Rock carvings by Sporanes
The rock carvings of Sporanes located on a promontory on Lake Totak in Rauland in Fylke Vestfold og Telemark in Norway . In Norway there are almost 1,900 known fields with rock carvings with more than 30,000 characters. Only four are in the Vinje municipality . The rock carvings by Sporanes consist of almost 60 characters. The symbolism relates to a large part of prehistory and is an important source of knowledge about societies. The carvings are an expression of the human way of thinking.
Time positions
Archaeologists differentiate between carvings made by hunters and gatherers and those made by farmers. The carvings of Sporanes, the largest field in Rauland, differ from others in the region in that both styles exist on the same rock outcrop .
The rock carvings by the hunters date back to the Stone Age and the Early Bronze Age (around 7000–1500 BC) and are spread over large parts of the country that was initially only inhabited by hunters and gatherers. The motifs relate to a society that focused on hunting and trapping. Animals as well as hunting and fishing scenes come from this tradition. Two gate-like signs between the images interpreted as elk or reindeer have been interpreted as pitfalls .
Agricultural rock carvings ( Norwegian jordbruksristningene ) date from the Bronze Age (1800–500 BC). A second topic is presented here. Agricultural signs are boats , geometric shapes, people, horses and agricultural implements. Such scratches occur mainly in Grenland , Østfold , Rogaland and Trøndelag . The dominant motif of Sporanes are the soles of the feet ( Norwegian fotsåle ) in different sizes and shapes. They are a common motif in Nordic rock art, but there are so many here that they gave the field their name (norwegian for traces). There are several human figures, several circles, a wheel cross and a ship.
See also
literature
- Åsta Østmoe Kostveit: Sporanes. Helleristningar i Rauland. Rauland historielag, Rauland 2013, ISBN 978-82-93040-04-0 .
Web links
- Sporanous helleristninger ved Totak i Rauland. Description (norweg.) And pictures
Coordinates: 59 ° 42 ′ 33.6 " N , 8 ° 1 ′ 23.9" E