Valcamonica rock carvings

Valcamonica rock carvings
UNESCO world heritage
The Rosa camuna (" Camunian Rose")
National territory:	Italy
Type:	Culture
Criteria :	(iii) (vi)
Surface:	432.3 ha
Buffer zone:	1,018.23 ha
Reference No .:	94
UNESCO region :	Europe and North America
History of enrollment
Enrollment:	1979  ( session 3 )

The rock carvings of the Valcamonica (also Val Camonica ) in Valcamonica in northern Italy in Lombardy , in the province of Brescia, are the world's largest region of prehistoric petroglyphs . The rock art region was in 1979 the first of the UNESCO as a world heritage recognized object in Italy. While UNESCO registered more than 140,000 figures, further discoveries have increased the number to 200,000 mapped objects. Current estimates even assume a total of 300,000 objects. The petroglyphs are mainly concentrated in the vicinity of Darfo Boario Terme , Capo di Ponte ( Parco nazionale delle incisioni rupestri di Naquane ), Nadro , Cimbergo and Paspardo .

The rock carvings are distributed over a distance of 25 kilometers along the valley and are at heights between 20 and 1400 m above sea level. The art of Valcamonica is characterized by a periodic change in styles and motifs over the course of around 10,000 years. They form an archive of European history that extends from the end of the Würme Ice Age to the Roman Empire .

The Valcamonica

The beginnings

The rock carvings , created 12,000 years ago in the Epipalaeolithic , were associated with hunting practices and rituals. The shadowy images show subjects such as fish quivers, spears , large game animals and abstract symbols. The elk , which became extinct in the region at the beginning of the Holocene, is most frequently depicted.

Neolithic

At the beginning of the Neolithic , a new population immigrated and hunters and gatherers were largely displaced . During the 6th millennium BC The rock carving is continued in the changed style. During the northern Italian Neolithic (6000 to 3300 BC), schematized human figures with raised arms ( adorants ) are shown. They are often combined with axes and discs or dogs. Images of gods that seem to derive from Danubian prototypes, as well as hoes and plows, testify to cultural connections.

Changes in composition occur during the Neolithic. The depiction of adorants was mainly combined with objects (axes, discs or animals) or a second anthropomorphic being. The first pet depicted was the dog. Later cattle or goats were added. The number of people acting in one picture is also increasing. Scenes of economic and cultic activity are created. The weapons shown include bows, boomerangs , arrows and spears, as well as agricultural implements.

Pictures of technical achievements ( bow , plow , animal trap and loom ) are typical of the period, but fishing and hunting are depicted as well as agriculture with animal husbandry. The cult of the sun and the dead seem to predominate in religious beliefs. Symbolic animals stand for the worship of divinity . Towards the end of the period, anthropomorphic idols emerged. In the middle of the 4th millennium BC, abstract symbols such as concentric circles, meanders , zigzag patterns and masked faces appear, which indicate a relationship to the megalithic cultures . In addition, weapons (especially axes) are shown in abstract form.

Chalcolithic

From the Chalcolithic (3350 BC) to the beginning of the Bronze Age, new patterns spread in Valcamonica. They are found on statue menhirs and monumental structures. The petroglyphs include axes, double spirals (spectacle spirals), staff daggers (halberds), triangular copper daggers and discs. In addition, human and animal images can still be found. The first two-wheeled carts and four-wheeled wagons are shown.

These symbolic-religious ornaments had reached the Alpine region together with economic and technical innovations that triggered a profound cultural change. The innovations include metal processing (with the first copper tools).

Bronze age

During the early and middle Bronze Age (2500 to 1200 BC), the economy specialized in mining and metal processing consolidated. The production centers were part of a circum-Mediterranean trading network.

These changes can also be demonstrated in the engravings of the Valcamonica. The long prevalent axes and daggers are replaced by battle scenes. Topographic maps and weapons are typical until the Middle Bronze Age. During the Middle Bronze Age, the number of mythological scenes and anthropomorphic figures increased, and the horse (riding horse) was added as a new domestic animal. Metal processing and weaving are shown. Religious beliefs are evidently symbolized by objects and weapons. In the late Bronze Age, the petroglyphs show signs of worshiping spirits or heroes.

In the 2nd and 1st millennium BC, complex political entities grew out of the communities. At the end of the Bronze Age, the Camunians presented figures and objects that are similar to those of the urn field culture . In the first half of the 1st millennium BC, the economic and cultural contacts to the Hallstatt culture emerged more strongly. The motifs and figurines made from bronze and ceramic objects find numerous parallels in the rock art of the early Iron Age .

Iron age

In the early Iron Age , between the 7th and 5th centuries BC BC, the influences of the Villanova culture and the Etruscans become clear. The new rock art style shows warriors with Etruscan daggers , shields and helmets. The Etruscans also introduced the alphabet. More than 100 North Etruscan inscriptions are engraved on the rocks. Celtic features appear in the 5th and 4th centuries BC . The period ends with the Roman occupation of Valcamonica in 16 BC. This period is characterized by realistic scenes of everyday life and the depiction of magical-mythological figures on the rock. Several, chronologically extremely valuable engravings show people carrying axes, helmets, shields, spears and jewelry. Numerous engravings of buildings, huts and temples reveal something about the architecture. Plows, hoes and scythes are depicted and scenes of metal processing and the manufacture of wagon wheels can be found. Ducks, chickens, geese, pigs and goats are depicted as pets.

trailing

After the territory of the Camunni had become part of the Roman province of Gallia cisalpina (Transpadana), only a few rock art was created. There are, however, several Roman engravings with some Latin inscriptions as well as numerous rock paintings from the Middle Ages and from later times. In part it was probably a mundane pastime of the shepherds. But there are also isolated rocks with Christian motifs. At Cimbergo there are rocks with many crosses and keys, as well as a human figure with three keys, which is interpreted as Saint Peter .

Among the symbols of Valcamonica is the so-called "Rosa Camuna" ( Camunian rose), which was adopted as the official symbol of the Lombardy region .

Chronology of the topics

In the 1960s, the archaeologist Emmanuel Anati created a chronology of the rock carvings of Valcamonica in first systematic studies. In it he compared the style and type of symbols used and placed them in a supra-regional context.

The rock art parks

Rock paintings in Valcamonica - UNESCO World Heritage number 94

number	Surname	Communities	Coordinates	Photo gallery
1.	Parco nazionale delle incisioni rupestri di Naquane . By Emmanuel Anati on rock no. 35 named by Naquane as the "running priest".	Capo di Ponte	46 ° 1 ′ 32 "  N , 10 ° 20 ′ 57"  E
2.	Parco archeologico nazionale dei Massi di Cemmo	Capo di Ponte	46 ° 1 ′ 52 "  N , 10 ° 20 ′ 20"  E
3.	Parco archeologico comunale di Seradina-Bedolina	Capo di Ponte	46 ° 2 ′ 0 ″  N , 10 ° 20 ′ 29 ″  E
4th	Parco archeologico di Asinino-Anvòia	Ossimo	45 ° 57 ′ 19 ″  N , 10 ° 14 ′ 47 ″  E
5.	Parco comunale delle incisioni rupestri di Luine	Darfo Boario Terme	45 ° 53 ′ 20 "  N , 10 ° 10 ′ 46"  E
6th	Parco comunale archeologico e minerario di Sellero	Sellero	46 ° 3 ′ 26 "  N , 10 ° 20 ′ 29"  E
7th	Parco archeologico comunale di Sonico	Sonico	46 ° 10 ′ 7 ″  N , 10 ° 21 ′ 20 ″  E
8th.	Riserva naturale Incisioni rupestri di Ceto, Cimbergo e Paspardo	Ceto ( Nadro ) Cimbergo Paspardo	46 ° 1 ′ 6 ″  N , 10 ° 21 ′ 10 ″  E

See also

• Camunni
• Valcamonica

literature

• Emmanuel Anati: Valcamonica a center of creativity. In: People of the Stone Age. Weltbild, Augsburg 2000, ISBN 3-8289-0742-3
• Gunther Grünig: Val Camonica. Rock art in the Alps. Caves • Rocks • Artwork 3, Greiner, Weinstadt 2012, ISBN 978-3-86705-034-0
• Erika Trautmann-Nehring : The rock paintings of the Val Camonica. Berlin, Transmare-Photo, 1947 (2 volumes)
• Zimmermann, WH, 1988: Early depictions of the weight loom on rock carvings in Val Camonica, Lombardy. Archaeological Textiles, Report from the 2nd NESAT symposium 1. – 4. May 1984, 26-38. Arkæologiske Skrifter 2 ( http://www.nihk.de//downloads/5/webstuhl_felslösungen.pdf ).

Web links

Commons : rock art from Valcamonica  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
• Rupestre.net Rock Art in the Alps - Valcamonica (English and Italian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Rock Drawings in Valcamonica . UNESCO. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
2. ↑ Piero Adorno, Mesolitico e Neolitico , p. 16.
3. ↑ Introduzione all'arte rupestre della Valcamonica su Archeocamuni.it . Retrieved May 11, 2009.
4. ↑ Erich Schumacher, On the dating, classification and structure of the rock paintings of Valcamonica. Prehistoric Journal. Volume 58/1, 1983, pp. 61-93
5. ↑ Fedele, Franceso (2012). Diffusione della trazione animale in Europe: il ruolo informativo e ideologico delle raffgurazioni rupestri centroalpine
6. ↑ Ausilio Priuli: Valcamonica. Valley of Prehistory. Capo di Ponte, 2002, p. 42 f.
7. ↑ Il ciclo istoriativo camuno on Archeocamuni.it . Retrieved September 10, 2009.

Coordinates: 46 ° 1 ′ 26 ″  N , 10 ° 21 ′ 0 ″  E