ROCK CARVINGS OF VAL D'ASSA - Roana
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Thousands of years ago, ancient tribes who lived in this area carved signs on the cliffs and rocks of Val d’Assa - which at the time was an important way of communication - to mark their transit. These petroglyphs were preserved till our days.
The impressive mountains on the North of the Plateau overlook numerous valleys, among which lies the valley of Val d’Assa. This valley starts at Vezzena, heads to the South, then bends to the West and merges, finally, in the Val d’Astico.
The Val d’Assa actually is like a kind of a split that separates a part of the Plateau isolating thus to the West the Municipality of Rotzo and some suburbs of the Municipality of Roana.
Val d'Assa is a typical glacial valley formed during the Würm Glaciation (the Last Glacial Period, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago) that covered the entire territory of the modern Alpine region. The glacier coming down the slopes of the mountains pressed down the land, giving it the characteristic "U" shape typical of glacial valleys. Later, the river Assa eroded the bottom of the glacier until being “swallowed” by the karst land and becoming probably an underground river. In spite of the lack of water, and due to humid climate in the region, the valley is very rich in vegetation, which gives it a wild appearance.
Since ancient times there were just a few roads to access the valley; among them the most popular is the road from Canove that leads down into the valley and then up on the other side until Roana.
People used this way since ancient times, travelling on foot or by wagon and it was an important and also very busy road. It was used until 1906, till the bridge of Roana was built. It was used again later, when in 1916 the bridge of Roana was blown up to prevent the advance of the Austro-Hungarian troops.
The road passes by an area known as Tunkelbald (black forest), where large concentration of rock carvings has been found.
The kind of rock present in Tunkenbuld, on which many of the petroglyphs were preserved, is partially smooth, partially rough, corroded with time by wind and rain. Its colour varies from pink to dark red, since it contains limestone ammonium, often altered with grey or black tones, resulted from oxidation.
When the scientific studies of petroglyphs were conducted, to make the procedure easier the site was divided into 14 areas covering 40 metres in length and 7 metres in height; the whole surface contains more than 10,000 rock carvings.
The impressive mountains on the North of the Plateau overlook numerous valleys, among which lies the valley of Val d’Assa. This valley starts at Vezzena, heads to the South, then bends to the West and merges, finally, in the Val d’Astico.
The Val d’Assa actually is like a kind of a split that separates a part of the Plateau isolating thus to the West the Municipality of Rotzo and some suburbs of the Municipality of Roana.
Val d'Assa is a typical glacial valley formed during the Würm Glaciation (the Last Glacial Period, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago) that covered the entire territory of the modern Alpine region. The glacier coming down the slopes of the mountains pressed down the land, giving it the characteristic "U" shape typical of glacial valleys. Later, the river Assa eroded the bottom of the glacier until being “swallowed” by the karst land and becoming probably an underground river. In spite of the lack of water, and due to humid climate in the region, the valley is very rich in vegetation, which gives it a wild appearance.
Since ancient times there were just a few roads to access the valley; among them the most popular is the road from Canove that leads down into the valley and then up on the other side until Roana.
People used this way since ancient times, travelling on foot or by wagon and it was an important and also very busy road. It was used until 1906, till the bridge of Roana was built. It was used again later, when in 1916 the bridge of Roana was blown up to prevent the advance of the Austro-Hungarian troops.
The road passes by an area known as Tunkelbald (black forest), where large concentration of rock carvings has been found.
The kind of rock present in Tunkenbuld, on which many of the petroglyphs were preserved, is partially smooth, partially rough, corroded with time by wind and rain. Its colour varies from pink to dark red, since it contains limestone ammonium, often altered with grey or black tones, resulted from oxidation.
When the scientific studies of petroglyphs were conducted, to make the procedure easier the site was divided into 14 areas covering 40 metres in length and 7 metres in height; the whole surface contains more than 10,000 rock carvings.
