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ScienceDaily (Jan. 31, 2011) It looked to be a

routine excavation of what was thought to be a

burial mound. But beneath the mound,

archaeologists from the Norwegian University of

Science and Technology's Museum of Natural

History and Archaeology found something more:unusual Bronze Age petroglyphs. "We believe

these are very special in a Norwegian context,"

says museum researcher and project manager

Anne Haug.

The excavation in Stjrdal, just northof Trondheim, was necessitated bythe expansion of a gravel pit. Giventhat project archaeologists didn'tanticipate that the dig would be verycomplicated, the museum

researchers dedicated just threeweeks to the effort.

Petroglyphs under a cremation

site

Then came the surprises. First, itturned out that mound builders hadused an existing hill as a startingpoint -- which of course saved themtime and effort. The hill itself madethe burial mound even larger and

These unusual petroglyphs were found in a burial

mound in Stjrdal, central Norway. (Credit: Anne

Haug, NTNU Museum of Natural History and

Archaeology)

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Secrets in Stone: Rare Archaeological Find in Norway

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more monumental than it might haveotherwise been.

But researchers suspected there might be another reason forthe choice of the hilltop when they uncovered the remains oftwo cremations, or rather a fire layer that also contained bits ofbone. Underneath they found many petroglyphs, including eightdrawings showing the soles of feet, with cross hatching. Therewere also five shallow depressions, Haug says.

Two boat drawings and several other drawings of feet soleswith toes were also found just south of the burial mound.

LInk between burial mound and drawings unclear

"This is a very special discovery, and we are not aware of othersimilar findings from Trndelag County," she says. "The tombmight have been deliberately constructed over the petroglyphs,probably as part of funeral ritual. Based on the type ofcharacters and especially the drawings of the foot soles, wehave dated the artwork to the Bronze Age, about 1800 -- 500BC."

"Why there are foot sole drawings beneath the tomb is apuzzle. But if we interpret the find in terms of a fertility cult, itmay be that the soles represent God and life-giving power.That means that you can have both life and death representedin one place," she says.

Unique in a Norwegian context

Haug says that there was a similar discovery in stlandetCounty, an area called Jong in Brum, where petroglyphsillustrating foot soles were found under a tomb that dates backto the Bronze Age. In a Nordic context, this phenomenon ismore common, and there are several examples where burialswere combined with rock art, particularly petroglyphs of footsoles from Bohusln, a World Heritage site in Sweden.

It's not yet clear if the grave was put in place the same time as

the petroglyphs, Haug says. The dig began in September, 2010and extended through the end of October, but the analysis isongoing.

The scientists have found about 900 grams of burned bone,probably from one or more individuals; they hope to be able tocarry out C-14 dating of the material and conduct moreanalyses so they can determine more about the gender and the

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age of the individuals in the grave.

"Currently, we have found several human teeth, as well as whatmay be remains of human ribs. We also found an animal tooththat suggests that one or more animals may have been laid inthe tomb along with whoever is buried there," she says. Therewere very few objects found in the tomb, but a flat corrodedmetal object was found in the burnt layer. It's hard to say whatthis was, but the object will be X-rayed for analysis.

Remains of a larger burial ground?

It is unclear whether the original burial site contained two gravemounds, or whether there was just one large burial area.

A burial ground in the area was first described in 1818 byLorentz D. Klwer, and archaeologist Karl Rygh also describedthe site in 1879. It is likely that the graves that have beenexcavated in the most recent dig are the last remains of thisburial ground.

The rock art found at the site is a type called SouthScandinadivan agriculture carving and is dated to the Bronze

Age, from 1800 -- 500 BC. The tomb probably dates to thetransition between the Bronze Age and Iron Age, from 500 BCup to the year 1.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations byScienceDailystaff) from materials provided by TheNorwegian University of Science and Technology

(NTNU).

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