Archaeological matters

In the year 1984, an Italian rock art research team encountered a rock with prehistoric engravings at Valcamonica. Valcamonica or the Valley of Camuna lies between the provinces of Bregamo and Brescia in Northern Italy. Valcamonica is a major site of prehistoric rock art that spreads over the entire valley.

From the foothills of Capo di Ponte, a twenty minutes drive takes you to the Alpine village of Paspardo, an area with a major concentration of rock art. I spent two weeks here with the Valcamonica Rock art and Archaeology Fieldschool. Paspardo is a delightful little village fringed by tall chestnut woods. The high peaks of Alps mark her horizon in graduating shades of gray. But let us leave Paspardo behind for the moment.

Detour Italia

It is 6:50.
It has been so since the first time I stood on this platform, almost an year ago. Alvega- Ortiga is a broken station; just as its clock is. You cannot even buy tickets here. You can just wait. At the horizon you see the skeleton of what was a factory. Perhaps, it is there just to offer some explanation to the station, the station that is broken.

I remember my first day here. Slightly shivering in the early morning chill, I looked through the mist and wondered when the clock had stopped. Was it at dawn or at dusk? But I ask the question no more. A year in Mação has taken it away. The clock is symptomatic of Mação. A cloister town. And on several occasions I fear that I am trapped not in space alone, but in time too. That sends a shiver through my spine.