Témoignages de rites propitiatoires pratiqués par les premiers peuples métallurgistes des Alpes méridionales, dans la région du mont Bego, entre 3 300 et 1 800 ans avant J.-C.

Abstract

The engraved rocks of Mount Bego feature around 40,000 figurative symbols, many of which are related to the world of water (wavy lines represent streams, cup marks represent rain, etc.). Others refer to areas modified by humans: reticulated patterns represent fields or pastures. Depictions of daggers, symbols of the god of thunder, evoking lightning, have been inscribed between the horns of a horn-shaped symbol representing livestock and agricultural areas. There seems to be a link between the representations of natural elements (rain) and those of areas modified by humans (fields and pastures). Studies have shown that between 3,300 and 1,800 BC, the climate was significantly warmer and drier than it is today; cultivated areas dried out more quickly in summer. Finding water to irrigate the fields and water the animals was therefore the main economic concern of the populations in these regions. It would therefore seem that the inscriptions addressed to their god and linked to cultivated areas are evidence of propitiatory rites, intended to bring rain to fertilize the fields and allow livestock to thrive thanks to rich pastures.