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ecause already before then the rock had
been sanctified through ritual acts.
Perhaps we can observe how natural features
of the landscape were gradually transformed
into cultural monuments: from nature to culture.
Crevices and hollows of the rock were
filled up with material of a different kind,
rock carvings were made, fire was kindled,
fences and walls were built, stones were
packed together and stone pavements were
laid and, in some cases, parts of the rock were
covered or hidden by stones. The rock carvings
were only one part, albeit a significant
one, of a long ritual process.
A recurring feature at the rock carving sites
is the depositing of burnt clay. Often the clay
lumps are more or less round, and imprints
of withies or planks are rare. The pieces do
not have the flat appearance of clay-daubing
fragments belonging to houses. This
has given rise to speculation whether the
pieces of burnt clay were made for, or were
used in, some kind of rituals. However, at
Madsebakke, the best pieces of burnt clay
are certainly rather flat pieces with clear
imprints of withies and planks, real fragments
of wattle-and-daub. Even though at
Madsebakke these fragments must have belonged
to houses, they do not necessarily
reflect the existence of houses at the site
itself. The wattle-and-daub, deliberately
deposited together with stones, may have
been collected elsewhere.
It is a striking fact that what is deposited at
the rock carving sites, such as burnt clay, is
of little material value. No huge offerings of
valuable gold or bronze objects have been
found at the rock carving sites themselves.
But in some cases substantial votive offerings
have been found in the vicinity of rock
carving sites, which means within a distance
of 1-2 km. The most intriguing example is
the large rock, or rather the little mountain,
called Fluberget, near Stavanger, southwest
Norway. Here in a large bog in front of
this significant rock two flint daggers were
found, one of them from the Early Bronze
Age, along with three bronze swords, one
of them imported from Central Europe, a
bronze arm ring and, last but not least, the
finest pair of bronze lurs in all Norway. In
this case it was probably the ‘holy mountain’
itself that was the key feature, while the
votive deposits as well as the rock carvings
were both secondary features, but indeed
ones related to that conspicuous rock. In
general terms, there is a field of landscape
archaeology to be further developed here,
where studies of the situation of rock carvings
in relation to votive deposits, ‘intervisibility’
and natural features should provide
interesting results.
Thus, it has been demonstrated that the rock
carvings are parts of a larger context, where
finds from both closer and more distant surroundings
should be taken into account. The
surroundings of the rock images, including
crevices in the rocks themselves are crowded
with interesting finds. Not only the rock carvings
themselves are of great antiquarian
value, but also the areas around the rock
carvings hold evidence which needs further
protection, evidence which can contribute
to our better understanding of human ritual
behaviour over thousands of years..
Excavations outside Scandinavia have also
been carried out with interesting results.
By a stone with cup marks at Mulsum near
Bremervörde, Niedersachsen, Germany, a
layer around was dug away, and here a large
ring of fire was lit. Some field stones, and
pots were deposited. A Carbon 14 sample
dated the fire to 770-395 BC.
The most interesting excavation results are
from Valcamonica, Northern Italy. Here, at
the rock carving sites at Cemmo, near the
village of Capo di Ponte, a semicircular stone
wall enclosing two vertical rock carvings was
unearthed in the course of a recently completed
excavation project. The carvings are
seen on the vertical faces of two large rocks.
The motifs include lines of animals and of
daggers with triangular blades. These daggers
are of the Copper Age ‘Remedello’ type,
which can be dated to around the middle of
the third millenium BC (Fig. 5).
The stone wall delimiting the sacred area
in front of the rock carvings was probably
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