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Name      
Italia    Valsusa - Roccia delle Asce EuroPreArt - European Prehistoric Art

Italy map
Keywords: axe, meander, cross, iron age, cup-marks
Institution: Cooperativa Archeologica Le Orme dell'Uomo (Footsteps of Man)  http://rupestre.net/orme
Record
proposed
by
Orme dell'Uomo - Footsteps of Man, Valcamonica - Italy
 
Location
Specific feedbackSpecific feedback

Country:

Italia

Locality:

Mompantero - Chiamberlando

Region:

Piemonte

Area:

Valsusa

 

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Mompantero, Chiamberlando, general view of the engraved surface (photo A. Arcà - Footsteps of Man 1992)
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Copyright. No commercial use of EuroPreArt content is allowed. Specific © for pictures and drawings is mentioned in the captions or owned by each Author or Institution.
Disclaim. The EuroPreArt project fully endorses the most recent documentation policies. It must be outlined the absolute forbidding of any disruptive method and the necessity of a total respect for archaeological sites. It is also to be noticed that no substances shall be applied to rock art for recording purposes. Some pictures of the EuroPreArt records are related to past recording techniques and may not fully match these policies. They are an historical documentation. Please refer to local archaeological official authorities for any recording purpose. Please take a look also over EuroPreArt guidelines.
 
Environment & Surface

Altitude:

1140 m
Open-air   Shelter   Cave Portable   Megalithic

Geography:
Glacial shoulder on rocky slope, southward exposed, panoramic site, abandoned sheep pasture, xerophilous vegetation (Juniperus, little pine-tree), arid and windy area.

Proximity:

Geology:

Filladic calcschist (metamorphic rock composed by calcite and mica). This kind of rock allows the pecking technique, but is more affected by the erosion (water and wind) than the Permian sandstone, thus the siliceous component, not soluble in water, is quite resistant.

Surface:

Smooth, microgranulated, flat, 12-15° of inclination, patina

Dimensions:
Length 2.00 m.  Width 1.10 m.

 

click to enlarge
click to enlarge
 
Art        

Description:

Engravings   Paintings   Painted engravings   High or low-relief   Sculpture
Axes are disposed in couples, always with a larger one, like a battle axes-set. The shape of the blade clearly recall the late Iron Age Ornavasso kind axes. The anthropomorphic figure is quite uncertain, possibly holding a shield. The Latin cross and the letter are less patinated. Cup-marks have not been polished.

Figures:
total number 23
4 axes with half-moon shaped blade, 1 anthropomorphic figure, 4 aligned cup-marks, 3 meanders, 1 Latin cross, 3 letters, 2 unidentified "objects", 5 groups or sparse pecking

Chronology:

Palaeolithic   Epipalaeolithic - Mesolithic   Neolithic   Copper Age   Bronze Age   Iron Age   Roman   Middle Age   Modern   Unknown
The axes are very similar to the late Iron Age axes of Ornavasso (I cent. BC - I cent. AD, in this period the Valsusa area was occupied by the Celtic people called "Segusii", after the 9 AC the Romans). It is also possible to compare the half-moon shape of the blade with the corresponding Iron Age halberd-axes engraved in Valcamonica (late Iron Age). The meandering subject is a problematic one to be dated. It's possible to find a double chronological attribution: Neolithic-first Copper Age (by comparison with the meanders and the spirals of the Irish passage graves and of the megalithic art) or Bronze Age - First Iron Age (by comparison with the engravings of the Haute Maurienne French valley where such patterns seem to be related to the Iron Age topographical compositions). The study of the superimpositions in the Valsusa area testify that the meandro-spiralic pattern is overlapped by late Iron Age figures, like the axes of this rocks which clearly cut the meanders.

Notes:

The rock was dug during the '90s all around the border without finding any new figure. Firstly noticed on 1992 by Andrea Arcà.
 
Bibliography        





European total bibliography, by EuroPreArt partnersTotal (Europe)
Italia EuroPreArt general bibliography, by Cooperativa Archeologica Le Orme dell'Uomo (Footsteps of Man)General (country)
Specific Valsusa - Roccia delle Asce bibliography, by Cooperativa Archeologica Le Orme dell'Uomo (Footsteps of Man)Specific (site)
Rock Art Studies: A Bibliographic worldwide Database (external link). Compiled by Leigh Marymor. Copyright (C) 2001-2002 by the Library, University of California, Berkeley Bibliographic
Rock Art
Database

 

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Conservation        

Status:

Public   Private   Park   Classified site

Risk:

Figures are visible only on a grazing light. The site is poorly attended.

Conservation:

Good   Quite good   Mediocre   Bad

Intervention:

The rock has been completely recorded (International western Alps rock art record), traced (contact tracing and digital vectorial rendition), photographed (normal light and grazing light colour slides) under enchargement of the Archaeological Superintendence of Piedmont. More info (Italian version) at http://rupestre.net/archiv and http://rupestre.net/alps.

 

By          

Compiler:

Andrea Arcà

Institution:

Cooperativa Archeologica Le Orme dell'Uomo (Footsteps of Man)  http://rupestre.net/orme
 
         Record n. 501 / 807
No commercial use is allowed. Specific © is mentioned in the captions or owned by each Author or Institution  
 
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NEW: Alpine rock paintings
enter the Balma dei Cervi Virtual Museum and surf the Virtual Tour: spherical pano-views,
hi-def flat photos and tracings


EuroPreArt, European Prehistoric Art, is a web-based archaeological project funded by the European Union which aims to establish a lasting data-base of European prehistoric art documentation, to launch the base of an European institutional network and to contribute to the awareness of the diversity and richness of European Prehistoric Art.
It is proposed by: Instituto Politécnico de Tomar (IPT, Portugal), CUEBC - European University Centre for Cultural Heritage (Italy - Europe), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España), Asociación Cultural Colectivo Barbaón (España), Université de Liège (Belgique), Gotland University College (Sverige), University College Dublin (Eire), Cooperativa Archeologica Le Orme dell'Uomo (Italia), Study Centre and Museum of Prehistoric Art of Pinerolo (Italia), The European Centre for Prehistoric Research in the Alto Ribatejo (Portugal), ArqueoJovem - a youth NGO (Portugal).
Instituto Politécnico de Tomar - Portugal CUEBC - European University Centre for Cultural Heritage, Ravello - Italy CSIC - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid - Spain Orme dell'Uomo - Footsteps of Man, Valcamonica - Italy Asociación Cultural Colectivo Barbaón, Extremadura -Spain Liège University - Belgium Gotland University - Sweden University College Dublin - Ireland CeSMAP - Centro Studi e Museo d'Arte Preistorica. Pinerolo, Italy Arqueo Jovem

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