The Intriguing Rock Engravings of Val Camonica

BY AWAKE! WRITER IN ITALY

FOR millenniums they have borne silent testimony to an ancient way of life. They are stylized figures engraved in stone that depict hunting, agriculture, warfare, and worship. In picturesque Val Camonica in the Alps of northern Italy, hundreds of thousands of such figures adorn the rocky landscape.

Today, in the oblique rays of the early morning sun, visitors to Val Camonica still find the engravings to be clearly visible. But who made them, and why?

The Camunians

This beautiful valley is named for its ancient inhabitants​—the Camunians. They first appear in history in the year 16 B.C.E., when they were subjugated by the Romans and lost their independence. However, the Val Camonica engravings began to be made many centuries before the arrival of the Roman legions.

Moreover, an analysis of what these engravings depict​—arms, utensils, domestic animals, maps of villages—​leads experts to conclude that the artists belonged to a population that  had a complex economy. They evidently engaged in a host of activities, including metallurgy, textile production, farming, stock raising, and commerce.

The vast majority of the engravings were made during the first millennium B.C.E., although many are much older. The Camunians’ cultural apex seems to have occurred between 1000 and 800 B.C.E. Thousands of designs from this period depict details of their way of life. They show people bound together and men on horseback armed with spears, suggesting captured prisoners. There are also depictions of blacksmiths, draft horses, and wagons as well as buildings supported by posts.

Inspiration From the Mountains

Scholars describe the authors of these depictions as ‘artist-priests,’ men who were moved by religious or mystic influences. They may have isolated themselves in quiet places away from the centers of population in order to reflect and meditate. In this respect, the Camunians may have been particularly inspired by at least two extraordinary natural phenomena that occur here a few days each year.

In spring and in autumn, the sun rises behind Mount Pizzo Badile, a majestic peak overlooking the valley. Before sunrise on certain days, sunlight is refracted around the mountain, causing an enormous shadow, surrounded by bright rays, to be projected up into a milky sky. This evocative display is still known as the “spirit of the mountain.” And when the sun sets behind a narrow cleft in Mount Concarena, on the other side of the valley, a spectacular beam of light, which seems to split the mountain in two, shoots up into the darkening sky for just a few minutes before fading away. Apparently, in the minds of the valley’s ancient inhabitants, such then-inexplicable occurrences endowed the place with supernatural qualities.

Concentrations of engravings are found at the foot of Mount Pizzo Badile and in its immediate vicinity. The engravings were made with instruments of stone, horn, bone, and ivory. Sometimes the artist traced an outline with a pointed instrument. The engravings vary in depth from marks that only graze the surface of the rock to grooves of more than an inch [3 cm] in depth. There is evidence that the artists also used paints of a variety of colors, though it is no longer possible to see these colors with the naked eye.

Engravings as a Form of Prayer

The Camunians may have been sun worshipers. This would explain one of the recurring themes of the engravings​—a figure praying with uplifted arms before a disk, probably a symbol of the sun. Although archaeologist Ausilio Priuli identifies “the cult of the sun god” as the major one, he also mentions “minor cults.” He observes: “Processions, propitiatory dances, sacrifices, ritual combat, and communal prayers were the commonest, most often depicted, religious acts. The very act of engraving was a form of prayer.” But prayers for what?

According to Emmanuel Anati, an authority on prehistoric rock art, making the engravings “was considered part of the activities indispensable to ensuring the economic and social welfare of the group and friendly cohabitation with occult forces.” The Camunians apparently hoped to enhance the productivity of the fields by portraying plowing, to increase the richness of pastures by depicting stock raising, to gain supremacy over their enemies by representing war, and so on.

Val Camonica is a World Heritage site, protected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Interestingly, etched and painted rocks exist in at least 120 countries​—in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North and South America, and on numerous islands. Significantly, similar themes are repeated in rock-art designs around the world. These bear witness to man’s natural desire to express himself and to look to spiritual forces beyond himself.

[Pictures on page 26]

The sun’s rays pass through a notch in Mount Concarena

Val Camonica is a World Heritage site

Rock carvings intended to ensure success in the hunt

A human figure praying with uplifted arms

[Credit Lines]

Mount Concarena: Ausilio Priuli, “IL Mondo dei Camuni”; rock carvings and human figure: Parco nazionale delle incisioni rupestri: su concessione del Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali. Ogni riproduzione è vietata