Culture can grow also thanks to exchanges and contaminations: this is why CCSP, since its origins, has always urged meetings and confrontations of scholars and specialists from different disciplines, to contribute to the knowledge and understanding of the world’s archaeological heritage and to the establishment of international forums.
In 1968, the first Valcamonica Symposium was instrumental in raising international awareness on Valcamonica’s rock art, thus making the subsequent Symposia, organized periodically, an essential meeting point for international scientific debate.
In addition to the Valcamonica Symposiums, the CCSP also periodically organizes study meetings, congresses and conferences aimed at analysing the engraving phenomenon and its regional peculiarities. These meetings have a more vernacular value and solicit discussions on methods of investigation and documentation and on the formulation of interpretative hypotheses, also creating synergies and exchanges among researchers working in neighboring areas.
Since February 2020, CCSP launched the “Talking about rock art” project—a monthly lecture series, made available on the @centrocamuno FB page, which facilitates mutual acquaintance among researchers and allows a constructive confrontation with a wide and varied audience, an exchange of points of view, an update on ongoing research, and the presentation of new studies and publications.
In 2018, CCSP and the Archaeological Cooperative Society “Le Orme dell’Uomo” (“Footsteps of Man”) had the pleasure of organizing and hosting the 20th International IFRAO (International Federation of Rock Art Organizations) Congress on rock art.
The Valcamonica Symposia are an important meeting opportunity for leading specialists in prehistoric and tribal art, and they are essential for sharing skills and knowledge in an interdisciplinary context that includes various fields of research—prehistory, archaeology, anthropology, ethnology, art history, history of religions, psychology, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and linguistics. The audience is not limited to students and experts in these disciplines, but also museum workers, gallery owners, art collectors, antiquarians, and enthusiasts. Symposia sessions are also accompanied by parallel events like exhibitions, concerts, and performance art.
Most of the Valcamonica Symposia have reached publication of the proceedings; to consult them, follow the links below or consult the page dedicated to “Edizioni del Centro” (CCSP’s publishing house).
XXVIII VCS, Rock-Art, a human heritage, Capo di Ponte 28 – 31 October 2021 (check the web page)
XXVII VCS, 40 anni del sito UNESCO “Arte Rupestre della Valcamonica”, Capo di Ponte 25 – 27 October 2019 (check the web page)
XXVI VCS, Prospettive sulla ricerca dell’arte preistorica a 50 anni dalla fondazione del Centro Camuno, Capo di Ponte 9-12 September 2015 (check the web page)
XXV VCS, L’arte come sorgente di storia, Capo di Ponte, 20-26 September 2013 (check the web page)
XXIV VCS, Arte e comunicazione nelle società pre-letterate, Capo di Ponte, 13-18 July 2011 (check the web page)
XXIII VCS, Arte Preistorica e Tribale: Produrre storia dalla Preistoria, Capo di Ponte, 28 October -2 November 2009 (check the web page)
XXII VCS, L’arte rupestre nel quadro del Patrimonio Culturale dell’Umanità, Darfo Boario Terme, 8-24 May 2007 (check the web page)
XXI VCS, Arte Preistorica e Tribale: Nuove scoperte, nuove interpretazioni e nuovi metodi di ricerca, Darfo Boario Terme, 8-14 September 2004
XX VCS, Recenti Prospettive sulla documentazione e presentazione dell’arte, Tanum – Sweden, 23-26 October 2002
XIX VCS, Arte Preistorica e Tribale: Parametri e Linee Guida per lo Studio dell’Arte Rupestre, Tanum – Sweden, 22-27 September 2001
XVIII VCS, Arte Preistorica e Tribale: Conservazione e salvaguardia dei messaggi: inventari, archivi e registrazioni, Darfo Boario Terme-Lovere-Capo di Ponte, 9-13 November 2000
XVII VCS, Arte Preistorica e Tribale: Decifrare le immagini, Darfo Boario Terme, 21-26 September 1999
XVI VCS, Arte Preistorica e Tribale: Sciamanesimo e mito, Iseo-Sulzano, 24-29 September 1998
XV VCS, Arte Preistorica e Tribale: Grafismo e semiotica, Iseo, 25-30 September 1997
XIV VCS, Arte Preistorica e Tribale: Immagini, Simboli e Società, Capo di Ponte, 3-8 October 1996
XIII VCS, Arte Preistorica e Tribale: Miti, Segni e Memorie, Darfo Boario Terme, 5-10 October 1995
XII VCS, Arte Preistorica e Tribale: Arte rupestre ed archeologia, Boario Terme, 5-10 October 1994
XI VCS, Arte Preistorica e Tribale: Simbolo e Mito, Temù, 6-11 October 1993
X VCS, Arte Rupestre: l’importanza del luogo. Il sito, il messaggio, lo spirito, Montecampione, 16-21 October 1992
IX VCS, Arte Rupestre: Vecchio e Nuovo Mondo, convergenze e divergenze, Capo di Ponte, 20-25 September 1991
VIII VCS, Arte rupestre: Il futuro della ricerca, Capo di Ponte, 25-30 September 1990
VII VCS, Motivazioni e radici dell’Arte, Lovere, 22-25 September 1989
VI VCS, Arte preistorica e primitiva, Lovere, 22-27 July 1987
V VCS, Arte rupestre: nuovi orizzonti della ricerca, Breno, 20-26 August 1984
IV VCS, Arte Rupestre e Museologia, Milano, 29-31 October 1982
III VCS, Arte Preistorica e Religioni, Ponte di Legno, 27 July-4 August 1979
II VCS, Le Religioni della Preistoria, Boario Terme, 18-23 September 1972 (download paper)
I VCS, Simposio Internazionale d’Arte Preistorica, Boario Terme, 23-28 September 1968 (download paper)
Starting in January 2020, the Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici is offering a monthly lecture series, available online, providing a space for comparison and sharing for all scholars who are involved in archaeology and rock art in Valcamonica and for those who have broadened their study scope, both chronologically and geographically.
The goal of this project is to provide a smart platform to facilitate mutual acquaintance, constructive discussion, exchange of viewpoints, updates on current research, or the presentation of new publications.
The conferences, having different duration and format, take place on Zoom and are broadcast in real time on our social channels (@centrocamuno) and subsequently archived on FB and YouTube. Participation to these events is free of charge.
As a reminder, applications to propose one’s own paper are open; we ask all interested parties to write to biblioteca@ccsp.it indicating the title of the paper, a brief presentation, and their preferred dates.
REPORT LIST (with links)
Angelo E. Fossati (Italian): L’arte rupestre della Valcamonica in età del Ferro (“Valcamonica Rock Art in the Iron Age”, link)
Dario Sigari (Italian): L’arte rupestre all’aria aperta, gruppi umani e territori. Il caso Gobustan (“Open-Air Rock Art, Human Groups and Territories: The Gobustan Case”, link)
Silvana Gavaldo e Paolo Medici (Italian): L’arte rupestre di Foppe di Nadro (considerazioni sullo studio sistematico dell’area) (“Foppe di Nadro’s Rock Art—Considerations on the Systematic Study of the Area”, link)
Giuliano Chiapparini (Italian): La religione negli studi sulla Valcamonica prescristiana: modelli a confronto (“Religion in Studies on Pre-Christian Valcamonica: Comparing Models”, link)
Mila Simoes de Abreu (Italian): L’arte rupestre paleolitica all’aperto in Europa (“Palaeolithic Outdoor Art in Europe”, link)
Francesca Roncoroni (Italian): Il rilievo di Bormio: storia della scoperta e nuove analisi iconografiche (“Bormio’s Tracing—History of Discovery and New Iconographic Analysis”, link)
Umberto Tecchiati (Italian): Statue-stele dell’età del Rame nell’area alpina atesina (Copper Age Statue-Stelae in the Area of the river Adige”, link)
Giuseppe Orefici (Italian): Il progetto NASCA 1982-2021. Ultimi risultati (“NASCA Project 1982-2021—Latest Results”, link)
GIPRI Colombia (Spanish with English subtitles): Pinturas rupestres Serranía La Lindosa, Colombia: Estudios y Debates (“Rock Art from Serranía de la Lindosa, Colombia—Studies and Discussions”, link)
Silvia Sandrone (Italian): Incisioni rupestri protostoriche e storiche della regione del monte Bego (“Proto-Historic and Historic Rock Engravings in the Area of Mount Bego”, link)
Umberto Sansoni (Italian): Arte rupestre del Sahara Centrale e del Sahel: 10 millenni di immagini sulla roccia (“Central Sahara and Sahel Rock Art—10 Millennia’s Worth of Images on Rocks”, link)
Genevieve von Petzinger: Paleolithic Signs and the Origins of Graphic Communication (link)
Emmanuel Anati, con la partecipazione di L. Baldari, E. Berrocal, A. Biganzoli, F. Gambicorti, E. Giannichedda, N. Gugliuzza, S. Marigonda, R. Mulato (Italian): Decifrare l’arte preistorica (“Deciphering Prehistoric Art”, link)
Sam Challis: The effects of contact in the rock art of southern Africa (link)
Marcel Otte (French): Arts Prehistoriques, témoins des activités de la conscience (“Prehistoric Arts: Witnessing the Activities of Conscience”, link)
Sara Garces: Tagus Valley Rock Art Complex (link)
Paweł Polkowski: Rock art in Egypt’s Western Desert: A view from the Dakhleh Oasis (link)
Suely Gleyde Amancio-Martinelli (Portoguese): Arte rupestre do baixo rio São Francisco no Nordeste do Brasil (“Rock Art of the Low São Francisco River, North-Eastern Brazil”, link)
Marisa Giorgi: Cultural maintenance of fertility and resource supply: the rock art of Carnarvon Gorge (link)
Antti Lahelma: Seducing the Prey: Animism and Sexuality in North European Rock Art (link)
Sven Ouzman: 40,000 Years of Rock Art and Place-Making from Sahul and Australia (link)
Matteo Meschiari (Italian): Dreamscapes. Le origini preistoriche dell’immaginario (“Dreamscapes. The Prehistoric Origins of Imagination”, link)
Giriraj Kumar, Ram Krishna and Hridayshri: Emotional Aspects of Rock Art (link)
Claire Smith and Gary Jackson, with Barunga community: Aboriginal strategies for hiding meaning in rock art in the Barunga region, Northern Territory, Australia (link)
Dario Sigari (Italian): Parlando di arte paleolitica in Italia (“About Palaeolithic Art in Italy”, link)
Gerhard Milstreu: A short introduction to Scandinavian Rock Art. With connection to the Mediterranean (link)
Andrea Arcà (Italian): La Grande Roccia delle Aquane. Miti, eroi e divinità nell’iconografia camuna e italica della prima età del Ferro (“The Great Rock of the Aquane: Myths, Heroes and Gods in Camunian and Italic Iconography of the Early Iron Age”, link)
Georges Sauvet (French): La structuration du bestiaire paléolithique (“The structure of palaeolithic bestiaries”, link)
Luc Hermann: Rock art of Kyrgyzstan: an overview (link)
Benjamin Smith: Rock Art of Murujuga: Protecting the world’s largest rock art site from destruction (link)
SEMINAR: Rock-Art and Environment / Arte rupestre e ambiente
Città della Cultura, Capo di Ponte (Brescia, Italy) – July 4-6, 2023
Interdisciplinary seminar held in presence at CCSP headquarters, addressing botany, geology and environment in relation to the new challenges concerning the conservation of outdoor archaeological heritages posed by climate change.
Italian Symposium on Egyptology
Città della Cultura, Capo di Ponte (Brescia, Italy) – June 6-8, 2023
The first edition of the Italian Symposium of Egyptology was held June 6-8, 2023, at the Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici (CCSP), in Valcamonica. The first day was devoted to visiting local sites with rock art and to informal activities, while the participants’ presentations were held on the following two days. It was decided to group their speeches by themes, based on the submitted abstracts, in order to make it easier to develop a discussion.
The purpose of this Symposium was to create a network of researchers engaged in the study of Egyptology, both in Italy and abroad. The goals also included encouraging peer cooperation and understanding of research interests, with a view to possible new projects and academic horizons.
IFRAO Inter-Congress Symposium: News from the World
Capo di Ponte – May 26-27, 2023
The Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici (CCSP) and the Archaeological Cooperative “Le Orme dell’Uomo” (“Footsteps of Man”), which already collaborated in 2018 for the realization of the 20th IFRAO World Congress, were commissioned to organize the new IFRAO-Inter Congress, which was held online on May 26 and 27, 2023.
After the pandemic, which halted many initiatives and prevented the smooth running of meetings between the international realities of rock art research, the Inter-Congress Symposium 2023 provided an opportunity for member associations to present their latest significant research, achievements, and prospects for the future. Speakers held their speeches online, on the Zoom platform, and all presentations were live streamed on the YouTube channel of CCSP, as well as shared on the social pages of the involved institutions.
First day: LINK
Second day (part 1): LINK
Second day (part 2): LINK
HISTORY, ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY in Valcamonica, Sebino and Franciacorta, between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age.
Palazzo della Cultura, Breno (Brescia, Italy) – May 15-16, 2021
The conference, held partly in presence and partly online on the CCSP’s FB page, offered an interdisciplinary research perspective, now shared in the art and historical-archaeology field internationally, aimed at giving a plurality of vision, even in the specificity of the examined topics and ages.
The conference was a moment of confrontation, both on the contribution of new topics and methodologies and on the evaluation of the state of research. In Valcamonica, it is quite well-known the weight of the historical institutions that “hold up,” now with some difficulties, the daily work of research, study, and dissemination. The meeting was an opportunity to concretize the methodological comparison of research and the dissemination of results and, at the same time, to define the goals of local historiography and indicate new perspectives of study and in-depth analysis.
All the speeches are available at the following links: Part One – Part Two
Castles and fortifications. From Valcamonica to Franciacorta
Federici Castle, Gorzone (Brescia, Italy) – Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017
As part of the event “Del Bene e del Bello. Cultural Heritage Days of Valcamonica, the Valley of Signs,” CCSP and the cultural association “LOntàno Verde” organized a day of studies dedicated to castles and fortifications, from Valcamonica and Franciacorta (both located in the Province of Brescia).
The speakers presented the phenomenon of encastellation by analyzing the historical and architectural aspects of the foundation and evolution of fortifications and castles in Valcamonica, on Lake Iseo and in neighboring Franciacorta, presenting the results of archaeological excavations and analysis of wall textures of some of these sites. The event was held in the marvelous setting of Federici Castle in Gorzone (a hamlet of Darfo Boario Terme), whose externally austere forms conceal its elegant Renaissance loggias and striking decorated halls. The present building is the result of complex transformations that, over the centuries, affected its oldest core, dating back to the 12th century. Much of the papers that were presented at the event, as well as other content pertinent to the theme, were published in 2019 in the volume Castles and fortifications. From Valcamonica to Franciacorta edited by F. Troletti, which is available in our bookshop (Dedicated web page).
Seminar: The dance of archetypes, at the roots of symbolic language
Reflections on the search for the original motions and roots of the mythic-symbolic systems of Homo sapiens. Goals in systemic vision
Bergamo – October 15-16, 2016
Ars totum requirit hominem, “the art requires the entirety of man”: this states an alchemical maxim, from the hermetic school that was the forerunner of integral thinking, of the research strained between the physico-chemical and the animic experimental. A Western tradition that sinks the roots of its knowledge in a complex of ancient traditions—Greco-Roman, Islamic, Egyptian—and at the same time, through them, attempts the transmutation of “iron into gold,” from vulgar into spiritual man, with our own spirit (both pragmatic and exploratory). The effect of this research was a powerful contribution to the birth of modern experimental science and to keep on verifying the assumptions of an “occult” science, which, as opposed to Roman and Aristotelian philosophy, a strong drive to build or rediscover the homo novus—what ideally was the Vitruvian Renaissance man.
III INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS – Sanctuaries, culture, art, pilgrimage, rogations, landscapes and people
Valcamonica (Brescia, Italy) – July 8-12, 2016
Like few other sites in the world, Valcamonica tells a story of deep-rooted spirituality through its many interesting remains of a great deal of cultures: the great dissemination of rock art (thanks to which the so-called “Valley of Signs” entered UNESCO’s Word Heritage List, even as the first Italian site to gain that title!), the vestiges of Roman domination, the intricate events related to the Christianization of the Alps, and its numerous churches, chapels, places of worship, and sanctuaries. (Dedicated web page)
International Conference: L’arte rupestre delle Alpi / Alpine Rock Art
Città della Cultura, Capo di Ponte (Brescia, Italy) – October 21-24, 2010
The rock art of the Alps is a grand phenomenon for many reasons: because of its chronological, spatial and thematic extension; because of its geographical position, at the meeting of the great cultural areas of Europe; because of the peculiar sedimentation and conceptual reworking, which informs it over the millennia. The combination of these factors represents its uniqueness and value. The Conference was proposed as a state of the art on current research.
XX INTERNATIONAL ROCK ART CONGRESS IFRAO 2018, Standing on the shoulders of giants / Sulle spalle dei giganti
VALCAMONICA, Darfo Boario Terme (Brescia, Italy) – August 29-September 2, 2018
The Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici (CCSP) and the Archaeological Cooperative “Le Orme dell’Uomo” (“Footsteps of Man”) organized the 20th International Congress on Rock Art, held in Valcamonica (Italy) from August 29 to September 2, 2018.
Several anniversaries fell in 2018, namely, the 30th anniversary of the founding of IFRAO (International Federation of Rock Art Organisations) and of the “Footsteps of Man” Cooperative, as well as the 50th anniversary of the first Valcamonica Symposium.
The congress delved into topics related to the study of rock art, archaeology, culture and society, from its origins to the present day. During these five days, leading international experts, researchers, young scholars and enthusiasts presented their findings and studies on rock art, rock archaeology, and other fields of research, concerning Paleolithic and post-Paleolithic art from around the world.
Over 30 sessions, workshops, lectures, exhibitions, and visits were held, once again making Valcamonica the showcase for the international rock art world.