Usseglio, Alpine cults, archaeology and rock art
[Usseglio: culti in ambiente alpino, archeologia e arte rupestre]. A new exhibition room dedicated to the cults of the Alps has recently enriched the Civic Alpine Museum Arnaldo Tazzetti of Usseglio. A part of the room is devoted to the monumental Ròch dij Gieugh, an engraved stone situated on the slopes of the Usseglio mountains. The interest in this rock is given by the great number of shoeprints connected to a complex network of cup-marks and grooves. New important discoveries emerged during the recent tracing: three figures of Iron Age warriors and a possible votive inscription to Juppiter, the first found in the Alps on a cup-marked rock [ENG-ITA].
by Andrea ARCÀ and Angelo Eugenio FOSSATI
Seradina 12, Valcamonica, 83 years of research
Covering more than 200 square metres, Rock 12 is the largest engraved rock of the Seradina area; it is included in the Seradina-Bedolina Archaeological Municipal Park. Its beautiful and richly engraved surface has been known since the first discovery of the greatest part of the Valcamonica rock art (1932). In the 1980s the rock was traced and studied under the direction of Mila Simões de Abreu, during which time the tracing was completed. Seradina 12 hosts some very rare iconographic items; among them, we can notice six Iron Age horse-driven ploughing scenes. Two of them are accompanied by sexual scenes, the action meaningfully performed while the ground is being hoed.
by M.Simões de ABREU and A.E. FOSSATI
Posted inAcademics North America TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.37
The Potash Sheep Shifters
The Southwest of North America is known for its rich rock art in which the image of the Bighorn is one of the most important zoomorphic representations. This study investigates the many manifestations of the Bighorn in rock art. The focus is on idiosyncrasies and possible transformations of the image of this impressive animal. It proves that in this respect especially Site 3 on Potash Road near Moab, Utah, offers so many shape-shifted images that we can speak of the Potash Sheep Shifters.
by Maarten van Hoek
Posted in3D Abstracts Computerware Imaging TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.37
AsTrend, ancient carvings enhanced
A short outline of a new low cost methodology: we present the AsTrend, a new methodology for enhance and depict details of the 3D models. This technique is being revealed as an accurate method to study rock art carvings and inscriptions. We think that this method could be used by everyone as the main study objects are based in low cost photogrammetry on the acquisition of 3D models.
by M. Carrero-Pazos, A. Vázquez-Martínez, B. Vilas-Estévez
CAA 2016, call for papers
Call for papers: CAA 2016, section 6, Computer tools for depicting shape and detail in 3D archaeological models. Deadline for paper submission 25 October 2015. Communications, posters and audio-visual material will be accepted, especially those that deal with new computer techniques, to depict shape and detail in 3D archaeological models.
by M. Carrero-Pazos, A. Vázquez-Martínez
B. Vilas-Estévez, M. Miguel Busto-Zapico
Maçaõ: The art of Prehistoric societies
The art of Prehistoric societies, 4th International Meeting of Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Researchers, will take place in Mação (Central Portugal) between 26th and 29th November 2015. Deadline for communication proposals reception (abstracts): October 31th, 2015; abstract up to 3000 characters with 5 keywords and 2 images. Website: http://www.asp2015.com/asp2015/
by ASP2015
Posted inAcademics Alpine rock art - Arte rupestre alpina Bronze Age Copper age Featured free e-book Mont Bego - Monte Bego Open access research history TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.37
Val Meraviglie e Fontanalba (Barocelli 1921)
TRACCE free e-books
Barocelli P. 1921. Val Meraviglie e Fontanalba (Note di escursioni paletnologiche), Atti della Società Piemontese d’Archeologia e Belle Arti, vol. X, fasc. 1, 51 pp., X tavv.
| full text-image and PDF (TRACCE 2015 re-editing) | Italian
[editor’s note: this 1921 paper expresses the first complete archaeological and chronological framework of the Mt. Bego petroglyphic complex; the author, Piero Barocelli was the archaeologist charged with the area, which was at this time managed by the Italian Royal Archaeological Superintendence; Clarence Bicknell, during the last years of his life, passed to him the baton of the research]
by Piero Barocelli – 1921
Posted inAcademics Asia Featured TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.37 Tracing
Rock Art in Jebel Akhdar, Oman
The petroglyphs and pictographs of Oman are little known, but for the last five years I have been involved in a series of surveys of the Jebel Akhdar Mountains that have resulted in the location of several important sites. Recording these in advance of construction projects undertaken to modernize the country’s transportation network has enabled me to study the rock art in considerable detail for the first time. Using superimpositions, cross-dating with known artistic expressions elsewhere in the region, and the known dates for introduction of various objects of material culture, I propose a preliminary chronology consisting of four major phases spanning the last 6,000 years.
by Angelo Eugenio Fossati
Posted inAcademics Africa Featured Morocco North America Protection – Salvaguardia Rock art SOS South America
The Case of Guelta Oukas, Morocco
Very recently several petroglyphs at the rock art site of Guelta Oukas in the Anti Atlas Mountains of southern Morocco were severely damaged. However, the mutilation was limited to two panels with mainly depictions of cattle and – moreover – to specific body parts of those zoomorphic images. In this paper I argue that this is not just another case of unwanted vandalism. Instead, I propose that the mutilation at Guelta Oukas could represent an instance of ‘negative’ rock art, involving the desecration of the images.
by Maarten van Hoek
Footprints in the Alps – pediformi nelle Alpi
Footprints in the Alpine rock art: diffusion, chronology and interpretation. Abstract and slides of the communication presented on Tuesday 1 September 2015 at the IFRAO 2015 – XIX International Rock Art Conference (Cáceres, Spain). The communication provides a detailed description of the most important cases of alpine rocks bearing footprints, a chronological frame for the corresponding engraving phases, and a discussion about suggested interpretations.
Le impronte di piede nell’arte rupestre Alpina: diffusione, cronologia e interpretazione (abstract in Italiano)
by Andrea Arcà
Posted inAcademics Alpine rock art - Arte rupestre alpina Bronze Age Copper age free e-book Mont Bego - Monte Bego Open access research history TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.37
Val Meraviglie e Fontanalba – Tavole (Barocelli 1921)
TRACCE free e-books
Tavole I-X da:
Barocelli P. 1921. Val Meraviglie e Fontanalba (Note di escursioni paletnologiche), Atti della Società Piemontese d’ Archeologia e Belle Arti, vol. X, fasc. 1, 51 pp., X tavv.
| full text-image and PDF (TRACCE 2015 re-editing, public domain) | Italian
[editor’s note: the 1921 paper by Piero Barocelli is enriched by 10 plates – tracings, drawings and pictures – accompanined by very detailed captions]
by Piero Barocelli – 1921
TRACCE Online Rock Art Bulletin 36 – May 2015
# 36 – May 2015
TRACCE Online Rock Art Bulletin 36
––––––––––––––––––> by Footsteps of Man
edited by Le Orme dell’Uomo (Valcamonica – I)
Save Mount Latmos (Turkey) rock art!
Rock paintings dating back to the 6th and 5th millennia B.C. are endangered by exploitation of feldspar. Please sign the online petition to the Turkey Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs
Posted inAsia Mines Protection – Salvaguardia Rock art SOS
Save Mount Latmos rock art! (petition)
On line petition (please sign it!) to the Turkey Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs. Discovered in 1994 by the Berlin archaeologist Dr. Anneliese Peschlow-Bindokat, these rock paintings date back to the 6th and 5th millennia B.C. They are now greatly endangered by increased stone quarrying in the area: the exploitation of feldspar is causing the drastic metamorphosis of the Latmos from a sacred mountain into a source for bathroom installations!
by APB (online petition)
New Anthropomorphic Figures from Jebel Rat
The plateau at the northern foot of Jebel Rat, in the heart of the High Atlas, Morocco, is a major rock-art centre, mainly known for its numerous petroglyphs of horsemen. There are also large circles (interpreted as round shields, some of them decorated) and weapons like daggers, halberds and axes. The anthropomorphic figures are not so well known. Some of them are similar to the ones present at Oukaimeden and Yagour, while others are typical of this plateau. Those figures are round or oval, their heads drawn with coils or spirals. A number of newly found anthropomorphs are presented in this paper.
by Alessandra Bravin
Mt. Bego, a rediscovered manuscript
The oldest written document regarding European rock art is stored in the Turin State Archive. It is entitled the Academia de Giardini di Belvedere (the Belvedere Gardens Academy).
The manuscript is a copy made around the mid seventeenth century by Pietro Gioffredo, historian of the Savoy House, on the basis of another manuscript, written by Honorato Lorenzo, dating back to the end of the previous century, around 1591, or a few years later.
by Andrea Arcà
Posted inAcademics Featured South America
Rock Art at Ischigualasto, and more …
This paper discusses several aspects of rock art research in general, using the status of rock art research in the Cuyo region of western Argentina as a pilot study. A number of protected and unprotected rock art sites will be discussed, focussing on four interrelated issues: Issue 1: Have the locations of rock art sites correctly been published? Issue 2: Should rock art sites be accessible for all? Issue 3: Should the location of rock art sites be revealed or not? Issue 4: Do only academics have the right to publish information about rock art?
by Maarten van Hoek
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Posted inAcademics Asia Featured Mines Rock art SOS
Latmos Mountains (Turkey), endangered rock paintings
The living environment of the Latmos Mountains and of its communities are threatened by the deforestation caused by feldspar quarrying. The cultural heritage looks back upon a long history, from the Neolithic period up to the Ottoman Empire. More than 170 sites of rock drawings (6th/5th millennia BC) are known, representing one of the most important discoveries in prehistoric archaeology during the past decades in Anatolia. Television documentaries, newspaper reports, symposia and demonstrations, have not succeeded in preventing the devastation of the landscape… please sign the online petition!
by Anneliese Peschlow-Bindokat
Phaistos, Crete, cup-marks and other signs
Rock art enthusiasts and researchers will be pleasantly surprised while discovering the moderate but diffused presence of Minoan Palaces “rock art”; two main categories are present: mason’s marks and cup-marks – so-called kernoi – all these engraved upon the ashlars limestone blocks of the Minoan Palaces, mainly in the first centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. Some interpretation problems arise, concerning the sacred or practical character of the marks and the use of the kernoi as offering tables or as popular or childish board games. A great concentration of such items may be found at the Phaistos Palace...
by Andrea Arcà
L’arte rupestre dell’età dei metalli
L’arte rupestre dell’età dei metalli nella penisola italiana: Localizzazione dei siti in rapporto al territorio, simbologie e possibilità interpretative.
Tavola rotonda Venerdì 5 Giugno 2015 ore 9.30 – 18.00, sala conferenze del Cantiere delle Navi Antiche, via Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli 23, Pisa