rock carvings at Norrfors, Umeå

this is just outside of umeå, and yet i have NOT been out here ever before, which is a little embarrassing since i'm born and raised in Umeå. i have no good explanation for this. but i decided this day was the day!

the post-glacial rebound dates these rock carvings to around 4000 years of age. mostly elks, some without internal lines but most have internal lines and dots. the other figures i saw were two boats, a funny looking humanfigure and a bird.

the woodbridge leading up to the carvings have little time notes on it for visitors to get a better perspective of the timeframe. It starts at world war II and goes backwards in time and at the end, by the rock carvings, the time line ends with mesopotamia and the egyptian pyramids which were buildt around the same time as the rock carvings were made. most people are familiar with the pyramids so it's easier to understand.

my sister and i spent an hour here, sitting, talking, having tea and trying to figure out the circumstances of the carvings. we didnt really come up with anything new. so no, no new ideas!

the river here is regulated so i couldnt get an idea of the waterflow, but there used to be water around this little rock.

my sister at Glösa, seen through holga camera.

My sister doesn't really know anything about archaeology or prehistory. Some people are interested, some are not, some just haven't gotten there just yet. So when she was following me around on my excursion, i talked about and explained all the sites to her that we visited. 

i assumed i was talking to only one ear but when i asked her later in the evening about the most important things from all the sites, she got 7 out of 10 questions right! and she was enthusiastic as well! 

questions such as where the closest hill forts to the mjälle hill fort are located, the age of the trapping pits, the difference between a storage building and a house, where certain rock carving motifs are in the country etc etc. i was really happy to see her interested when we were at the museum as well, especially when she saw the artifacts from places we had just visited, "aw so cool!" she said. 

 There is hope for humanity!

en dag i storsjöbygden, del 4, Glösa

Glösa hällristningar och fångstgropssystem i Alsen. På vägen hem från Östersund till Åre så tog vi vägen genom skogen och förbi Alsen socken i Krokoms kommun. Där finns fångstgropssystem från vikingatid och medeltid. Det sträcker sig 5 km (!) och har 91 gropar. Vi orkade inte gå och titta på alla, vi tittade bara på en, som låg på en smal, hög och lång ås-rygg. Kort gångavstånd, ca 400 m, därifrån är hällristningarna. Platsen i Glösabäcken var liten, men låg högt med utsikt över vatten och fjäll. Bäcken var smal men de vattenformade mjuka stenhällarna vittnar om betydligt kraftigare vattenflöde efter istiden. fanns några fler ristningar längre ner i bäcken men de fotade jag inte.

Det här var de enda hällristningarna jag hann med den här svängen, men nästa gång hoppas jag att jag kan ta en tur till Gärdesån, Offerdal, och se älgen där i naturlig storlek och mänskliga fotspår! De är möjligen bland Sveriges äldsta?!

stina.

en dag i storsjöbygden, del 3. Mjälle hill fort, Frösön

panoramautsikt om det varit lite mindre träd i vägen!

A day in Storsjöbygden, part 2. frösö stone church and iron age grave mounds.

the view from the stone church.

Frösö island was Jämtlands administrative and eocnomic centra during the iron age and medieveal time period. The stone church from around 1100 A.D reminds very much of the stone church in Åre from the same timeperiod. the first stone churches to appear in the north at this time.

At this site, there are iron age hearths and iron age grave mounds. With a darling picture of my sister in front of the two grave mounds. Excuse her silly expression, she doesn't know how to behave(!). We also went into the church. Under the floor at the altar, a birk tree stump was excavated. there were animal bones from the viking age around it. it is interpreted as a viking age offering tree. in other words, an important place. And then when christianity reached these lands, the church was build right on top of it. the grave mounds are thankfully still there!

Sweden's most northern runestone, located on this island, i didnt have time to see!! but i did see the replica at Jamtli museum. It says: "Austmaðr, Guðfastr's son, had this stone raised and this bridge built and Christianized Jämtland. Ásbjörn built the bridge. Trjónn and Steinn carved these runes". The timeperiod is 1030 and 1050 AD (wikipedia).

en dag i storsjöbygden. del 1.

utsikt från frösön.

Spenderat en vecka i Åre och hade ärenden i måndags i kära Östersund. Passade på att hinna med några fornlämningar +Jamtli museet. Oftast när jag åker någonstans så tar jag med bok om arkeologi, om jag har nån över området jag ska besöka.

Denna gång, helt passande, tog jag med "Arkeologi i norr 12" där det fanns 3 artiklar som handlade om just Jämtland. Mycket intressant läsning, särskilt som man faktiskt besöker platserna man läser om och även för att jag har släkt därifrån och delvis uppvuxen där. Överhogdalsbonaderna på Jamtli var jättefina.

I love Jämtland!

field trip to grave field in åheden, part 1

shingle beach

mycket pors växte omkring.

rösegravfältet med 9 rösen i åheden ligger väl några kilometer, fågelvägen, från gravfältet på rösberget, fisksjöhällorna. så de ligger mitt emot varandra kan man säga. jag antar att man kunde se dem under deras tidsperiod. detta gravfält är daterat till äldre bronsålder (omkring 1500 f kr). långrösena hade synliga kistor, och rösena mittgropar. två av rösena hade också stenkistor.

two long cairns in åheden, part 2

first, 15 meters long.

en myr emellan

second, 24 meters long!

fisksjöhällorna, long cairn.

long cairn with a smaller cairn to the right "built into".

a view of the water that used to run down there.

plundered and open stone cist. this is so terrible it hurts to show it.
completely exposed to weather and world.
imagine how sad the people who built this would feel if they knew.
no respect for the dead or the living.

fisksjöhällorna, 2 rösen..