PARCO NAZIONALE DELLE INCISIONI RUPESTRI

The rich heritage of rock art in Valle Camonica was inscribed in 1979, as the first Italian site, on the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List. Inside the park, in a natural environment dominated by chestnut, fir, birch and hornbeam trees, crossed by the ancient route connecting Paspardo and Nadro, it is possible to admire 104 rocks with engravings. On these large surfaces, of grey-purple Permian sandstone (Verrucano Lombardo), smoothed and mounded by the action of the glaciers, the ancient inhabitants of the valley engraved images, both real and symbolic, taken from their daily life and their spiritual world. The engravings were obtained by tapping the surface with a stone hammer (hammer technique) or, more rarely, by engraving it with a pointed instrument (filiform engravings). The chronology of the engravings present in Naquane ranges from the Neolithic (4th millennium B.C.) to the Iron Age (1st millennium B.C.), when the valley was inhabited by the ancient Camuni. There is no lack of engravings from historical, Roman and modern times. Archaeological surveys conducted within the Park have brought to light traces of frequentation from the late Neolithic-Copper Age (3rd millennium B.C.). A few hundred metres to the north of the Park, on a rise, lies the important settlement of Dos dell'Arca, founded in the Neolithic period and lasting until the late Iron Age.