Val Camonica Rock Drawings (Labyrinth Petroglyphs)

Part of the world's largest collection of prehistoric rock art — 200,000 to 300,000 individual petroglyphs spanning 8,000 years — Val Camonica's labyrinthine carvings are inscribed on glacially polished Permian sandstone in the Italian Alps. UNESCO listed the site in 1979 as its first Italian World Heritage designation. The carvings include maps, warriors, buildings, animals, and geometric patterns alongside labyrinth motifs, creating a visual encyclopedia of European prehistory. At 320.51° Giza bearing, Val Camonica sits where the Alpine chain meets the Po Valley — a geological transition zone between crystalline and sedimentary rock. The valley's consistent magnetic north orientation may explain its selection as a canvas spanning millennia.