Maarten van Hoek The Geography of Cup-and-Ring ... - StoneWatch

the relief is steeper and the mountains are higher. Moreover, all rock
art sites are found near sweet water; streams emptying into Lake
Stordal and the lake itself. None of the sites has a view across the
salt water of the Åkrafjorden, which, however, is only two kilometres
to the north of Lake Stordal.
* 1.5.3.3.1 Still, access to and from the Åkrafjorden may have
been important to the people who executed the engravings around Lake
Stordal, as quite a
number of sites is
focussed on a
distinct pass (P in
Fig. 110) north of
the lake (Fig. 111),
leading to the
Åkrafjorden and to
two possible landing
places near Kyrping.
Especially the siting
of a large group of
cupuled boulders
and a major
petroglyph stone at
Flote, all directly
FIG. 111: THE PASS TO THE ÅKRAFJORDEN.
opposite the pass,
seems to emphasise the importance of the pass. Modern access from
the Åkrafjorden towards Lake Stordal still uses this pass: the main
road from Oslo to Haugesund turns to Lake Stordal there.
The major stone at Flote is found on the
remains of an ancient delta kame, which
indicates the prehistoric water level of
the lake during the Ice Age. This typical
flat delta kame, at about 100 m OD and
hanging at an altitude of roughly 50 m
above the present day water level of
Lake Stordal, is easily visible from the
pass mentioned above, especially when
rays of sunlight illuminate the small but
distinctly bright green patch of
grassland amidst the dark, tree clad
mountain slopes. This specific spot is
moreover clearly indicated by a most
prominent V-shaped notch in the
mountain chain (V at Fig. 110; Fig 112).
FIG. 112: THE V-NOTCH AT FLOTE.
M. van HOEK: 139
GEOGRAPHY