Cliffs with cup marks

Along the cliffs defining the south-western edge of the island, towards Isola Bella, you can find some rocks engraved with some peculiar marks: they are the so called “cup marks”, small circular cavities which are supposed to have been produced by rubbing the rocks with a lithic bulb of percussion. Two of them are connected by some sort of small channel. Such evidence of rupestrian archaeology, though difficult to date, seems to suggest that the island was already frequented in a very ancient time, since this phenomenon – which is also attested in other sites around the Lake Maggiore and in the valleys of Ossola – in the rare cases when there are some chronological hints, can be dated between the Bronze and the Iron Age. Despite its modesty, this evidence opens a window for some consideration about the frequentation of the island during pre- and proto-historic times, which is not improbable, considering the tendency to populate the areas around the lakes, finding confirmation in many alpine and pre-alpine lakes. Among the closest cases, it is worth remembering the prehistoric evidences on the Island of San Giulio on the Lake d’Orta, or the very rich ones of the Isolino Virginia on the Lake of Varese.