Overview

In a number of significant sites of the vast ancient pasturelands of the Old World, generations of wandering shepherds have left their testimony in the form of graffiti drafted on the rocks, sometimes in their tens of thousands, over a period of hundreds of years from ancient to modern times. The phenomenon is a conspicuous one, and has considerable significance for two reasons. On the one hand, the study of such pastoral graffiti may convey fresh ethnoarchaeological information as to the circumstances of the pastoral activities and the pastoral economy of the past. On the other hand, these signs, which can be often fully alphabetic as well as drawing upon ancient symbolic repertoires, can be of some aid in the interpretation of rock art as a whole genre of human expression, and projected back, in their significance and their modes of appearance, the earliest times of prehistory.

Full Product Details

Author:   Giovanni Kezich ,  Marta Bazzanella
Publisher:   BAR Publishing
Imprint:   BAR Publishing
ISBN:  

9781407357140

ISBN 10:   140735714
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   27 August 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Preface Michael J. Rowlands Introduction: Shepherds who write. A new frontier for ethnoarchaeology Marta Bazzanella and Giovanni Kezich 1. Petroglyphs and graffiti in the Syunik highlands/Armenia - summer pasture for thousands of years Franziska Knoll 1.1. Rock art and geology in the Syunik high steppe 1.2. Depictions, distribution and presumable age of the petroglyphs 1.3. Transhumance and highland pastoralism during the course of time 1.4. Traces of shepherds and flocks/herds in Syunik 1.5. Trying the big picture: Land use, exploitation and rock art as a part of the pastoral life 2. Caves and shepherds' engravings on the Majella mountains Edoardo Micati 2.1. The places of the engravings 2.2. Interpreting the engravings 2.3. A particular representation 3. Trial of the distribution of the shepherds' writings in the Mont Bego region (Tende, Alpes-Maritimes, France) Nathalie Magnardi 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Description 3.3. Postulate 3.4. Methodology 3.5. The distribution of historical and pastoral engravings 3.6. Conclusion 4. Moving beyond the Bego God Jules Masson Mourey and Nicoletta Bianchi 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Presentation of the site 4.2.1. Geographical, geological and geomorphological contexts 4.2.2. Archaeological furniture and palaeoenvironmental data 4.2.3. Corpus and chrono-cultural attributions of prehistoric engravings 4.3. Historiography 4.3.1. Hypothesis no. 1: ex-voto and/or a sacred 'stone-book'? 4.3.2. Hypothesis no. 2: pasture boundaries and/or pastoral path markings? 4.3.3. Hypothesis no. 3: the marks of male rites of passage? 4.4. Critical analysis 4.4.1. Recording methodology 4.4.2. Use of the chrono-cultural context and apprehension of diachrony 4.4.3. The qualitative, the quantitative, and comparisons proposal 4.5. Discussion 4.5.1. The pastoral function of the site 4.5.2. Engraving in modern alpine pastoral universe 4.5.3. Back to the hypothesis of male rites of passage 4.6. Conclusion 5. Igniting fire under mobile conditions and other Late Neolithic-Bronze Age shepherding traces Giorgio Chelidonio 5.1. Introduction 6. Rock art in relation to pastoral villages in medium and high-altitude sites, in Valcamonica and in the Alps Ausilio Priuli 6.1. Introduction 6.2. The relationship between man and environment was economic but was, most importantly, religious 6.3. The expressions of man in the Alps 6.4. Institutionalised 'language' and 'minor manifestations' 6.5. Conclusions 7. Pastoral Graffiti in the Val Grande National Park and in the areas of Natural Parks of Ossola Valley. Results of a first mapping Fabio Copiatti and Elena Poletti 7.1. Geography and environment of the mapped areas 7.2. Inscribed surfaces and techniques 7.3. Conclusions 8. Pastoralism and quarrying: possible typological divergences in the production of historical rock art in accordance with the sites intended use Federico Troletti 8.1. Camuna historic rock art 8.2. The function of historical etchings 8.3. The Camuni sites 8.3.1 Campanine di Cimbergo 8.3.2 The Monticolo di Darfo 8.3.3 Archaeological area of Pisogne and Piancamuno 8.3.4 Other minor sites 8.4 'Schematic' and 'figurative' rock art: a reading proposal 9. Beyond cup-marks: Writings, engravings and ethnography in Val Malenco: a first glimpse (Sondrio, Italy) Cristina Gastaldi 9.1. Introduction 9.2. Geography of Val Malenco 9.3. Settlements: Contrade and Quadre 9.4. Mines, lathes and rock engravings 9.5. Writings and engraved signs within the Contrade 9.5.1. Monograms, dates and crosses in the Contrade 9.5.2. Devotion 9.5.3. Mountain pastures, woods and property rights 9.5.4. Cup-marks 9.5.5. Other engravings 9.6. Writings on a soapstone oven: a unicum 9.7. The Ca': a permanence? 9.8. Horns on barns: ancient protection for hay and crops 9.9. Conclusions 10. Ethnoarchaeology of pastoralism in Valcamonica high pastures Jessica Bezzi and Mara Migliavacca 10.1. Introduction (JB, MM) 10.2. The area of study (JB) 10.3. Methodology (JB) 10.4. Results (JB) 10.4.1 The structures 10.4.2. Transformation of the landscape and resource exploitation (JB) 10.5. Spatial analyses (JB) 10.6. Pastoralism and rock art (JB) 10.7. Comparison with the pastoral structures in the Lessini highlands (MM) 10.7.1. The areas of study 10.7.2. Breeders' houses 10.7.3. Shelters 10.7.4. Enclosures 10.8. Final remarks (JB, MM) 11. Pastoralism without writing? The case of Monti Lessini Mara Migliavacca 11.1. Introduction 11.2. The Lessini highlands: a pastoral world without graffiti 11.3. The Illasi high valley: graffiti from a marginal landscape 11.4. The Agno-Leogra ridge: graffiti from a minery district 11.5. Discussion 12. Compass-made circle engravings from Giau Pass and Mondeval (S. Vito di Cadore, Dolomites, Veneto region, NE Italy) Fabio Cavulli and Francesco Carrer 12.1. The project and the area 12.2. The method 12.2.1. Historical data collection 12.2.2. Survey

Reviews

'This volume will be of great interest to researchers in many parts of the world, including rock-art specialists, ethnographers and ethnoarchaeologists.' Michael C.A. Macdonald, University of Oxford 'This volume is an important contribution to the study of iterative and dialogical forms of writing and drawing. It is the most comprehensive treatment of these types of graffiti to date.' Professor Karen B. Stern Gabbay, Brooklyn College CUNY

Author Information

"Marta Bazzanella, ethnoarchaeologist, PhD in Prehistory, works at the Trentino Folklife Museum. Her major scientific interest is in the field of pastoralism of the ancient and traditional societies. Since 2006 she has coordinated the ethno-archaeological research on the shepherds' writings of the Fiemme Valley and published several articles on this topic. Giovanni Kezich, PhD read anthropology & archaeology in Siena and London (UCL), with a thesis on ""The Peasant Poets"", under the supervision of M.J. Rowlands. Since 1991, he has been Director of the Trentino Folklife Museum, whence he has produced extensive ethnographic work in the Alpine sector and beyond. List of contributors: Giovanni Barozzi, Marta Bazzanella, Gianfranco Bettega, Jessica Bezzi, Nicoletta Bianchi, Francesco Carrer, Fabio Cavulli, Giorgio Chelidonio, Desirée Chini, Fabio Copiatti, Vanya Delladio, Giacomo Fait, Cristina Gastaldi, Giovanni Kezich, Franziska Knoll, Nathalie Magnardi, Jules Masson Mourey, Edoardo Micati, Mara Migliavacca, Elena Poletti, Ausilio Priuli, Federico Troletti"

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