvings are presented in eight theme parks:

No.	Name	Common	Contact	Image Gallery
1.		Capo di Ponte	46 01'32 "N 10 20'57" E / 46.02556, 10.34917
2.		Capo di Ponte	46 01'52 "N 10 20'20" E / 46.03111, 10.33889
3.		Capo di Ponte	46 02'00 "N 10 20'29" E / 46.033333, 10.34139
4.		Ossimo	45 57'19 "N 10 14'47" E / 45.95528, 10.24639
5.		Boario Terme	45 53'20 "N 10 10'46" E / 45.88889, 10.17944
6.		Sellero	46 03'26 "N 10 20'29" E / 46.05722, 10.34139
7.		Sonico	46 10'7 "N 10 21'20" E / 46.16861, 10.35556
8.		Ceto (Nadro) Cimbergo Paspardo	46 01'6 "N 10 21'10" E / 46.01833, 10.35278

Notes

Related articles

• Camunni
• Valcamonica
• Emmanuel Anati
• Valley of Wonders

External Links

• Map: 46 01'26 "N 10 21'00" E / 46.02389, 10.35
• (It) The rock art of Valcamonica, cards and pictures - The traces of man
• (En) Unesco 94