Seradina – Bedolina Photos of Beautiful Prehistoric Rock Art

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Seradina – Bedolina Archaeological Park – Photos of Beautiful Prehistoric Rock Art Petroglyphs – 1600 to 1000 BC found in Val Camonica Italy. Photos by Paul E Williams

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Seradina – Bedolina Archaeological Park Photos of the Beautiful Prehistoric Rock Art Petroglyphs

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photos of prehistoric petroglyphs, rock carvings, from the Seradina – Bedolina Archaeological Park Museum, Val Comenica, Lombardy, Italy.

Valcominica has more prehistoric rock carvings than anywhere else in the world. Some 200,000 to 300,000 petroglyphs have been found in the valley and more are undoubtedly waiting to be found in the densely wooded mountain slopes of the valley.

The petroglyphs of the Seradina-Bedolina Archaeological Park mostly date from the Copper Age and the Iron Age a period from around 3,300 to 900 BC although petroglyphs dating to 8000 BC are found in the area.

In the Iron age the Camuni people who lived in the Valcominica were prolific rock carver artists depicting warriors duelling, hunting scenes as well as what appears to be a map with huts and filed systems of the area on the rock faces of Seradina-Bedolina.

Even though scholars reported prehistoric rock carvings in the Seradina-Bedolina area in the 1930s it was not until 1963 that Emmanuel Anati, director of the Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici started serious archaeology at the site.

Rock not 12 in the Seradina I area of the site has an incredible density of figures with depictions of deer hunts plus many scenes with warriors with swords, spears and shields.

Scenes of ploughing have given historians an insight into how Iron Age people farmed. Scenes with men holding snakes and what appear to be praying figures suggest that the site had a religious context.

The highest point of the Seradina-Bedolina Archaeological Park is in the Bedolina area where rock no 1 has whar seems to be a schematic map of the area. Historians have managed to recognise rivers that exist today.

The “Badolina Map” depicts huts that are two storey raised on poles, the lower florr of which may have been animal pens as still exist in Alpine regions. Fields are laid out with animals and the map may have been proof of ownership.

Seradina-Bedolina Archaeological Park is part of the Val Camonica UNESCO World Heritage Site.

All photos can be downloaded as royalty free images.