A new rock with “topographic compositions”discovered in Bedolina, Valcamonica, Italy
by Alberto Marretta
The Bedolina area is today known mostly for one unique rock art panel, the big topograph-ic composition on rock n. 1 called the “Bedo-lina Map” (Anati 1960, Beltràn Lloris 1972, Turconi 1997), and it has never been methodically inspected. However, beyond this well–known rock, the Bedolina area contains many other panels sur-rounding the “Map” which constitute a remarkable framework, yet poorly documented, for a systematic approach to the analysis of the whole rock art site.
In general the imagery found in Bedolina links both with Seradina below (ploughing scenes) and the adjoining Dos Mirichì above, while at the same time it does display marked characteristics of its own, such as a noteworthy frequency of “camunian roses” and the rare presence of so–called buccinae (or cornua), representations of curved metal wind instruments probably used during the middle and final Iron Age and the Roman period. Very spo-radic, like anywhere else on the slope, are huts and footprints. As said, extraordinary and deservedly famous is the large engraved image belonging to the category of interconnected geometric elements, or “maps”, which here crop up mainly in the area of the small fats of lower Bedolina, that is in the sub-area included in 2005 into the current grounds of the Seradina–Bedolina Archaeological Park.
