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Theshamanic-ecstatichypothesisfortheAlpinerockartofValcomonica
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ic,cosmologic,religiousmeanings,asopposedtotheimagesofwildanimalsin
Palaeolithicart.
b)TheSchematicphaseoftheLateNeolithicandChalcolithic(late4thmil-
lenniumBCEtobeginningofthe3rdmillenniumBCE).Shamanicelementsare
oftenconnectedtotheappearanceofspecifichumanimages.
c)TheMiddleandLateChalcolithicphase(3rdmillenniumBCE).Thisis
whenIndo-EuropeanthemesbecomefullydevelopedintherockartofValca-
monica.Agreatnumberofsymbolsarecarvedonstelaeandboulders.Theseob-
serveastrictcompositionalorderinvolvingcircles,solar-symbols,weapons,hu-
manfigures,symbolsofthefeminine,animalsandabstractsigns.Subsequently,
duringtheBronzeAgecompositionalruleswerelessstrictandshamanicele-
mentscanoftenbefoundrelatedtohumanimages.
d)TheIronAgephase(1stmillenniumBCE).Themeaningsoftherockart
ofValcamonicadevelopgreatideologicalcomplexitywhichfocusupontheim-
agesofwarriors.Theimportanceofarmedmenarelinkedtomythical-religious
meaningsandfeaturelinkstoIndo-Europeanideologyandvalues.Mostofthe
engravingsrepresentmythicalscenesandmanycarvingshave‘visionary’fea-
turesthatdescribesomekindofmagicorritual.Somerockartimagesuseani-
malfiguresassymbols,oftenwithfuneraryvalue.Amongthescenes,somepan-
elsarerelatedtotheshamaniccontext.
Fromwithintheabovephases,thecarvingsofshamanismhavebeenthen
dividedintotwomaintypologicalgroups:
1.Humanoranthropomorphicimages
Someorthehumanimagesrepresenthumans(orhuman-likebeings)withbig
openhands:thisparticularfeaturecanbefoundallovertheAlpineregionfrom
theNeolithictoIronAgeanduptilltheLateMiddleAges.Theseengravings
usuallyrepresentfiguresexecutedinaprayingposition;theyusuallyoccurin
thecentralpartofthecarvedpanelandarebiggerthanthesurroundinghuman
figures.Inturn,theyarealsooftenrelatedwithmeaningfulsignsand/orani-
mals.Besidestheexceptionalnatureoftheiropenhands,theysometimesalso
haveoversizedfeetandsexualattributes.Itisacommonpatternfoundworld-
wideinshamaniccontexts(Sansoni1983)thatcouldrepresentdeities,‘spirits’,
sacredpersonsorshamans;unfortunately,thecarvingsdonotprovideenough
informationtodiscerntheirmeanings.Importantspecificscenesofshamanism
fromValcomonicaareasfollows:
AtNaquane(Rock1)andCampanine(Rock16),whichdatetothe4thmillen-
niumBCE,therearetwoschematicfigures(maleandfemale)withraisedarms
andopenhands.Theymayberecitingprayers,dancingoritcouldpossiblyrefer
toatranceceremony.
