TRACCEEurope Archives

Archive for Europe

Imaoun – Morocco: the Venus Cross

April 2, 2024 Academics, Featured, Megalithic art - arte megalitica, Morocco No comments

Imaoun-1 is one of the most important rock art sites in southern Morocco. In this study I briefly describe the array of petroglyphs at this site, comprising cupules, abstract motifs and patterns and biomorphic images. Imaoun-1 is also special because of its overrepresentation of abstract imagery. In this study I focus on one specific abstract petroglyph (said to have megalithic connotations), and – in more detail – on the Venus Cross, a globally widespread motif that is also overrepresented in this small part of Morocco. Its possible origin and journey across the prehistoric landscapes are also discussed.

By Maarten van Hoek.

A ‘Unique’ Petroglyph Scene in Southern Morocco

December 30, 2019 Academics, Africa, Featured, Morocco, Scandinavia, Zoomorphic No comments

Mating scenes involving mammals of the same species are rather rare in global rock art, but surprisingly fighting scenes are even more extraordinary. This study discusses a specific petroglyph panel in the south of Morocco where – in my opinion uniquely – a fighting and a mating scene was recorded by us in 2019. This panel is analysed and put into a wider context.

By Maarten van Hoek

Cuevas con arte rupestre Paleolítico en Cantabria

July 9, 2019 Academics, Cave art, Featured, Iberian peninsula, Palaeolithic, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.44 No comments

Cantabria posee más de 70 cuevas con arte rupestre
paleolítico, erigiéndose como una de las regiones con mayor
concentración de conjuntos rupestres paleolíticos en Europa.
Su importancia radica en:
– la cantidad de conjuntos,
– la diversidad de técnicas, temática y estilística,
– la concentración de imágenes, antigüedad y continuidad en el tiempo,
– la calidad y excelente estado de conservación.

by Daniel GARRIDO PIMENTEL [i] Read more

Long Distance Diffusion of Rock Art Motifs in the Americas

September 7, 2018 Academics, Africa, America, Australia, Europe, Featured, Mid-America, Morocco, North America, South America, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.43 No comments

Rock art motifs are found in every inhabited continent. In most cases those motifs develop independently, but it is also certain that specific rock art motifs migrated from one area to another area, sometimes travelling for thousands of kilometres. This study investigates the possible long-distance diffusion of a number of abstract rock art motifs along the Pacific seaboard of the Americas.

By Maarten van Hoek Read more

L’arte rupestre di Böyük Daş in Gobustan, Azerbaijan

November 23, 2016 Europe, Featured, Landscape, Palaeolithic, Photogallery, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.40 No comments

Böyük Daş

The Böyük Daş mountain is one of the three promontories included in the Natural Historical Artistic Reserve of Gobustan. With its terraced profile and big boulders scattered around the different terraces, it preserves thousands of engravings with a very long chronology. Its rock art includes several figurative categories: zoomorph, anthropomorph, boat, symbol. Here is presented a brief guide to visit the Böyük Daş hill, in Gobustan Rock Art Reserve.

Il monte di Böyük Daş è uno dei tre promontori inclusi nella Riserva Naturale Storico-Artistica di Gobustan, Con il uso profilo terrazzato e una serie di grossi massi sparsi lungo le sue terrazze, conserva migliaia di figure incise di cronologia molto ampia e appartenenti a varie categorie figurative: zoomorfi, antropomorfi, imbarcazioni, simboli. Ecco una breve guida per visitare l’area di Böyük Daş, all’interno della Riserva di Arte Rupestre di Gobustan.

by Dario SIGARI [i]

Spanish rock-art documentation, the ARAM project

March 28, 2015 Iberian peninsula, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.35, WEB No comments

ARAM project

[CAA 2015 – session 3C abstract]

In the latest three years, we have applied our own documentation methodology over 45 rock-art shelters from different regions of Spain. We developed a register system that combines the data acquired by 3D scanning technology, photogrammetry, high-resolution spherical images …

by Jorge ANGAS, Manuel BEA

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Photogrammetric techniques at Campo Lameiro, Galicia

March 28, 2015 Iberian peninsula, Imaging, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.35 No comments

Campo Lameiro

[CAA 2015 – session 3C abstract]

We propose photogrammetry as a technique that allow us to create a 3D model, oriented to reduce the different problems of subjectivity that are present in the old systems of registry, and furthermore to study the rock surface without touching it…

by Benito VILAS, Alia VÁZQUEZ, Miguel CARRERO

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Chauvet-Pont d’Arc cave, grand opening!

February 7, 2015 Cave art, Europe, Featured, News - announcements - notizie, Palaeolithic, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.34 3 comments

Lion head

After only 30 months of work, the opening of the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc cave to the public is scheduled for Saturday 25 April 2015: don’t miss it! It’s the largest cave replica ever built worldwide, ten times bigger than the Lascaux facsimile. All geological and archaeological features, such as paintings and engravings, are reproduced full-size in an underground environment identical to the original one. Visitors’ senses will be stimulated by the same sensations of silence, obscurity, temperature, humidity and acoustics, carefully reproduced.

by Andrea Arcà

Podomorfos, footprints, pediformi, pédiformes

January 26, 2015 Footprints, Forum - thread, Iberian peninsula, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.34 One comment

Maurienne: Pisselerand,
Pierre aux Pieds

Here is integrally reported a long FB photographic thread started by Ángel L. Mayoral Castillo on June 2011. It is completely devoted to footprints; no matter about their chronological or geographical origin. You may intend it as a little bit casual, or, better, serendipitous, like some (few? many?) FB posts. Anyway it seems useful to share it, to get some starting points: an intriguing subject, surely not a secondary one concerning some aspects of rock art interpretation.

by FB thread (A.L.M.C.)

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Chenal shelter, six thousand years of iconography

January 21, 2015 Academics, Alpine rock art - Arte rupestre alpina, Archaeology, Featured, Megalithic art - arte megalitica, Methods - metodi, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.34, Western Alps No comments

Chenal shelter

The oldest post-Palaeolithic engravings of the Alps, 5th millennium BC, reveal many contact points with the ancient megalithic art of Brittany. We publish here the complete paper related to the Montjovet-Chenal shelter, Aosta valley; Italian version, with short English abstract and all-sectors tracings. Full text-image searchable flip book (Flash plugin needed). The low-res PDF is also available.

by A. Arcà, D. Daudry, A. Fossati, F. Morello, L. Raiteri

Valcamonica Symposium 2015

January 20, 2015 Alpine rock art - Arte rupestre alpina, Congress, Europe, News - announcements - notizie, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.34 No comments

Valcamonica Symp. 2015

The new scientific committee of the CCSP presents the 2015 Valcamonica symposium, the international meeting among rock-art scholars and researchers, which will be held on September 9-12 2015 at Capo di Ponte (Valcamonica, Italy). Attention is drawn over archaeological contexts, research updates, documentation techniques, dating methods, environmental context and rock art management. Deadline for abstracts: 15 March 2015; deadline for completed papers: 30 May 2015.

by CCSP scientific committee

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La Grotte Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc (EuroPreArt)

January 19, 2015 Cave art, Europe, Palaeolithic, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull.34 No comments

Rhinocéros

[la fiche de EuroPreArt, 2002] La grotte fut découverte le 18 décembre 1994 par trois spéléologues (J.M. Chauvet, E. Brunel-Deschamps, C. Hillaire), et immédiatement authentifiée par les spécialistes (visite de J. Clottes 10 jours après la découverte). La grotte n’a pas connu de visites humaines entre le Paléolithique et sa redécouverte en 1994, ce qui a permis une excellente préservation des ouvres pariétales mais aussi de tout le contexte archéologique.

by Laurence Remacle, Université de Liège

Magura Cave paintings, Bulgarian rock art

November 19, 2014 Academics, Balkans, Cave art, Copper age, Featured, Photogallery, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull. 33 4 comments

Sun figure

Situated in north-western Bulgaria, and managed by the Belogradchik municipality, the Magura cave (Пещера МАГУРА) is, with the Porto Badisco cave (south Italy), the most important European post-Palaeolithic painted cave. Hundreds of dark brown figures are diffused along an astonishing underground Art Gallery: hunting, dancing and mating scenes, bi-triangular female silhouettes, axes, solar symbols… a prehistoric iconographic treasure which definitely deserves a special attention. [Text and photogallery]

by Andrea ARCÀ

Magura cave photogallery

November 19, 2014 Balkans, Cave art, Photogallery, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull. 33 No comments

Magura figure

The Bulgarian Magura cave is well known for its impressive prehistoric paintings, scattered along an astonishing and dreamy 240 m long underground diverticulum, for which its Art Gallery is really worth a visit. More than 750 darkish figures have been counted, made with bat guano, smeared or rubbed along the cave walls; on the curvy shaped vaults and niches, white or yellowish “plastered” by the nature, we can recognise dancing, hunting, and mating scenes, and organise the figures into four thematic groups: anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, geometric, and symbolic signs. [Text and photogallery]

by AA

Bulgarian rock art: the Madara rider

November 19, 2014 Balkans, Epigraphy, Middle Ages, Photogallery, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull. 33 No comments

Madara rider

The Madara rider is a unique monument of the ancient Bulgarian art. Its popularity is immense in Bulgaria and since 1979 it has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. The high-relief depicts a rider on his stallion accompanied by a dog. A dead lion is carved under the horse and some inscriptions in Greek all around. The scene celebrates the founding of the Bulgarian state by the Khan Asparukh (680-700 AD). The Madara rider is the only European rock carved monument from the Early Middle Ages. [Text and photogallery]

by rupestre

Bric Ercea, Finalese, petroglifi e manufatti litici

November 1, 2014 Appennino, Archaeoastronomy, Cup marks - coppelle, Megalithic art - arte megalitica, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull. 33 No comments

Bric Ercea

Il Bric Ercea è un rilievo posto a sud di Bric Pianarella, facilmente raggiungibile dalla località di Monticello e di San Bernardino, presso Finale Ligure.Viene descritto il sito con i reperti litici, i rapporti con vicine strutture di analogo significato, con riferimenti a possibili interessamenti archeologici ed archeoastronomici. Segue una discussione sulle ipotesi di datazione e di utilizzo dei ritrovamenti.

by A. Pirondini, G.P. Bocca, F. Pirondini,
C. Pirondini, C. Villa

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Chenal: il riparo inciso – the engraved shelter

May 6, 2014 Archaeology, Megalithic art - arte megalitica, Methods - metodi, News - announcements - notizie, Photogallery, Talks - lectures - conferenze, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull. 32, Western Alps 3 comments

Chenal shelter

Una recente scoperta: le più antiche figure post-paleolitiche dell’arte rupestre alpina. A recent discovery: the most ancient post-palaeolithic figures of the alpine rock art. Venerdì 9 maggio 2014 ore 17.30 presentazione pubblica ad Aosta; Friday, May 9, 2014 5:30 p.m. public presentation at Aosta (I).

by A. Arcà, D. Daudry, A. Fossati, F. Morello, L. Raiteri, L. Bornaz

Elephas antiquus depicted at Vermelhosa rock art?

February 24, 2014 Academics, Featured, Iberian peninsula, Palaeolithic, TRACCE Onl. RA Bull. 31 One comment

Vermelhosa

Among the Vermelhosa Palaeolithic scratched figures, an elephant head stands out. Eighteen years after its publication, it’s time to recall the attention of Palaeolithic rock art scholars over this case: having been the Iberian peninsula the last European refuge of the straight-tusked elephant, are we facing an Elephas antiquus depiction? (PDF available)

by Andrea Arcà

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