CCSP’s Documentary Archive has been declared of Historical Interest by the MIBACT (the Italian Ministry of cultural heritage and activities and tourism), pursuant to Legislative Decree 42/2004.
The Archive is divided into three sections, distinguished by documentary type:
The epistolary documentation covering the timespan 1970-90 is a fundamental testimony of the path that led the international organizations UNESCO, ICOM, ICOMOS to recognize the prehistoric rock art of Valcamonica as a World Heritage Site and to open to the international recognition of rock art as a fundamental document of human culture and creativity. Today, in fact, prehistoric art is universally recognized as the most extensive artistic manifestation produced by humanity, both chronologically (spanning over 57,000 years) and geographically (with findings from all the continents): this has been possible also thanks to the process that began with CCSP’s work in the 1970s, as documented in our Institute’s Archives, which we now intend to put under protection.
This important turning point marked a particularly fruitful moment in international research on the origins of human culture, materialized through Prof. Anati’s (CCSP’s director at the time) research activity, scientific relations, and collaborations with universities from all over the world, especially professors and researchers from the University of Oxford (UK), Harvard (USA), Maison des Sciences de l’Homme (France), UCLA (USA).
The correspondence with the world’s leading prehistoric scholars (which, in addition to UNESCO recognition, also led to the birth of the Valcamonica Symposia, the UNESCO Council, etc.) have profoundly marked the history of world research on the origins of art. The main conceptual elaborations on this subject have also matured as a result of the meetings held in Valcamonica by CCSP, which has collected and documented all the preparatory activity and dialectical debates between the various currents of thought.
Altogether, the Fund consists of at least 150,000 documents, now secured and made available to academics and researchers.
Our Library, specializing in the field of prehistoric and tribal art, is located in CCSP’s headquarters in Capo di Ponte. It has over 40,000 volumes, included and searchable via the Italian National Library Service. In addition to the purchase of volumes, in its over 45 years of activity the library has grown also through exchanges with university libraries or specialized publishers and thanks to donations from researchers. Every year, the library is enriched by an average of 500 new volumes. In the years 2022 and 2023, thanks to the funding from the Ministry of Culture – General Directorate of Libraries and Copyright, the library’s catalog was updated and expanded through the purchase of new volumes, worth over 16,000 euros.
LIBRARY ACCESS
Access to the Library is granted to staff, CCSP members, and the general public. Access is regulated by national public health guidelines.
The library is open shelf; its complete catalog can be viewed online at the regional OPAC catalog.
Silence and respect for other users are recommended in the library and reading room. It is forbidden to smoke, bring in dogs or other pets, and consume food and drink; while laptop use and free connection to CCSP’s wireless network are allowed. It is possible to consult five volumes at a time; after consultation, the books must be left on the table, and the librarian will deal with their rearrangement.
During the summer and on holidays, the library is subject to the same closing hours as the Center’s offices.
OPENING HOURS
Monday: 9:00 – 13:00
Tuesday: 9:00 – 13:00
Wednesday: 9:00 – 13:00
Thursday: 9:00 – 13:00
Friday: 9:00 – 13:00
LOANS
CCSP’s Library allows on-site reference only; however, in compliance with current copyright laws, we provide a service for searching and sending photocopies or computer copies.
Cost of service
– CCSP members: the service is free up to a maximum of 100 pages per year (to access this service the member must be up to date with the current year’s dues);
– General user: the service costs € 5.00 per volume, plus a fee of € 0.50 per page (payment of the service by Paypal, bank transfer or credit card);
– Libraries: the service costs € 5.00 per volume, plus a contribution of € 0.50 per page (payment of the service by Paypal, bank transfer, credit card, or IFLA).
DISSERTATIONS AND ARTICULATED RESEARCH
We welcome students and researchers engaging in specific research. CCSP’s staff and its researchers will offer all possible support by prior arrangement. It is advisable to present a letter of introduction from your university/research institute. At the end of the paper or after its publication, a hard or computer copy of the dissertation/article is welcome.
OPAC of the Lombardy Regional Pole
The hundreds of thousands of images depicted on rocks, in caves, on objects from archaeological sites constitute the largest archive on humanity’s remote past, which needs to be preserved and protected for contemporary culture and that of future generations.
CCSP, thanks mainly to Prof. Emmanuel Anati’s work, in 60 years of activity and research has collected an immense documentation about the creative manifestations of prehistoric and tribal peoples around the world: photographs on negative media (mostly B&W), color slides, digital photographs, plus contact tracings, casts, reports, and maps of rock art sites on five continents.
The CCSP paper archive is considered one of the main and most comprehensive documentary resources in the field of rock art: a solid basis for research, documentation, conservation, analytical and comparative studies, and educational and cultural programs. Such documentation is of interest not only to historians, archaeologists, anthropologists and art historians, but also to graphic designers, publicists, educators, psychologists, exhibition and museum organizers, publishers, local governments and public agencies. Therefore, in order to stem the damage made by the passage of time, it became necessary to fully digitize in high resolution and organize all the material, thus developing a rational encyclopedia on the art and conceptuality of humanity.
The immense photographic holdings are organized in paper archives, currently at an advanced stage of digitization, while the contact tracings (historical tracings on tissue paper, frottages, tracings on nylon sheets) have been opened, restored, and photographed almost in their entirety, and the creation of the archival holdings’ list and of the computerized recomposition of the general tracings of individual rocks is in progress.
The next major challenge, already underway, will be the compilation of a database coordinating the tra archive with other scientific information produced and managed by CCSP (geo-referencing, catalog, bibliography, etc.), in order to enhance the huge cultural heritage collected in the archives and to facilitate our researchers’ work.
Link to the TV report (in Italian)
In the first half of 2019, CCSP and the association “Distretto Culturale di Valle Camonica” announced a grant for research and cataloging activities on studies, publications, and scientific documentation concerning the rock art of Valcamonica.
The project led to an update of the bibliography on Valcamonica rock art, carried out by Alessia Ghitti from an initial unpublished perusal (edited by Mila Simoes de Abreu and Angelo E. Fossati in the 1980s and deposited in CCSP’s library) and from the volume edited by Raffaella Poggiani Keller in 2005, on the same theme, as part of the initiatives promoted by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Lombardia and the Municipality of Capo di Ponte for the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the National Park of Naquane (1955-2005).
The file available at the link below is an unpublished version, made available free of charge by CCSP and currently still being updated. To report new titles, please use the form at this link.
Valcamonica rock art bibliography_update May 2019
Catalog of dissertations about Valcamonica
CCSP, with the contribution of the foundation “Fondazione della Civiltà Bresciana”, makes available the catalog of Dissertations on themes concerning Valcamonica rock art.
If an update is needed, we invite students to contact our Institute at the following e-mail address: info@ccsp.it
The best papers about rock art and archaeology of Valcamonica may also find editorial space in BCSP, our periodical journal, as an article or report.