structure
2.5 m depth
Red painting
S. Tusa
T. Mattioli
F. Di Gennaro
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Morra di Colecchia Rock Art (Italy)
Morra di Colecchia (photo by Tommaso Mattioli)
Morra di Colecchia is a natural megalithic structure featuring rock art, located near Rocca Canterano in the Aniene Valley (RM). This site was discovered in the late 1970s by local enthusiasts Antonio and Maurizio Panimolle. In the early 1980s, the site was reported by Alessandro Guidi and Sebastiano Tusa in two separate articles published in the same volume of the Archeologia Laziale series. In the early 2000s, the site was re-examinated by Tommaso Mattioli, who published the results in the proceedings of the conference series Lazio e Sabina. The site consists of a large limestone slab covering a space defined by surrounding blocks. This formation likely resulted from a rockfall from Mount Cerasolo. Although it gives the impression of human construction, the structure is in fact the result of natural processes, with rocks taking on symbolic forms, and may be compared to sites such as the Anta de Adrenunes in Portugal. In line with Bradley (An Archaeology of Natural Places, 2000), such sites can be understood as distinctive natural features within the landscape, distinguished from the surrounding landscape by their striking topography, and subsequently enhanced or appropriated by human communities, including through the production of rock art.
View of the landscape from the rock art site of Morra di Colecchia (photo by Tommaso Mattioli)
Morra di Colecchia has been tentatively associated with prehistoric or Eneolithic use, based on non-diagnostic ceramic fragments and lithic artefacts (Tusa, 1980; Zabotti, 1988; Festuccia e Guidi, 2019). The archaeological materials recovered from the rock shelter are currently preserved in the Museo delle Civiltà in Rome. Near the entrance, a small spring is visible during the coldest and most humid periods of the year. The precise chronological attribution of the site remains uncertain, and its classification as a dolmen is debated. According to the archaeologist Francesco di Gennaro (2009), Morra di Colecchia, with its dolmen-like features, may be interpreted within a broader framework of monumental funerary architecture in which natural and artificial elements are combined, reflecting diverse responses to burial practices in the region during the Bronze Age.
Plan of the Morra di Colecchia rock art site, showing the location of the three panels with engravings and paintings (drawing by Tommaso Mattioli)
The Rock Art Figures
Red-painted anthropomorphic figure at the Morra di Colecchia rock art site in 2005
(photo by T. Mattioli)
The rock art of Morra di Colecchia is distributed across three main engraved surfaces within the rock shelter and consists of approximately 300 incisions and a single red painted figure, likely executed in ochre. The engraved repertoire is dominated by schematic motifs, including linear signs, grid patterns, and particularly arboriform, ramiform, and phytomorphic figures, often arranged in dense and apparently non-structured compositions. These motifs are executed through light incisions with fine V-shaped grooves, suggesting the use of sharp tools and indicating a relatively early phase characterized by significant surface weathering.
Morra di Colecchia, detail of rock art panel B (photo by Tommaso Mattioli)
From a typological perspective, the motifs show strong affinities with a wide range of European prehistoric graphic traditions. Arboriform, ramiform, and phytomorphic signs are widely attested from the Upper Palaeolithic through the Neolithic and into later periods, although their association in closed compositional systems—combined with linear and grid elements—finds closer parallels in Epigravettian and Mesolithic contexts . The single painted figure, interpreted as a schematic anthropomorph (possibly of the “phi-type”), shows affinities with Iberian and southern French schematic rock art traditions dated between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.
Drawing of panel B showing all engravings and the red-painted figure (drawing by Tommaso Mattioli)
On the basis of superimposition, technique, and degree of weathering, at least two main prehistoric phases can be identified. The earliest phase, consisting primarily of engraved motifs, has been tentatively attributed to a Mesolithic horizon (broadly between the Late Upper Palaeolithic and the Neolithic), while the painted anthropomorphic figure likely belongs to a later phase spanning the Neolithic to the early Bronze Age. This sequence suggests a long-term use of the site, with evolving symbolic practices and graphic conventions within a persistent ritual landscape.
References
2021
Grotta Mora Cavorso, from Protohistory to Present Times Book Chapter
In: pp. 10-11, Cambridge Scholars Publishing - Newcastle upon Tyne, 2021.
2019
La media valle dell’Aniene dall’Eneolitico all’Età del ferro Journal Article
In: Atti e Memorie della Società Tiburtina di Storia ed Arte, vol. XCII, pp. 131-140, 2019.
2009
Le sepolture megalitiche dell’età del bronzo in Italia centrale tra falsi allarmi e nuove attestazioni Book Chapter
In: S. Tusa (eds) C. Buccellato, Le Orme dei Giganti (Ed.): pp. 83-93, 2009.
2008
Landscape analysis of a sample of rock-Art sites in Central Italy Book Chapter
In: Posluschny, Axel G.; Lambers, K; Herzog, I (Ed.): Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), pp. 342-343, Rudolf Habelt, Bonn, 2008, ISBN: ISBN 978-3-7749-3556-3.
2007
L'arte rupestre pre-protostorica del riparo sottoroccia di Morra di Colecchia (Roccacanterano, Roma) Journal Article
In: G. Ghini (eds), Atti del IV Incontro di Studi sul Lazio e la Sabina, Roma, 29-31 Maggio 2006, pp. 11-22, 2007.
1982
Nuovi contributi alla conoscenza della preistoria della Valle dell'Aniene Journal Article
In: Atti e Memorie della Società Tiburtina di Storia e d'Arte, vol. LV, pp. 7-49, 1982.
1980
Problematica sui luoghi di culto nel Lazio dal Neolitico all'età del Bronzo Journal Article
In: Quaderni del Centro di Studio per l'Archeologia Etrusco -Italica, Centro di Studio per l’Archeologia Etrusco-Italica, vol. IV, pp. 143-147, 1980.
Rinvenimenti preistorici nel territorio della sovrintendenza del Lazio Journal Article
In: Quaderni del Centro di Studio per l'Archeologia Etrusco -Italica, Centro di Studio per l’Archeologia Etrusco-Italica, vol. IV, pp. 38-42, 1980.
Gallery
by Tommaso Mattioli
by Tommaso Mattioli
from Mattioli 2006
by Tommaso Mattioli
by Tommaso Mattioli
by Tommaso Mattioli
by Tommaso Mattioli
Support us today!
This website doesn't receive any public funds and it is based on volunteering