Prehistoric Rock Carvings in Val Camonica Italy
Stories of Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages Told on Dolomite Rock Ledges
Oct 19, 2009
Glacially carved and smoothed stone of these spectacular mountains that lie at the foot of the Alps served as Western man’s first canvass upon which to express concepts of divinity, tell tales of daily life and help to guide and inform fellow residents. The Seradina-Bedolina Park at Capo di Ponte is one of the best places to find this art.
Hidden Prehistoric Mountain Valley
In northern Italy between Bergamo and Brescia lies Lake Iseo, the smallest of the four major lakes in the region. At its northern end is the Val Camonica, a 60-mile-long valley that ends at the town of Endolo. From the wide and fertile valley floor, high mountains capped by jagged peaks line both sides. About ten thousand years ago Mesolithic groups began hunting here and by the year 2000 BC there were settlements in the area.
The rock of the hillsides had been ground smooth and into undulating patterns by water, rocks and gravel of the melting glaciers and it was on these surfaces that men started carving simple symbols beginning about 4,000 BC. Over the course of the next approximately 5,500 years their successors continued the practice, adding their stories with increasing sophistication and complexity.
Scenes of Iron, Copper and Bronze Age Life
Most striking for the visitor are the panels that show the activities of daily life. Some clearly show men driving oxen – or other bovine animals – drawing a plow. More common are scenes of hunters chasing deer and boar with bow and arrows poised for the kill, or axes and long knives ready for action.
In this period the valley was alive with many species of wild game. In addition to several species of deer, there were chamois, boar, wild dog, ibex and domestic dogs and horses. All of these are shown in domestic chores or in the hunt. Some larger panels, such as the one at point 12 in area 1 of Seradina-Bedolina Park, cover huge areas of exposed rock face. This is a walk up hills and through chestnut forests to rock out-croppings fixed with figures up to 5,000 years old.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Seradina-Bedolina Park at Capo di Ponte, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is only one of many sites throughout the Val Camonica where these pre-historic carvings are found, but it is one of the best. Under the inspiration of Ausilio Pruli, an archaeologist specializing in the prehistoric era, an impressive teaching museum has been created at the site. Walking trails enable visitors to see and appreciate the many carvings on the site, and good signage helps them understand and the lives of the people who created them.
See a Real Iron Age Man
It is an outstanding experience to visit the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano to see their excellent exhibit of Ötzi the Iceman, a 3,500-year-old mummy of a Copper Age man found in the Schnalstal Glacier of the Otztal Alps in 1991 – not too distant from Capo di Ponte. He lived in the same era as the people who created these drawings.
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