Equestrian rock picture from Tegneby

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Equestrian rock picture from Tegneby
Rider with a spear in his right hand and a paletta, shield, spade or standard in his left hand

The equestrian rock picture from Tegneby , one of the closely neighboring rock carving sites in the Tanum region in Bohuslän in Sweden , is one of the rare depictions of horsemen from the Bronze Age , dating from 1700 BC. Began and 500 BC. BC ended. It experiences very different interpretations by the respective editors (e.g. O. Almgren , T. Capelle , H. Fischer).

Description and interpretation

Two groups consisting of four riders and a human figure face each other, plus a single horse . Only two of the riders in each group and one of the human figures carry a spear . None of the figures carries an ax, which otherwise belongs to the attributes preferred on similar images. Two riders in each group and a human figure hold up a square utensil that looks like a “short-handled spade”, but the interpretation of which is controversial.

A wooden "spade" found in Schleswig-Holstein , corresponding to the incisions, was, however, assigned to the Mesolithic stage of Oldesloe . In addition to fighting scenes, equestrian games are also recognized in the representation (e.g. ring riding or ring stitching). Spade-like rock carvings, which H. Glöckner treats under hatchet, also occur on the rock carvings in the Val Camonica . They are referred to by Italian archaeologists as “paletta” (shovel), which corresponds to the outline of the illustration. In the Parco nazionale delle incisioni rupestri di Naquane , such a spade depiction is a meandering line that bell ringer calls lightning. At the same time there are pallets here, the outline of which dissolves to suggest a shape.

On the rock painting, the riders hold up the attributes on a handle, which rather excludes their classification as a shield . In Hazor , Jigael Jadin found a silver-coated bronze spade, which was decorated with a snake, a crescent moon and a goddess. The spade riddle on the rock art could be resolved by finding a comparison with the unspecified cult standard. On the rune stone of Sanda II , one of the figures also carries a kind of spade. Spade-shaped idols from the Cycladic Keros-Syros phase are u. a. known from the Marathon grave find.

In Tegneby the horse is also represented as a draft animal in front of the plow.

See also

literature

  • Herbert Glöckner: Documents on religion from megalithic times. On the development from the culture of the western large stone graves (= European university publications. Series 3: History and its auxiliary sciences. Vol. 356). Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1988, ISBN 3-8204-9953-9 , appendix.
  • Jürgen E. Walkowitz: The megalithic syndrome. European cult sites of the Stone Age (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Vol. 36). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2003, ISBN 3-930036-70-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Torsten Capelle: Struck in stone. Scandinavian rock art from the Bronze Age (= booklets accompanying exhibitions in the Prehistory Department of the Lower Saxony State Museum Hanover. Vol. 1). Lax, Hannover (recte: Hildesheim) 1985, ISBN 3-7848-1009-8 , image 15 p. 29.

Web links

Coordinates: 58 ° 41 ′ 19.4 ″  N , 11 ° 19 ′ 36 ″  E