Raffaello Battaglia è il quarto studioso ad occuparsi dell’arte rupestre della Valcamonica dopo Laeng, Graziosi e Marro, ma fu sicuramente il primo ad occuparsene scientificamente, dopo Paolo Graziosi. Insieme a suoi collaboratori, rinvenne numerosi siti con incisioni. Tra queste, famosa resta la scoperta e pubblicazione delle rocce di Bedolina (PDF available).
by Angelo Eugenio FOSSATI – Le Orme dell’Uomo Read more
Filippo Maria Gambari
Giovedì 19 novembre 2020 Filippo Maria Gambari, archeologo preistorico, direttore del Museo delle Civiltà di Roma, ha lasciato questo mondo. Nel corso della sua vita di studioso ha approfondito vari aspetti della scienza archeologica: sono molti i luoghi e i temi della preistoria alpina (e non solo) che grazie alla sua progettualità e al suo impulso sono stati affrontati con grande attenzione. Tra questi, il tema dell’arte rupestre ha assunto un ruolo non certo di secondo piano. E’ doveroso ricordare lo studioso in queste pagine, che proprio all’arte rupestre sono dedicate.
AA-DD-AEF-PL Read more
NAQ1 deer figure
(October 9, 2020, European Day of Rock Art). With its 104 engraved rocks, the National Rock Art Park of Naquane is the main archaeological site of Valcamonica and one of the most important European rock art sites. The best-known rock is the n. 1, called the Great Rock for its size; more than two thousand figures have been engraved over its surface: deer hunting scenes, acrobatic riders, sword duels, women with hands up, wooden barns, ducks, geese and chickens, the mysterious palettes … a virtual tour allow to discover it, to enjoy the panorama, to fly over its engraved figures looking at ultra high-res pictures, tracings and 3D models (PDF available).
by Andrea ARCÀ Read more
NAQ1, settore P
(9 ottobre 2020, Giornata Europea dell’Arte Rupestre). Con le sue 104 rocce incise, il Parco Nazionale delle Incisioni Rupestri di Naquane costituisce il principale sito archeologico della Valcamonica e uno dei più importanti complessi europei di arte rupestre. La roccia più conosciuta è la n. 1, nota anche come Grande Roccia per le sue dimensioni; sulla sua superficie sono state incise più di 2mila figure: scene di caccia al cervo, di cavalcatura acrobatica, duelli alla spada, donne a braccia levate, granai di legno, oche, papere e galline, le misteriose palette … un tour virtuale permette di scoprirla, di godere della vista del panorama, di sorvolare le sue figure incise osservando riprese fotografiche, rilievi iconografici e modelli 3D ad altissima risoluzione (PDF disponibile).
di Andrea ARCÀ Read more
Barocelli 1921
TRACCE free e-books
Barocelli P. 1921. Val Meraviglie e Fontanalba (Note di escursioni paletnologiche), Atti della Società Piemontese d’Archeologia e Belle Arti, vol. X, fasc. 1, 51 pp., X tavv.
| full text-image and PDF (TRACCE 2015 re-editing) | Italian
[editor’s note: this 1921 paper expresses the first complete archaeological and chronological framework of the Mt. Bego petroglyphic complex; the author, Piero Barocelli was the archaeologist charged with the area, which was at this time managed by the Italian Royal Archaeological Superintendence; Clarence Bicknell, during the last years of his life, passed to him the baton of the research]
by Piero Barocelli – 1921
Barocelli 1921, plates
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Tavole I-X da:
Barocelli P. 1921. Val Meraviglie e Fontanalba (Note di escursioni paletnologiche), Atti della Società Piemontese d’ Archeologia e Belle Arti, vol. X, fasc. 1, 51 pp., X tavv.
| full text-image and PDF (TRACCE 2015 re-editing, public domain) | Italian
[editor’s note: the 1921 paper by Piero Barocelli is enriched by 10 plates – tracings, drawings and pictures – accompanined by very detailed captions]
by Piero Barocelli – 1921
Manuscript
The oldest written document regarding European rock art is stored in the Turin State Archive. It is entitled the Academia de Giardini di Belvedere (the Belvedere Gardens Academy).
The manuscript is a copy made around the mid seventeenth century by Pietro Gioffredo, historian of the Savoy House, on the basis of another manuscript, written by Honorato Lorenzo, dating back to the end of the previous century, around 1591, or a few years later.
by Andrea Arcà
Phaistos, spiral
Rock art enthusiasts and researchers will be pleasantly surprised while discovering the moderate but diffused presence of Minoan Palaces “rock art”; two main categories are present: mason’s marks and cup-marks – so-called kernoi – all these engraved upon the ashlars limestone blocks of the Minoan Palaces, mainly in the first centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. Some interpretation problems arise, concerning the sacred or practical character of the marks and the use of the kernoi as offering tables or as popular or childish board games. A great concentration of such items may be found at the Phaistos Palace...
by Andrea Arcà
Bego 1887 tracing
Issue 29 of TRACCE Online Rock Art Bulletin is dedicated to the research history of Mt. Bego, from its early “discovery” to the end of the 19th century, with the exception of Clarence Bicknell’s work. Two key points should be emphasized: the relationship with the development of paleethnology and the significance of British “cup-and-rings” studies. All early Mt. Bego authors virtually contribute to this issue since their papers are “served” online, not only as PDF files, but also as “flip-books”, giving in this way importance to sources and online e-book sharing since they provide a useful tool to all researchers interested in rock art studies, especially in this area of the Alps.
by Andrea Arcà (Footsteps of Man – IIPP)
Gioffredo 1660 (1839)
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Gioffredo P., 1839 [~1660]. Storia delle Alpi Marittime, corografia, libro I, in Storia delle Alpi Marittime di Pietro Gioffredo libri XXVI, Torino, capo XIII
| full text-image flip book and PDF (from Google Books, public domain) | Italian
[editor’s note: the first written news of the Laghi delle Meraviglie (Marvels Lakes) – Mt. Bego – engraved rocks, printed edition (1839) of a manuscript compiled around 1660, based on a late 16th century relation]
by Pietro GIOFFREDO
Fodéré 1821
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Foderé F. E., 1821. Voyage aux Alpes Maritimes, ou histoire naturelle, agraire, civile et médicale, du comté de Nice et pays limitrophes, Paris, pp. 18-19
| full text-image flip book and PDF (from Google Books, public domain) | French
[editor’s note: in this book it is possible to read the first few lines in French, regarding Mt. Bego’s rock carvings. Dans ce livre on peut lire la première mention imprimée en Français sur les gravures rupestres du Mont Bego]
by François-Emmanuel Foderé
1868 drawings
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Moggridge M. 1869. The Meraviglie, in International Congress of prehistoric Archaeology, transactions of the Third Session, London, 359-362, 5 plates.
| full text-image flip book and PDF (from Google Books, public domain) | English
[editor’s note: this paper marking the scientific discovery of Mt. Bego’s petroglyphic complex – one of the two Alpine rock art poles – is due to an English botanist, member of the Italian Alpine Club]
by Matthew MOGGRIDGE, F.G.S. (Fellow of the Geological Society of London)
1877 relevés
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Clugnet Léon, 1877. Sculptures préhistoriques situées sur les bords du lacs des Merveilles (au sud-est du col de Tende, Italie), pp. 379-387.
| full text-image flip book and PDF (from Gallica – BnF, public domain) | French
[editor’s note: research history, In this paper, the first French work, the author, a librarian from Lyon, supports the idea that the engravings were made by shepherds or hunters; detailed plates]
by Léon CLUGNET
Henry 1887
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Henry [M.] 1877. Une excursion aux Lacs des Merveilles près Saint-Dalmas-de-Tende, Annales de la Société des lettres, science et arts des Alpes-Maritimes, t. IV, pp. 185-205
| full text-image flip book and PDF (from Gallica-BNF, public domain) | French
[editor’s note: The author thinks that the Mt. Bego engravings are natural rocks marking made by the glaciers; no scholar agreed with him]
by [M.] HENRY
Blanc 1878
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Blanc E., 1878. Étude sur les sculptures préhistoriques du Val d’Enfer près des Lacs des Merveilles, pp. 72-87, 1 pl. h.t.
| full text-image flip book and PDF (from Gallica – BnF, public domain) | French
[editor’s note: in this paper, the author, a librarian from Nice, supports the idea that the engravings were the result of the cult of some malevolent deity, terrifying generator of lightning and thunder]
by Edmond Blanc
1879 tracings
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Rivière E., 1879. Gravures sur roches des lacs des Merveilles au val d’Enfer (Italie), in Association française pour l’avancement des sciences, Paris, pp. 783-793, I tav.
| full text-image flip book and PDF (from Gallica – BnF,, public domain) | French
[editor’s note: this paper better details the French scientific discovery of Mt. Bego’s petroglyphic complex and it is due to the physician and archaeologist Émile Rivière, devoted to the study of the Palaeolithic]
by Émile RIVIÈRE
Navello 1884
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Navello S. 1884. Iscrizioni simboliche preistoriche dei laghi delle meraviglie nelle Alpi Marittime, Memoria Navello, pp. 16-21, 2 tavv.
| full text-image flip book and PDF (from TRACCE scan-OCR, public domain) | Italian
[editor’s note: the first Italian detailed paper, presented to the Alpine Club’s congress, “translates” the contents expressed by L. Clugnet as well as re-drawing his plates]
by Serafino NAVELLO (representing the International Alpine Club of Nizza)
1884, CAI logo
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Prato A. F. 1884. Sulle iscrizioni simboliche del Lago delle Meraviglie, Rivista Alpina Italiana, Periodico mensile del Club Alpino Italiano, 9, 30 settembre 1884, pp. 97-98.
| full text-image flip book and PDF (from TRACCE scan-OCR, public domain) | Italian
[editor’s note: in this short paper, published in the Italian Alpine Club review, the author suggests that the Marvels Lakes engravings where made to celebrate hunters with their preys, who died in this area]
by A. Filippo PRATO
