ROCK-TRACINGS.[117]
Great antiquity of the rock-tracings—A silent history of the
people—Their abundance on the Cattegat—Ships or boats, fights,
warriors, horses, cattle, camels, turtles, mystic signs, etc.,
representing warriors with horned helmets—Similar helmets
found—The bas-relief of the temple of Medinet Habou—Large size of
rock-tracings—The peculiar rock-tracings of Järrestad and
Simris—Peculiar bowl-shaped hollows.
Among the interesting mementoes of the past which help us to get an
insight into the life of the earlier inhabitants of the peninsula of
Scandinavia are the “rock-tracings,”[118] which are of great antiquity,
long before the Roman period, large pictures engraved on the rocks,
which, like the pyramids and sphinxes of Egypt, bear witness to the
unwritten history of the people.
These illustrations are of different kinds and sizes: the most numerous
being the drawings of ships or boats, canoe-shaped, and alike at both
ends (with figures of men and animals), and of fleets fighting against
each other, or making an attack upon the shore. The hero of the fight or
the champion is generally depicted as much larger than the other
combatants, who probably were of one people, though of different tribes,
for their arms are similar, and all seem without clothing, though in
some cases they are represented as wearing a helmet or a shield, in
order to protect them against the blows of their adversaries.
[Illustration:
Fig. 890.—Rock-tracing, Tanum parish, Bohuslän; large figure probably
a champion; numerous small holes, and footprints between the
champion and attacking force. Height, 20 feet; width, 15 feet.
]
On some rocks are representations of cattle, horses, reindeer, turtles,
ostriches, and camels, the latter showing that in earlier times these
people were acquainted with more southern climes; the greatest number,
and the largest and most complicated in detail of the tracings, occur,
especially in the present Sweden, on the shores of the Cattegat, in
Bohuslän, “the ancient Viken of the Sagas,” on the coast of the
peninsula washed by the Cattegat. They are also found in Norway,
especially in Smaalenene, a province contiguous to that of Bohuslän, but
more scarce in the north, though found on the Trondhjem fjord.
[Illustration:
Fig. 891.—Rock-tracing—turtle, cuttle-fish, dromedary, and another
animal (possibly a lion), ships, and a footprint. Height, 10½ feet;
width, 15 feet.—Ryxö, Brastad parish, Bohuslän.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 892.—Rock-tracing representing reindeer, and probably a horse in
a boat. Height, 5 feet; width, 12½ feet.—Massleberg, Skee parish,
Bohuslän.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 893.—Hill showing rock-tracings.
]
In Bohuslän the tracings are cut in the quartz, which is the geological
formation of the coast: they are mostly upon slightly inclined rocks,
which are generally two or three hundred feet or more above the present
level of the sea, and which have been polished by the action of the ice.
The width of the lines in the same representation varies from one to two
inches, and even more; and their depth is often only a third or fourth
of an inch, and at times so shallow as to be barely perceptible. Those
tracings, which have for hundreds, perhaps for thousands, of years been
laid bare to the ravages of the northern climate, are now most difficult
to decipher, while those which have been protected by earth are as fresh
as if they had been cut to-day; many seem to have been cut near the
middle or base of the hills, which were covered with vegetation, and
were in the course of time concealed by the detritus from above.
[Illustration:
Fig. 894.—Part of rock-tracing, Brastad parish, Bohuslän, with
numerous figures, nearly one hundred in number, varying in size from
two inches to several feet, and mystic or symbolical footprints.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 895.—Rock-tracing—men fighting with spears; a man apparently
lying dead in front of a boat, and a large number of domestic
animals.—Tanum parish, Bohuslän.
]
The largest and most interesting rock-tracings are near Tanum church in
Bohuslän, and are found on the slopes of the rocky hills overlooking the
valleys which in these earlier times may have been partly arms of the
sea. How many hours have I spent before these in deep contemplation,
trying, but in vain, to unravel the mystery which surrounds them! Some
of the pictures contain over one hundred figures, varying from a small
object to one several feet in length or height; except in a few
instances, the absence of masts in representations of ships is
noticeable.
Among the many interesting rock-tracings are those where warriors have a
peculiar horned head-dress, representing most probably a helmet.
In the British Museum there are two helmets of bronze, which reminded me
of the representation given on the rock-tracings, which I give below,
one of which was found in the Thames, the other at Apulia.
[Illustration:
Fig. 896.—Found in the Thames, near Waterloo Bridge.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 897.—Apulia (Magna Græcia).
]
An engraving, illustrating part of a bas-relief of the Egyptian temple
of Medinet Habou, has been brought to my notice by Dr. Warre,
head-master of Eton College, from a remarkable French work.[119] There
is a similarity in this illustration with the rock-tracings of the
North.
[Illustration:
Fig. 898.—From a bas-relief from the Temple of Medinet-Habou, Egypt.
]
This bas-relief of the temple contains a record of the military success
and historical events of Rameses III. Among the different episodes the
sea-fight shown on p. 123 is recorded. I think we can recognize the
horned men of the rock-tracings. There is also a perfect similarity
between the boats of the Egyptians and that of Hazeby, in Sweden. The
boats of the Egyptians are symmetrical at both ends, and are ornamented
with carved heads. They have a single mast, and their sails are furled.
At the top of the mast there is a castellated structure which will be
seen in the chapter on the ships of the Northmen; but this is not found
on the rock-tracings. If these early inhabitants of the North went to
the Mediterranean and Egypt we can account for the camel, turtle,
octopus-like animal, leopards, and ostriches engraved on the rocks of
the North.
[Illustration:
Fig. 899.—Horsemen represented on a rock cutting at Tegneby, in Tanum
parish, Bohuslän. 1/24 its real size.
]
A remarkable rock-tracing, which I reproduce from ‘The Land of the
Midnight Sun,’ shows horsemen with quadrangular shields; these shields
are seen on some Egyptian bas-reliefs, and two somewhat similar ones
have been found in England. Either the people represent themselves on
this engraving, or some foreign men which the carver of this memento had
seen.
The question naturally arises, did the people of the large Scandinavian
peninsula learn the art of rock-tracing from the Egyptians, if we take
for granted that they went there? There is a roughness of design which I
think seems to preclude that these engravings on stones could have been
made by Egyptians coming North. The very great number seems to imply
that they were made by the inhabitants, that the art flourished for
quite a long time, and that on the return of their warlike expeditions,
either from the north or south, they and some of the people illustrated
the deeds of their heroes.
One of the finest tracings, which is about 66 feet in length and 20 feet
in height, is near a small stream by the bridge at Hvitlycke. Among the
prominent figures, of which there are over one hundred, is a large man,
probably a champion, with a shield and spear, attacking another; in
another part, two men fighting with axes; in another a large snake
attacks a man much smaller in size than the snake. There are also 22
ships, varying in size from 2 to 3 feet in length, but one is about 10
feet long. The earth which covered the lower part of the tracings had
just been removed some days before my arrival at the spot, and they were
as distinct and fresh as if they had been just cut.
[Illustration:
Fig. 900.—Rock-tracing at Såtorp, Tanum parish, Bohuslän. A champion
defending his ship against two smaller ones. Height, 4¼ feet; width,
6½ feet.
]
The large size of some of the tracings shows that a long time must have
been required to complete them, and indicates that the people must have
been settlers in the country. With whatever instruments some of them
were cut, the work, on account of the great number of figures, must have
been in many cases slow. The question naturally arises: Did the early
tribes, who, according to the story, came to the North with Odin, find a
different people, who themselves or whose ancestors had made these
illustrations of their history, or a people belonging to the same race
and tribes of which we have spoken before, who gradually advanced in
civilisation? These are queries which it is to be feared no one will
ever be able to answer with satisfaction.
[Illustration:
Fig. 901.—Rock-tracing, probably representing the death of a warrior
who has boarded a ship. Height, 12½ feet; width, 9 feet.—Sätorp,
Tanum parish, Bohuslän.
]
It is a most remarkable fact that in the Eddas, Sagas, or songs of the
people, no mention is ever made of rock-tracings. In the Sagas we are
often told that drawings on shields, embroidery, cloth, &c., were made
to preserve the memory of heroic deeds and important events. From these
facts we must come to the conclusion that the rock-tracings are of great
antiquity.
[Illustration:
Fig. 902.—Rock-tracing—two men fighting for a wheel, man ploughing,
man with bow, and fleet of boats or ships. Tanum parish, Bohuslän.
Height, 23½ feet; width, 17½ feet.
]
The beautiful antiquities of bronze found in the North seem to show a
civilisation higher than that existing at the time of the rock-tracings.
The conscientious inquirer will naturally ask himself. To what epoch do
these earlier rock-tracings belong—to the so-called _stone_, _bronze_,
or _iron_ age? Unfortunately, nothing can positively settle the
question. Scholars who have made them their special study do not agree;
and we know that graves of the stone age have been found with tracings,
but not of human figures.[120]
But many of the tracings show that even at that remote period cattle
were known to the inhabitants, and the existence of the plough
conclusively shows that the people cultivated the soil.
The frequent appearance of swords on the rock-tracings shows that they
could not have been made during the stone age, in which swords were
unknown; but there are several indications that the tracings were made
before the iron age, and that they probably belong to the bronze
age.[121]
[Illustration:
Fig. 903.—Ship on a rock-tracing at Lökeberg in Foss parish, Bohuslän.
⅒ real size.
]
This art of tracing seems to have been earlier than that of writing
runes, for not one of these peculiar representations, numbering several
hundreds of different sizes, have runic characters upon them.
[Illustration:
Fig. 904.—Rock-tracing of reindeer, &c.; possibly representing a
journey to the far North by the man wearing snow-shoes. Height, 6½
feet; width, 15 feet.—Backa, Brastad parish, Bohuslän.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 905.—Rock-tracing, apparently representing men returning from
some expedition in which the women have been made prisoners;
numerous bowl-shaped hollows, varying in size from one to two inches
in depth and diameter, have been made in the rock. Height, 10¾ feet;
width, 8¼ feet.
]
They are very primitive, and in several cases plainly show that modesty
was not one of the characteristic traits of the people.[122] The first
impression gathered on seeing them is that they belonged to a people of
low civilisation, who must have been engaged in perpetual warfare, and
who by this means commemorated the deeds of their warriors, and it is
quite clear that the people who made them were not only warlike but
seafaring.
[Illustration:
Fig. 906.—Human figure 1 foot 6 inches in height, holding an axe with
a handle 1 foot 8 inches long, and a head nearly 1 foot 2
inches.—Simrislund, Scania.
]
A very interesting district, rich in rock-tracing, exists on the
south-eastern coast of Sweden, in the neighbourhood of the little town
of Cimbrishamn, where the rocky coast falls very gently towards the sea,
losing itself in a somewhat sandy beach covered with boulders. The most
curious tracings are to be found on the farms of Järrestad and Simris.
The ships represented present the same characteristics as those of
Bohuslän; in some places they are 26 or 27 inches long, and generally
have 14 ribs. There are also wheels with crosses inside, with a diameter
of 5 to 6 inches, and in many instances only axes are seen on the
illustrations, which apparently is not the case with any of the Bohuslän
tracings.
At Järrestad there exists on a rock slanting towards the sea a tracing
54 feet in length and 40 feet in height, which contains, besides the
characteristic figures of the rock-tracings of Bohuslän, a ship with a
mast. Another superb tracing is found on a large rock at Simrislund, in
which the figures are placed in several groups, and consist of 10
vessels, 33 war axes, two men with weapons, one horse, four circles
without crosses, a mass of round excavations or cups, some of which are
quite large and deep; and finally a couple of figures impossible to
determine. One of the circles encloses a ship, and passes along the
belly of a horse, which is placed upside down in relation to the ship.
One tracing represents wheel-tracings and several ships, one of which is
26 inches long, almost on a line with fifteen or sixteen small hollows.
Quite close to these web tracings is a low mound, in which were found an
urn with burnt bones and a bronze button. The graves in the
neighbourhood though robbed of their contents, present the same
characteristics as those of the bronze age, to which all the cairns
found in the neighbourhood belong.
[Illustration:
Fig. 907.—Rock-tracing with wheel enclosing a cross, and
ships.—Herrestrup, Scania.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 908.—Stone with tracings, Ingelstrup, Zealand. Height, 2 feet 8
inches; width, 2 feet 10 inches; thickness, 13 inches.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 909.—Height, 29 feet; width, 17 feet; with large birds and
footprints, &c.—Tanum Parish, Bohuslän.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 910.—Rock-tracing, Scania.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 911.—Rock-tracing, Scania.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 912.—Rock-tracing—chariots with horses, ships, and
hollows.—Jerested, Scania.
]
What the bowl-shaped hollows, which vary in size from 1 to 2 inches in
diameter and are generally about 1 inch deep, and which are shown on the
illustrations by small black dots, represent will probably always remain
an enigma. The reader will also notice peculiar figures, such as
circular rings, divided by crosses or double crosses, footprints, &c.
Only two rock-tracings thus far have been discovered, where waggons are
seen with wheels and horses attached to them.
[Illustration:
Fig. 913.—Stone with round hollows.
]
In Denmark, tracings have thus far only been discovered on the slabs of
passages in graves, such as those of Herrestrup in Zealand, and Ullerup
in Northern Jutland, and their absence is to be accounted for by the
want of rocky formation.
-----
Footnote 117:
This subject would naturally be included in the earlier part of the
work, but the tracings contain so many figures of ancient ships that I
have thought it appropriate to introduce the chapters at this stage.
Footnote 118:
Two valuable works on rock-tracings are those of A. E. Holmberg and L.
Baltzer.
Footnote 119:
“Etudes sur l’antiquité historique d’après les sources Egyptiennes et
sur les monuments réputés préhistoriques,” par F. Chabas.
Footnote 120:
The finest example of those without figures is to be seen in the
Museum of St. Germain near Paris.
Footnote 121:
See ‘Land of the Midnight Sun,’ vol. i., p. 355.
Footnote 122:
Several representations, on account of their coarseness, are not as
correct in the illustrations as they should be.