Science at Museo delle Scienze - Museo Tridentino di Scienze ...

iparo dalmeri: art and rituality
Section of Prehistory
in the last twenty years of prehistoric
research in the Alps, dalmeri shelter represented
a key site for understanding the
activities, behavioral dynamics and exploitation’s
methods of the mountain territories
by the epigravettian human groups.
The good preservation of faunal remains,
stone tools and living floors has resulted in
a partial but approximate reconstruction of
palaeo-economy, settlement organization
and site functionality. The site offers the
unusual opportunity to study both art and
rituals expressed by a group of late Paleolithic
hunter-gatherers who frequented the
Pre-Alpine area. Great symbolic significance
assumes the context of recovery of
the paintings, placed outside an housing
structure and in the proximity of three ritual
pits. The figurative elements are frequently
depicted with realism in a way indicative of
the distinct ability to decipher the character
of the animals. This innovative pictorial language
is of considerable scientific interest
and is part of the broader issues of interpretation
of art produced by Paleolithic hunter-gatherers
of europe. consequently, the
interpretation of this site involves also the
artistic and religious sphere and is therefore
much more complex. The paintings in
The main results and projects 2010-2011
ochre are made on clasts taken from the native
breccias (total 267). At the moment of
discovery, the paintings on the stones were
almost completely obscured by calcareous
concretions. We can distinguish different
types of figurative expressions, highlighted
by 11 categories including representations
or symbols anthropomorphic, zoomorphic,
schematic or signs, but also for the most
part, organized surfaces with intentional
traces of red pigment or with only residual
color. it’s hard to find a logic in a depositional
structure designed as “sacred” space, so
privileged, highly articulated and complex,
with potential factors of inter-connection of
the different concentration areas of painted
stones. it’s also problematic distinguish different
periods of deposition or relocation
of individual stones, even if the whole assemblage
is related to the earliest phase of
human occupation of the site (Phase i).
dalmeri G., neri s., Bassetti M., cusinato
A., Kompatscher K. & hrozny Kompatscher n.,
2011 - Riparo dalmeri: le pietre dipinte dell’area
rituale. Preistoria Alpina, 45: 67-117. Trento.
dalmeri G. & neri s., 2011 - la pietra dipinta
Rd 303 di Riparo dalmeri. Preistoria Alpina,
45: 119-125. Trento.
55
1R
2R
3R
4R
5R
6R 6r