anisa drawing
– – traces in the alps
the traces of human life in the alps still fascinate me today. whether old, barely recognizable paths, old pass roads or other remnants – structures – of human existence. they release the imagination of what survival in these regions may have looked like thousands of years ago. anisa.at, the austrian association for alpine rock art and settlement research, has been dedicated to these topics for more than thirty years.
since archaeological excavations in the high alpine region are very costly (every membership fee is highly appreciated and serves this research), anisa only measures structures and takes sondages during the summer research weeks. these sondages provide important insights, if only with regard to the dating of such structures.
i have been accompanying the research weeks with drawings for several years:
- the notgasse is a small gorge in the eastern dachstein plateau, with rock carvings from different centuries.
- the giglachseen lakes, with adjoining settlement remains, are located on an old pass road in the lower tauern mountains, which leads from lungau to the ennstal valley.
- in the tennengebirge mountains, here: the upper and lower pitschenbergalm, structures can be observed that date from the modern to the bronze age.
- the hallstatt series was created for a competition with the theme ‘salt’ – which for me is not primarily ‘white/transparent/liquid/crystalline’. i see it in relation to the extraction of salt in/from the mountain, where it still emerges brown-red-grey and hard. and i always see the background: the extraction of salt through the millennia.
