Towards a new perspective on the rock art sites-landscape relations in the Upper Palaeolithic of Valcamonica (N-Italy). (original) (raw)
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CAA2015 KEEP THE REVOLUTION GOING, Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology
If we intend rock art studies to be an archaeological science, the greatest possible accuracy should be obtained. In order to do so, computer programs are indispensable; considering the needs o f the graphic and analytic workflows, a large set of electronic instruments should be intended as a fundamental toolbox for the careful and up-to-date rock art archaeologist. On the graphic side, the need to obtain a detailed rendering of tracings may greatly benefit from vector drawing software. On the analytical side, the necessity o f managing figure classification and relations may lead to the compilation o f specific software. This is the case o f the study — undertaken by the author — o f the Great Rock of Naquane in Valcamonica (Italy). Dedicated software was compiled andfrom this rankings, statistics, and a catalogue were produced in a few seconds in html format, ready to be published online or printed.
Arcà Andrea, 2004. Rock art in the western Alps: research, methods, data and discoveries
A big gain into the knowledge of the western Alps rock art was obtained during the last quarter of the 20th century. Recording methods derive from a long experience in the Valcamonica rock art and can be summarised in the tracing - photographing - recording pattern. Regarding the Neolithic the Rocca di Cavour and the Pellice red paintings must be outlined. They represent the extreme eastern point of the schematic paintings complex so well-known in the Iberian peninsula. Regarding the Copper Age and the Bronze Age the western Alps corpus of anthropomorphic schematic figures is the largest one outside the two main Alpine rock art poles. A peculiar pattern of meandro-spiralic figures is concentrated along the Valsusa and Maurienne valleys. It is overlapped by some late Iron Age axes in the Mompantero site. Axes also constitute a noticeable corpus. Iron Age paintings (Mompantero) and hunting scenes (Aussois, Lanslevillard) show many contact-points with the Iron Age Valcamonica rock art. Many elements support a late Bronze Age-Iron Age chronological frame for cup-marked rocks, which represent the most diffused engravings in the Alps. A strict relation with the alpine culture and use of territory is Les derniers 25 ans du vingtième siècle ont vu un grand développement des connaissances en ce qui concerne l'art rupestre des Alpes Occidentales. Les méthodes d'étude sont dérivées de la longue l'expérience de travail en Valcamonica. Relevé graphique, photographique et compilation des fichiers représentent le cœur de l'entier processus. En ce qui concerne le Néolithique il faut remarquer les peintures rupestres de la Rocca di Cavour et de la Vallée du Pellice: elles représentent l'extrémité orientale de l'art schématique, si bien connue dans la péninsule Ibérique. Pour le Chalcolithique et l'âge du Bronze le corpus des anthropomorphes schématiques des Alpes occidentales est le plus consistent en excluant les pôles de Valcamonica et du Bego. Une série bien particulière des méandres et spirales est répandue dans les vallées de Maurienne et de Suse. Cettes figures sont superposées a Mompantero par des haches de la fin de l'âge du Fer. Cettes haches mêmes constituent un important corpus. Les peintures de l'âge du Fer (Mompantero) et les scènes de chasse (Aussois, Lanslevillard) montrent nombreuses points en commun avec l'art rupestre de la Valcamonica. En ce qui concerne les cupules, qui sont la gravure la plus répandue dans les Alpes, il y a plusieurs données qui supportent une chronologie fin de l'âge du Bronze - âge du Fer. Pour l'interprétation il faut suggérer de prendre en considération une stricte relation entre l'art rupestre, la culture alpine et l'utilisation du terroirsuggested as an interpretative key for rock art studies.
From scattered data to palaeolandscape reconstruction: a case study from the Romagna plain, Italy
Tagliani M., Canciani V., & Tommasi F., (eds.) HUMANITIES IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM: Approaches, Contamination, and Perspectives, 2020
In this paper, I will present an approach to create digital elevation models of the palaeolandscape (palaeoDEMs) for a test area within the larger Romagna plain. The many landscape transformations that occurred in the area during the last few millennia greatly limit our archaeological knowledge and historical reconstruction of the human presence, so a better understanding of how the topography changed represents a fundamental step. However, relying only on the finite archaeological data would have greatly limited the level of accuracy of the reconstructions. To try to overcome these limitations, the archaeological data have been integrated with information regarding palaeosols identified both during targeted fieldwork campaigns and in pre-existing data collected by archaeological and geological investigations. The depths of archaeological sites and geological layers have been interpolated to produce palaeoDEMs for four different chronological periods, confirming the feasibility of this approach, that could potentially be enlarged to nearby areas or applied to other regions with similar characteristics. Furthermore, through the analysis of the models created, it has been possible to elucidate the evolution of the study area, confirming several previously expressed hypotheses but also to propose a new one.