PARCO NAZIONALE DELLE INCISIONI RUPESTRI

The rich heritage of rock art in the Camonica Valley was registered in the 1979, first ever Italian site, in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Inside the park, immersed in a natural environment dominated by chestnuts, firs, birches and hornbeams and crossed by the ancient route connecting Paspardo and Nadro, you can admire 104 engraved rocks.

On these large areas of grey-violet Permian sandstone (Verrucano Lombardo), smoothed and moulded by the action of the glaciers, the ancient inhabitants of the Valley engraved real and symbolic images, related to the daily life, production activities and the spiritual sphere. The engravings were mainly made by tapping with lithic strikers (technique of hammer) or, more rarely, via filiform incisions performed with sharp instruments.

La Chronology of Naquane depictions extends from the Neolithic (4th millennium B.C.) to the’Iron Age (1st millennium B.C.), a period of extraordinary flowering of the phenomenon, when the Valley was inhabited by the ancient Camuni. There is no shortage of historical age, Roman and modern. I archaeological surveys conducted within the park have also revealed traces of frequentation dating between the Late Neolithic and Copper Age (3rd millennium BC).

Finally, a few hundred metres north of the park, on a rise, lies the important built-up area of Dos dell'Arca, founded in Neolithic times and occupied continuously until the’advanced Iron Age, This confirms the long and intense human presence in this area.