Alberto Marretta Digging the Past: one hundred years of research on Valcamonica rock art The pioneering era The strange tale of a discovery of his at the same University in Turin, to the The first official mention of the presence of site. Marro was already a well-known per- stone carvings in Valcamonica dates back to sonality. Some years before he had joined the 1909 when Walther1 Laeng, a young alpinist Italian Mission in Egypt led by Ernesto Schia- from Brescia devoted to geological, chemical parelli in order to collect data on mummies and naturalistic studies who used to pass his summer vacations in Valcamonica, pointed Fig. 1. A portrait of Giovanni Marro (1875-1952). out in a letter to the National Committee for the Protection of Monuments the presence of two engraved boulders at Pian delle Greppe near Cemmo (Capo di Ponte, Brescia, Italy). In 1912 Laeng wrote a short note about the existence of these two monuments as part of his description of Cemmo to be published in the first edition of theGuida d’Italia: Pie- monte, Lombardia, Canton Ticino in 1914, edited by Luigi Vittorio Bertarelli on behalf of the Touring Club Italiano. Laeng says that these stones bear engravings “similar to the famous ones of Lac de Marveilles in the Mari- time Alps” (p. 595), but the discovery does not seem to have been of particular interest among Italian scholars. During the ‘20s the engravings are mentioned only by Giuseppe Bonafini, an archaeologist and teacher from Cividate Camuno2, and Senofonte Squinabol, a geologist from the University of Turin who was related to the influential Murachelli family of Cemmo. Realizing the potential antiquity of the carved figures at Pian delle Greppe, in 1929 Squinabol brought the anthropologist Gio- vanni Marro (Fig. 1), a friend and colleague 36 Fig. 2. Cemmo boulder n. 1 in 1929/30 (after Marro 1930). and, afterwards, had founded the Institute scholars both in Italy and more widely in of Anthropology in Turin, where his eclectic Europe. Marro, back in Valcamonica after his interests in psychology, ethnography and first public announcements abroad during archaeology found the ideal place for their a session of the XV Congrés International development and dissemination. d’Anthropologie & d’Archéologie Préhis- But a strange coincidence took place: torique held in Lisbon (Portugal), identified, almost simultaneously Gualtiero Laeng, cleaned and published the second boulder suddenly remembering the discovery he (Masso di Cemmo n. 2). By now even the had made fifteen years before, invited dr. Soprintendenza Archeologica become Paolo Graziosi, then a young prehistorian at fully aware of the discovery and planned the University of Florence, to examine the protection for the two monuments. While engravings of Cemmo. Marro and Graziosi at Cemmo to oversee the construction of therefore worked on the same spot (Fig. 2), wooden shelters to protect the boulders, each unaware of the other, making sketches assistant Antonio Nicolussi, pressed by his and rubbings, presenting the discovery in supervisor to broaden the research to the various sessions of the same congress3 (!) surrounding rocks and almost certainly taken and not seeing the second engraved boulder there by local people, traveled on foot to a (!!), which was very close by but completely location called Giàdeghe4 (Fig. 3), and dis- hidden by bushes and debris. Paolo Grazi- covered the first engravings on the emerg- osi, after this short period in Valcamonica, ing bedrock. Marro too was made aware would rapidly devote himself to other stud- of the discovery through a letter from the ies (rock art of Sahara, Libyan engravings, Soprintendenza’s office and soon he was etc.), becoming after the war one of the able by himself to find another site called most influential and esteemed scholars of Jàl dei Betinèi5, while the Soprintendenza prehistory in Italy. focused on other rocks at Seradina, just be- yond the famous Romanesque church of Pieve di San Siro. Unveiling the past: Giovanni Marro and Assuming the possible presence in the Raffaello Battaglia area of other petroglyphs and thanks to By 1930 the news of archaeological discov- the private tips of his friend Senofonte eries in Italian Alps was widespread among Squinabol, to the aid of native guides and 37 Fig. 3. Map of rock art areas GIADIGHE around Capo di Ponte as men- tioned by researchers during the ‘30s. CAPITELLO Oglio river DEI DUE PINI REDONT I DOSS Re PIE’ GENICAI BEDOLINE SERADINA SCALE DI PASPARDO MASSI DI CEMMO FUSINE CAPO DI PONTE PASPARDO SCALE DI CIMBERGO CEMMO Clegna NACQUANE CIMBERGO SURA NACQUANE ZURLA FOPPE DI NADRO Rock art area Historical route Village Church 250 mt NADRO to the strong support of the local fascist Inscriptions”6 at Campanine di Cimbergo (Fig. government, then headed by the mayor of 4), which for the first time directly addresses Capo di Ponte cav. Murachelli, Marro began not only the epigraphic-linguistic findings a quick, independent but effective research but also the historical identity of the ancient effort that soon brought him to identify al- adopters and users of this alphabet, acknowl- most all the existing rock art sites of middle edged as the “alfabeto di Sondrio” but today Valcamonica, especially those of the eastern definitively addressed as “camuno”. In 1935 side. Names such as Naquane, Zurla, Foppe Francesco Ribezzo, a well-known linguist to di Nadro, Scale di Cimbergo and Scale di whom Marro had submitted an essay on the Paspardo appear in the writings of Marro freshly discovered inscriptions, even thought from the early ‘30s. Many rocks and famous that the examples at Campanine were “[…] carvings from Naquane or Campanine were written […] in an alphabet perhaps older published and described by Marro in his fast than the common North-Etruscan” (Marro paced production of articles and memoirs 1936), starting a wide debate which would during the period 1932-1935. also bring foreign scholars to Valcamonica. One of his main achievements is un- Some of these researchers were attracted doubtedly the discovery (Marro1934) and mainly by the epigraphic discovery and, monographic study of the “Rock of the Five subsequently, by the ethnic implications 38 Fig. 4. The “Rock of the Five Inscriptions” (after Marro 1934). arising from it. In Scandinavia the archae- the runic alphabet, taken to its extremes ologist Arthur Gustaf Nordén, aware of the by Franz Altheim, lost its strength starting Valcamonica findings from personal letters in the ‘60s, but the linguist Tom Markey has from Giovanni Marro himself, was actually recently revived it with interesting new evi- thrilled at the possibility of an origin for dence based upon a fresh interpretation of the runic alphabet in the one used in Val- the inscriptions on the two Negau helmets camonica inscriptions and eagerly pressed (Markey 2001). Marro to perform more field research7. This At the same time research on Valcamonica theory about the Central Alpine origin of stone carvings were performed also by the archaeologist Raffello Battaglia, this time of- Fig. 5. The big “map” of Giadeghe, locality known today ficially and on behalf of the Soprintendenza as Pià d’Ort (after Battaglia 1934). Archeologica di Padova, the institution which at the time was responsible for archaeological activity in this area and which was led by the archaeologist Ettore Ghislanzoni. Battaglia, though devoting less time to Valcamonica rock art than Marro, discovered and pub- lished many engravings that would become famous in future times, like the iron-age plowing scenes of Seradina, the forge-house of Le Crus or the Bedolina and Pià d’Ort maps (Fig. 5). His “topographical” interpretation of the latter, following the classic explana- tion of similar pictures in Mount Bego rock art made by scholars like Clarence Bicknell, Piero Barocelli or Federico Sacco, will be strictly followed by Anati and subsequent researchers and it is still the preferred ap- proach nowadays (Turconi 1997). Marro and Battaglia, often in conflict on theoretical matters or discovery priority8, began to publish photographs and several studies, laying the foundations of future research methods, creating comparisons with other comparable sites like Mount Bego or Scandinavian rock art, and suggesting simi- 39 Fig. 6. Building figures on Naquane rock n. 35. larities with the Iron Age Italic imagery, pri- able conclusions. He was a strong opponent marily that of the Etruscans. of the palafitte theory, often stating that Marro argued that the carvings confirm buildings on wooden poles at the lakeshore the existence in prehistoric times of a lo- were inconsistent with the geomorphologic cal, previously almost unknown, civiliza- environment of prehistoric Valcamonica. For tion dwelling in palafitte (pile dwellings; this reason they should not be regarded as see Fig. 6) and engaged in several primitive actual buildings, he wrote, but probably as religious practices, like for example the cult food storage places or as religious construc- of waters9, and rituals or offerings to the tions (Battaglia 1934). sacred Concarena mountain. In this respect Both of them actually agreed on one he followed what Miles Burkitt had sup- particular point: Valcamonica rock art had posed for Mt. Bego rock art just few years to be considered quite solely an Iron Age before (Burkitt 1929). Unfortunately Marro activity due to the pecking technique and often succumbed to fanciful explanations the hardness of the local sandstone, with of rock art scenes and his conclusions are only doubtful figures possibly of more an- nowadays almost completely overturned, cient times and with a clear continuation in although his works should today be better medieval and modern times, especially in acknowledged at least because of his impor- Campanine di Cimbergo. tant discoveries10. Battaglia, a much more cautious individ- ual and a much more skilled archaeologist German invasions as well, analyzed carefully the petroglyph While the two scholars carried on their ex- production technology, styles of figures, plorations11, the news of the discovery of figure-artifacts comparisons and chronol- rock art in this Central Alpine valley began ogy, possible ethnic collocation of the rock to awaken more and more interest abroad.