Ancient European Rock Drawings in Val Camonica, Lombardy, Italy
Val Camonica is a valley that contains the largest collection of prehistoric rock engravings in the world. About 300,000 drawings have been found around the valley and can be seen in several national parks. The rock art ranges from the Neolithic (5th-4th millennium BCE) to the Iron Age (1st millennium BCE).
During the 1st millennium BC, the Val Camonica valley was documented by the Romans as being the home of the Camuni (or Camunni) people. The origin of the Camuni is unknown and the surviving traces of their language are insufficient for researchers to confidently connect them to a language family. Most of the art comes from the 1st millennium BC, so it has largely been attributed to them. The amount of rock drawings sharply decreased by the 1st century AD after the Camuni were conquered by the Romans and rapidly Romanised.
