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Name      
Italia    Valcenischia - Roccia dello Spadonaro EuroPreArt - European Prehistoric Art

Italy map
Keywords: Iron Age, warrior, sword, armour, spadonari
Institution: Gruppo Ricerche Cultura Montana - Cooperativa Archeologica Le Orme dell'Uomo (Footsteps of Man)  http://geocities.com/culturamontana
Original
record
by
Orme dell'Uomo - Footsteps of Man, Valcamonica - Italy Gruppo Ricerche Cultura Montana - Italy
 
Location
Specific feedbackSpecific feedback

Country:

Italia

Locality:

Novalesa - see original record (ask compiler - institution)

Region:

Piemonte

Area:

Valcenischia

 

click to enlarge
Tracing the "Spadonaro Rock" (photo A. Arcà - Footsteps of Man 1996)
click to enlarge
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:

2340 m
Open-air   Shelter   Cave Portable   Megalithic

Geography:
High mountain pasture (cows and sheep) near the upper limit of the vegetation area, steep west exposed slope, series of flat slabs, highly dominant. The Valcenischia (Cenischia valley) joins the Susa valley (Italy, Turin) to the French Haute Maurienne valley through the Moncenisio pass, which is a very important alpine pass.

Proximity:

Path

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 than the Permian sandstone, thus the siliceous component, not soluble in water, is quite resistant.

Surface:

Square shape, smooth, microgranulated, flat, 5° of inclination, patina

Dimensions:
Length 2.95 m.  Width 1.50 m.

 

click to enlarge
click to enlarge
 
Art        

Description:

Engravings   Paintings   Painted engravings   High or low-relief   Sculpture
The warrior with the sword has the body pecked in a stick style, in a more dynamic position than the square body figures of the rock CRL002. A second figure of warrior is not clearly readable, but shows a crossed decoration on the breast and a probable round helmet.

Figures:
total number 4
Warrior with sword stick style body, warrior with decorated armour, unreadable figure, sparse pecking

Chronology:

Palaeolithic   Epipalaeolithic - Mesolithic   Neolithic   Copper Age   Bronze Age   Iron Age   Roman   Middle Age   Modern   Unknown
In this case there is not such a strict relation with the late Iron Age figures of Valcamonica. An Iron Age dating is very probable, without excluding a more recent dating.

Notes:

There is a very interesting possible connection with the traditional weaponed dance of the "Spadonari" (the men with sword, http://www.rupestre.net/archiv/tpop1.htm) which is still today practised every year at the beginning of February in the underlying villages of Venaus and Giaglione. The rock has been discovered by G. M. Cametti, P. Meirano and A. Arcà on July 1993 during a survey of the Gruppo Ricerche Cultura Montana of Turin (GRCM).
 
Bibliography        





European total bibliography, by EuroPreArt partnersTotal (Europe)
Italia EuroPreArt general bibliography, by Gruppo Ricerche Cultura Montana - <a href=http://rupestre.net/orme>Cooperativa Archeologica Le Orme dell'Uomo (Footsteps of Man)</a>General (country)
Specific Valcenischia - Roccia dello Spadonaro bibliography, by Gruppo Ricerche Cultura Montana - <a href=http://rupestre.net/orme>Cooperativa Archeologica Le Orme dell'Uomo (Footsteps of Man)</a>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

 

 
Conservation        

Status:

Public   Private   Park   Classified site

Risk:

Figures are visible only on a grazing light. The site is very hard to reach, poorly attended. The surface is affected by the erosion. The area, with an high mountain climate, is under the snow for 7-8 months each year.

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). A cast has been executed (professional technique with elastomeric mould and copy in synthetic resin). Recording data can be found at the Archaeological Superintendence of Piedmont (Turin, Italy). An exhibition with pictures, tracings and casts is exposed at the Novalesa ethnographic museum http://www.rupestre.net/archiv/tpop12.htm. More info (Italian version) at http://rupestre.net/archiv and http://rupestre.net/alps.

 

By          

Compiler:

Andrea Arcà

Institution:

Gruppo Ricerche Cultura Montana - Cooperativa Archeologica Le Orme dell'Uomo (Footsteps of Man)  http://geocities.com/culturamontana
 
         Record n. 492 / 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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