Painted prehistoric stone depicting ibex

myminifactory

This is one of the 265 painted stones that were discovered at Dalmeri rock shelter, a prehistoric archaeological site located at 1,240 m above sea level, on the Northern edge of the Marcèsina plain, in the municipality of Grigno (Trento, Italy). It led us to understand the habits, the activities and the relationship with the mountain territory of those attending the area by the end of the Paleolithic about 13,000 years ago.The remarkable discovery of as many as 265 stones painted with red ochre, brought the site into consideration also from an artistic and ritual perspective. The paintings, realized on local stones, embrace different figurative types such as anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, phytomorphic, and schematic representations. A few dozen stones carry some sort of "recognition mark" on the side opposite to the painting. This feature suggests a recurrent ritual, as the possibility to identify and collect the same stone again is considered. The same act of painting them might in itself have been a ritual gesture. (pietra dipinta RD150).