Building blocks in Norway
The building blocks in Norway are the tallest in Scandinavia and Denmark and are often part of a more complex area. A total of 1176 menhirs are registered in Norway . They are usually dated to the late Iron Age , the Viking Age and the early Middle Ages.
Already in the introduction to the sagas, Snorri Sturluson points out that it is custom "to burn all the dead and to set up monoliths after them". This custom was long upheld in Norway and Sweden.
Usually one stone marks a grave, but there are cases where several have been used ( building stones from Vestre Goa ). Five stones were erected near the tomb The Five Foolish Virgins at Karmsundgata in Rogaland , which was laid out as a tomb . Especially in the east you can find several monoliths arranged in a circle. Traditionally these are called judges' rings , but most of them were probably grave structures.
Some menhirs are not related to recognized graves. It may be that they served as a boundary marker. This includes several stones in Fana in Bergen , where there was a historical border in Hordaland in the Middle Ages.
The five provinces of Rogaland (258), Østfold (140), Møre og Romsdal (134), Vest-Agder (107) and Trøndelag (102) have over 100 stones .