Grotta del Tesoro rock art site
Toscana – Abbadia San Salvatore (Siena)
Grotta del Tesoro rock art site
Grotta del Tesoro is a small cave discovered in 1970 by Mr. Giorgio Valle of the “Gruppo Archeologico Romano“, a volunteers association operating in Rome from 1960s in the field of cultural heritage and archaeology. This cave is located along the North-East slope of Mt. Amiata (1738m), few meters above the provincial road n°81 and approximately 3.5km before the summit of the mountain.
This rock art site is located very close to the rock formation locally called “Dante’s profile”, a majestic trachytic outcrop that resembles the head of the Italian poet and writer Dante Alighieri.
Grotta del Tesoro rock art figures
The rock art repertoire of Grotta del Tesoro is composed by 3 paintings in black color: 2 black dots and 1 semi-schematic anthropomorphic figure, standing in frontal view and holding on the left a bow with arrow.
This rock art was first analyzed by Dr. Biancofiore and subsequently by Dr. Priuli who proposed a chronology between Copper age and Bronze age. On the contrary, Dr. Negroni referred this figure to the “late protohistoric age”.
Grotta dell’Arciere rock art bibliography
1997
La preistoria del Monte Amiata: attraverso 40000 anni di straordinarie sequenze evolutive e di vita comune dell’uomo Book
Ceccarelli editore, Grotte di Castro, 1997.
1991
“L’Arciere” del Monte Amiata Book Chapter
In: Catacchio, Nuccia Negroni (Ed.): Il Museo di preistoria e protostoria della valle del fiume Fiora, vol. 8, pp. 171-179, Tipo-lito Vieri, Manciano, 1991.