Another nice, little cameo on Rock 28.  This time a deer-hunting scene.  Two Iron-Age hunters have cornered a stag.  One plunges a spear into its side - his other hand wielding a sword.  A second hunter, not very well defined on the 3D model, stands in front of the stag holding a sword and a shield.

Valcamonica, Foppe di Nadro - Rock 28 (2)

This Camunian Rose with a dancing figure below very famous image in Valcamonica rock art.  I have two excellent Valcamonica rock art guide books and both of their covers display photos of this pairing.  There are many other engravings round about them, but these two stand out due to their quality, clarity and execution.

The Camunian Rose is a very good example of the quatrefoil type.  The dancing figure below holds a sword in his right hand and a small shield in his left.  He wears a decorated helmet or headdress.  He's impeccably carved, and is of the Naturalistic style of Iron Age figure - 500-300 BC.

Valcamonica, Foppe di Nadro - Rock 24 (3)

This figure of a dancing warrior is remarkably similar to its counterpart on Rock 24, and also two figures on another rock at Zurla, on the steep slope running down from the southern end of the Naquane rock Art Park towards Capo Di Ponte.

As is the case for all of these figures, this one holds a sword in his right hand and a small shield in his left.  He wears a decorated helmet or headdress, and exhibits an amimated, dance-like posture.  He dates from the Iron Age 'Naturalistic' period (500-300 BC), designated IV 3 in the Valcamonica chronology.

Valcamonica, Foppe di Nadro - Rock 28 (1)

Rock 6 at Foppe di Nadro has a glacier-smoothed surface and, with around one thousand figures, is one of the most densely engraved rocks in this area.  The figures mostly date from the middle to late Iron Age.

It is possible to see all the classical themes of the Camunian rock cycle: footprints (single, coupled and some with internal decoration), human figures (warriors predominating), buildings, weapons, animals and a number of geometric symbols (such as the five-pointed star).

The small section of this rock surface represented in the 3D model presnts one of the most well-known scenes of Valcamonica rock art: two pairs of fighters.  These are of the Naturalistic Period (around 500-300 BC). The fighters are realistically represented in a dynamic posture. One couple fighting with short swords, shields and crested helms, the other engaged in a boxing match.

The group of figures below are in a simpler, more geometric form.  They look cruder but are later, around 1st century BC.

Valcamonica - Foppe di Nadro, Rock 6

An inscription in the 'Camunian' or 'Sondrio' alphabet, an alpine variant of a northern Etruscan alphabet.  The inscription should be read from right to left - transcribed 'ZAZIAU.'  This  shows the typical tree-shaped 'Z' sign and the flipped 'A' sign.  The introduction of writing in Valcamonica can be placed around the fifth century BC.

Valcamonica, Foppe di Nadro - Rock 23 (1)

To me, a really great thing about Valcamonica rock art is that there is a chronology - it is dateable.  The styles of the figures can be fitted in to defined periods.  An immense amount of research over many years has gone into achieving this. Importantly, a huge volume of detailed, patient analyses of superimpositions has confidently revealed the relative chronologies of the different typology groups of the human figures & their associated weaponry can give reasonably certain absolute dates by comparison with firmly dated examples from excavation sites. 

Here I noted three distinctive figures of differing types, close to each other on Rock 24.  On the annotations I have given my own assessment of their typologies & given a date for each figure - which I accept, may be incorrect.  It is great fun & very rewarding trying to do this and building knowledge & experience in the process (well, if like me you like that sort of thing!).

Valcamonica, Foppe di Nadro - Rock 24 (2)

Another small scence from Rock 28.  This one is of an armed figure mounted upon a stag, dating from the Middle/Late Iron-Age.  The figure holds a sword and possibly a shield.  This is the only known mounted stag figure in Foppe di Nadro, in contrast to the nearby National Park of Naquane, which displays a number of mounted deer engravings.

Valcamonica, Foppe di Nadro - Rock 28 (3)

The group of about thirty buildings on this rock is called ' The Village.' It is attributable to the Iron Age, 1st millennium BC.  Many sites in Valcamonica exhibit houses like these, usually in groups.

Valcamonica, Foppe di Nadro - Rock 24 (1)

A smaller surface in relation to the many very large carved rocks at Foppe di Nadro.  The rock has been extensively smoothed by glacial action.

The engravings here represent two phases of carving.  The first phast presents engravings from the Neolithic Age (4th millennium BC), with 28 praying figures, of which several can be seen here on the 3D model.  They have both schematic and curved arms.  These are contemporary with the circle motifs with a dot in the centre and two figures recognisable as halberds.

The second phase starts from the Middle IronAge and the panel is densely engraved with figures of warriors wielding swords, shields & spears.

The rock also displays some historic phase motifs, with filiforms of lines, half-circles and grids and some Medieval crosses.

Valcamonica, Foppe di Nadro - Rock 35

Unfortunately, this model has not turned out well as the photos must have had to have been shot at distance,  from the walkway.

It shows the image of 'a great horse, horseman and squire.'  It is one of many middle to late Iron-Age engravings on the rock - fighting warriors, dogs, deer, footprints, five pointed stars and other symbols.  

The horse was an important status symbol during the Iron Age.  This small grouping may also underline the clear distinction of social roles between the horseman (perhaps a local 'prince') armed with a shield & spear, and the squire, who holds the rider's second spear and leads the horse on foot.

This is quite a well known little cameo from the rock art of Valcamonica.  I've got to admit that I find it a little comical as the animal seems to closely resemble a pantomome horse.  Hopefully, on my next visit to Valcamonica I will manage to obtain a better sequence of photographs on of it.

Valcamonica, Foppe di Nadro - Rock 27

A number of figures with the arms and legs each arranged in a 'U' shape can be seen here.  These are interpreted as praying figures, which have been termed 'oranti.'  Such figures can be seen at many locations in Vlacamonica.  They also occurs at other Alpine rock art site and also in Sardinia.

In Valcamonica, detailed studies of their superimpositions have placed them firmly within the Bronze Age, with maybe the odd stray into the early Iron Age.  Early thoughts were that some might date as far back as the Neolithic - they have been dated to that period elsewhere.  However, large, modern studies have only found superimpositions of these figures on top of copper Age & Neolithic engravings, none the other ways round.  So in Valcamonica the Oranti are firmly associated with the Bronze Age.

Valcamonica, Foppe di Nadro - Rock 23 (2)

I have seen compass-drawn circles in many locations throughout Valcamonica - e.g. Luine, Bedolina, Nadro & Paspardo.  They do not seem to garner very much attention or comment.  Here at Rock 6, there are many compass-drawn circles of hugely varying sizes, and some with multiple concentric rings, all with distinct central holes.   On the same surface are also a number of pecked, cup and ring marks, usually assigned to the late Neolithic/Bronze Ages.  

Whatever the actual date of the compass-drawn circle is, they will have been produced many centuries after the cup & ring marks, yet they take a similar form.  Is there some sort of continuity of meaning in these geometrical forms & is there a connectivity here between this area and that of Atlantic rock art?   This struck me quite strongly the first time I visited this rock at Luine, and the thought has been re-enforced by my observations elsewhere.  It would be significant as the interpretation of cup & ring marks in the Atlantic area is a complete mystery.

Valcamonica, Luine - Rock 6 (5)

This is one of the most important engraved rocks of Valcamonica for studying the period between the end of the 4th millenniun & beginning of the 2nd millennium BC.  It depicts a special moment when metallurgy and farming spread through Western Europe and Italy.

The surface shoes two ploughing scenes which are comparable with the same subject depicted on statue-menhirs .  Daggers nearby have small cup marks decorating the pommel and the usual triangular blade of the period.

Valcamonica, Foppe di Nadro - Rock 4 (2)

This relatively small rock is mostly decorated with carvings from the Copper & Bronze Ages.  Its surface is densely engraved with images of weapons, mainly daggers, in use in the Copper Age (3300-2200 BC) and the First Bronze Age (2200-1800 BC). 

Actual copper daggers, with a triangular blade & half-round pommel, like these have been discovered during archaeological excavations in the big Copper Age cemetery found in Remedello at the end of the nineteenth century.  

Other daggers show stretched and elongated blades, a type more common during the Bronze Age.  On the left, two fighting warriors have been date to within the late Bronze Age, about 1200-1000 BC.

Valcamonica, Foppe di Nadro - Rock 4 (1)

A small rock with an isolated figure of a 'hut.' The hut figures are generally less common on the western side of the valley than the east (Naquane, Foppe di Nadro etc.) but there are nevertheless many such depiction here in Seradina and close by in Bedolina.

The huts, which are a feature typical of the Camunian area, have been interpreted in various ways: initially as images of real structures such as houses, warehouses (grain stores) and temples. 

Some of these contain certain realistic features: a central post, a supporting plinth and a roof with projecting beams.

More recently it has been suggested that they are imaginary places, probably sacred and connected with the afterlife (with cinerary urns from Tuscany & Lazio providing a comparison).   

My own thoughts are that they represent real structures as they occur in village scenes with people and animals around them. The population had to occupy some sort of structures and no other types of dwelling occur on the corpus of engravings in Valcamonica.

Valcamonica, Seradina 2 - Rock 17

Hut figures are common here at Naquane and in the neighbouring Foppe di Nadro park.  some of these on Rock 35 interestingly incorporate natural scratches (glacial striations) on the rock surface into elements of their design.

The huts, which are a feature typical of the Camunian area, have been interpreted in various ways: initially as images of real structures such as houses, warehouses (grain stores) and temples. 

Some of these contain certain realistic features: a central post, a supporting plinth and a roof with projecting beams.

More recently it has been suggested that they are imaginary places, probably sacred and connected with the afterlife (with cinerary urns from Tuscany & Lazio providing a comparison).   

My own thoughts are that they represent real structures as they occur in village scenes with people and animals around them. The population had to occupy some sort of structures and no other types of dwelling occur on the corpus of engravings in Valcamonica.

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