Valcamonica Rock Art
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Valcamonica Rock Art Emmanuel Anati CISPE (Centro Internazionale di Studi Preistorici ed Etnologici), Capo di Ponte, Italy CCSP, Cento Camuno di Studi Preistorici, Capo di Ponte, Italy
Introduction The 75-km-long Valcamonica (Camonica Valley) in the Italian Alps includes over 300,000 rock engravings spanning 10,000 years, from the Epipaleolithic period to the Middle Ages. The valley is at the crossing of the Alps from Italy to Central Europe where both ideas and people passed through. This area has been studied for 50 years by the same team, enabling scholars to explore the meaning of stylistic and thematic changes from period to period. Changes in the way of thinking, in the economy, and in the social organization contribute to our understanding of the formative period of the European society. Valcamonica was declared by UNESCO as being of “World Cultural Heritage” in 1979. It was the first rock art site in the world to obtain such nomination and the first Italian site to become part of the World Heritage list. Valcamonica is also renowned for the new research approach applied, focusing on the use of rock art as a means of historical reconstruction, producing history for periods considered as prehistoric.
The succession of different styles of rock art allows the definition of a sequence of Camunian periods illustrating 10,000 years of events and human adventures. The numerous cases of superimpositions; the depictions of datable weapons, tools, and objects; and the presence of extinct animals in the earliest phases and of datable inscriptions in the later ones make this sequence a chronological pillar of post-Paleolithic rock art in Europe. The proto-Camunian period dates back to the first phases of the Holocene, 12,000–7,500 years ago. The final post-Camunian period documents the “historic” phases: Roman, Medieval, and recent. In each period, rock art reflects the interests and concerns of its time, the economy, the beliefs and the cult, the social organization, the political trends, and the international relations. In certain periods, tools and weapons illustrate foreign objects or foreign influence. The introduction of new technology such as the wheel or metalworking or weaving is meaningful for defining the way of life. Changes in the architecture of huts, of shrines, and of other buildings depicted in the rock art, different funerary practices, and other descriptions of habits provide the historical background of the various periods.
Key Issues/Current Debates/Future Directions/Examples Proto-Camunian Period (12,000–5,500 BCE) In the pre-Boreal and Boreal climatic stages, this rock art relates to pre-Neolithic culture. Pollen
C. Smith (ed.), Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2, # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
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analysis from geological logging in Valcamonica shows this period’s tall trees were pine trees and birches. Material culture is characterized by a lithic industry of blades and abundant microliths. The iconographic style is defined as a simplifi
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