Rock carvings from Kvennavika

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Some of the scratches with the patterned fish in the lower left

The rock carvings of Kvennavika on Skarnsund in the municipality Inderøy in Norwegian Fylke Trøndelag consist of thirteen figures that probably halibut or other representatives of the floes represent. They form the largest collection of rock carvings with fish motifs in Northern Europe. A special feature of the carvings in Kvennavika is that the figures are arranged side by side and form a uniform pattern.

The carvings are located on a stone slab 35 meters above sea level on the south side of the Kvennavika bay. When the figures were carved into the dome-shaped stone, the stone was still in the bank area. The melting of the ice sheet after the last ice age and the resulting land uplift brought them to their present height.

The rock carvings

Signpost to the rock carvings of Kvennavika

The carvings are so-called veideristninger - depictions of hunting game - which are dated to the Neolithic about 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. The stone slab with the thirteen figures slopes down to the east-south-east. The fish arranged next to each other appear as a uniform composition. Presumably they were created at the same time, with the possible exception of the patterned fish (on the left edge of the picture). Except for two fish, all figures lie in a row with their heads up and form a semicircle so that the lines of their dorsal fins meet at a point above the stone slab. Only the westernmost fish is facing in the opposite direction and the patterned fish is slightly outside the semicircle. It has been speculated that this arrangement may indicate a ritual function. Gjessing (1936) and Hällström (1938) already noticed that the composition appears well thought-out and holistic and thus presumably had a function as a unit. It was probably hunting magic, rituals to conjure up success in fishing. It is also possible that the flounders “swam” to the beach to see a shaman speaking to his gathering up on the mountain.

In addition to the thirteen fish figures, there are three other incisions on the stone. These have not yet been interpreted and are described as "indefinite figures". Kalle Sognnes also suggests that the largest of the fish figures with the net pattern on the back could also be interpreted as a shaman's ceremonial drum .

The carvings are part of a series of similar drawings of various animal species (elk, reindeer and fish) found in the area around Beitstadfjord , the inner part of Trondheimsfjord : the rock carvings of Bøla , Bardal , Hammer , Skjevik and Homnes and a little further on to the south the rock carvings of Holtås . As one of only seven known rock art in Trøndelag, the field at Kvennavika consists exclusively of marine or sea motifs.

Discovery of the drawings

Weight for a fishing net from the Stone Age from the area around the rock carvings. Photo: Ole Bjørn Pedersen, NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet

Four of the drawings were discovered while clearing in November 1930. During ground work, a layer of shell sand was uncovered, which was about 200 meters from the current shore and 30 meters above the fjord. The landowner's son, Arne Tangstad, found the scratches on a rock above the shell sand, some of which were overgrown with moss. The onset of snowfall initially prevented further investigation. The find quickly caught the attention of important prehistorians such as Anton Wilhelm Brøgger in Oslo and Theodor Petersen from the NTNU Science Museum in Trondheim. The latter examined and documented the find the following year and found further drawings. In 1934 Gutorm Gjessing re- examined the find. During an investigation in autumn 2017, another fish carving was found, so that the number of known figures has now grown to thirteen.

Three Stone Age artifacts were also found near the incisions : a stone ax and two weights for weighing fishing nets. These objects are placed in connection with mountain art.

The field can be visited today and can be reached on foot via a 200-meter-long forest path and provided with information boards.

literature

  • Gutorm Gjessing: Nordenfjelske ristninger og malinger av den arctic group . Aschehoug and Institute for Comparative Cultural Research, Oslo 1936, p. 65-70 .
  • Gustaf Hallström: Monumental Art of Northern Europe from the Stone Age 1: The Norwegian Localities . Thule forlag, Stockholm 1938.
  • Kalle Sognnes: En flyndre svømmer stille: omkring helleristningene i Kvennavika, Nord-Trøndelag . In: Samfunn, symbol and identity: Festskrift til Gro Mandt on 70-årsdagen . Bergen 2007, ISBN 82-90273-81-9 , pp. 551-562 ( uib.no [PDF]).
  • Heidrun Stebergløkken: Bergkunstens designer, type and style. A metodisk and empirisk tilnærming til veidekunstens Konstruksjonsmåter i et midtnorsk perspective. Dissertation . NTNU, Trondheim 2016 ( handle.net ).
  • Heidrun Stebergløkken: Å reading mountain art - Spor etter et glemt verdensbilde . In: Spor . tape 65 , no. 1 , 2018, p. 28-31 ( netdna-ssl.com [PDF]).
  • Heidrun Stebergløkken: Flyndrene i Kvennavika - he de et vitne om én hendelse? In: Mosvik museums- og historielag (ed.): Årbok for Mosvik 2018 . Mosvik 2018, p. 4-12 .

Web links

Commons : Kvennavika rock carvings  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Heidi Stebergløkken: Tilstandsvurdering og nydokumentasjon av Kvennavika / Selset, Inderøy, Nord-Trøndelag, Bevaringsprogrammet for bergkunst (BERG) 2017. (pdf) NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, June 2018, p. 33 , accessed on April 3, 2021 ( Norwegian).
  2. ↑ a b Morten Olsen Haugen: Bergkunsten i Kvennavika. Visit Innherred, accessed March 30, 2021 (Norwegian).
  3. ↑ a b c d Heidrun Stenbergløkken: Flyndrene i Kvennavika - er de et vitne om én hendelse? (= Mosvik museums- og historielag [ed.]: Årbok for Mosvik . Volume 32 ). Mosvik 2018, p. 4-12 .
  4. ↑ a b Kvennavika. In: kulturminnesok.no. Riksantikvaren, accessed April 3, 2021 .
  5. ↑ a b Sognnes 2007
  6. ↑ a b Kalle Sognnes: Det levende berget . Tapir, Trondheim 1999, ISBN 82-519-1520-1 , p. 71, 107 f .
  7. ↑ Opsiktsvekkende fund i Verran . In: Workers' advices . November 17, 1930, p. 1 ( nb.no ).
  8. ↑ Nye oplysninger om på stenalderfundet gården Kvernvik i Verran . In: Workers' advices . November 22, 1930, p. 1 ( nb.no ).
  9. ↑ Th. Petersen. “A nyoppdaget helleristning av den arctic group på Kverneviken i Verran, Nord-Trøndelag”. I: DKNVS forhandlinger ; vol IV, nr 48. Trondheim, 1932.
  10. ^ Gjessing 1936
  11. ↑ Hakke. In: Samlinger på nice. NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, October 30, 2018, accessed April 3, 2021 .
  12. ↑ Søkke. In: Samlinger på nice. NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, October 30, 2018, accessed April 3, 2021 .
  13. ↑ Søkke. In: Samlinger på nice. NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, October 30, 2018, accessed April 3, 2021 .

Coordinates: 63 ° 51 '57.9 "  N , 11 ° 2' 26.1"  E