The Graffiti of Addaura
This is a curation on some curious petroglyphs found near Palermo, Sicily, in 1943. This rock art is dated by experts from 21,000BC to 19,000BC. It is no longer open to the public. Click image to go to high-res version From Wikipedia Entry It was after the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily and their arrival in Palermo that the Allies, in search of a suitable site, decided to use the grottoes for storing munitions and explosives. The accidental explosion of the arsenal at the end of the war brought about the crumbling of the main grotto walls and the collapse of a rock wall, bringing to light the graffiti covered with the patina of time. The graffiti were carefully studied by the archaeologist Jole Bovio Marconi , whose studies were published in 1953. [2] Since 1997 the Addaura grottoes are no longer open for visitors; the site was closed because of the danger of falling boulders, due to the instability of the rocky ridge above. As of 2012, the necessary measures to reinforce the ridge