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Name      
Sweden    Tanum, Gerum EuroPreArt - European Prehistoric Art

Sweden Image map
Keywords: Bronze Age, Rock Art, Open Air, Carving, Human figures, Ship figures, Wheel-cross, Animal, Wheel cross, May-pole.
Institution: Gotland University College, Visby, Sweden.  http://www.hgo.se/
Record
proposed
by
Gotland University - Sweden
 
Location
Specific feedbackSpecific feedback

Country:

Sweden

Locality:

Gerum RAÄ 311

Region:

Bohuslän

Area:

Tanum

 

click to enlarge
Tracing of the Gerum panel, note the "may-pole" placed in the middle of the carved surface (Hygen & Bengtsson 1999:160).
click to enlarge
Copyright. No commercial use of EuroPreArt content is allowed. Specific © for pictures and drawings is mentioned in the captions or owned by each Author or Institution.
Disclaim. The EuroPreArt project fully endorses the most recent documentation policies. It must be outlined the absolute forbidding of any disruptive method and the necessity of a total respect for archaeological sites. It is also to be noticed that no substances shall be applied to rock art for recording purposes. Some pictures of the EuroPreArt records are related to past recording techniques and may not fully match these policies. They are an historical documentation. Please refer to local archaeological official authorities for any recording purpose. Please take a look also over EuroPreArt guidelines.
 
Environment & Surface

Altitude:

15 m
Open-air   Shelter   Cave Portable   Megalithic

Geography:
150 m from creek, at the edge of a ravine, a flat rock in the middle of the Tanum plain. Grassy surroundings.

Proximity:

Close to creek, in the middle of the huge Tanum plain. Grave field from the Roman Iron Age beside the carving.

Geology:

Greyish kind of rock, dark in colour.

Surface:

Low, rather flat surface. Smooth, grinded, microflora.

Dimensions:
Length 9.00 m.  Width 6.00 m.

 

 
Art        

Description:

Engravings   Paintings   Painted engravings   High or low-relief   Sculpture
Gerum, Tanum parish. The carving covers an area of c. 25 square meters, on one connected panel. There are c. 205 figures of which 65 are ship figures, 11 human figures, 6 foot prints, 12 animal figures, 4 circle figures, of which one is a wheel cross and c. 90 cup marks. Several ship figures are carved along the upper and lower part of the panel. An unique and strange figure is the tree-figure with an extension at the top. There is a platform at the top of the pole, where a human figure with raised arms is standing. Lines or ropes are hanging from the platform. There are a number of human figures attached to the lines or ropes, previously interpreted as acrobats. This is the central engraving at the Gerum panel, and it is surrounded by ship figures, human figures with raised arms/adorating position, a foot print and a strange figure thought to be some kind of animal.

Figures:
total number 205
65 ship figures 11 human figures 6 foot prints 12 animal figures 4 circle figures, of which one is a wheel cross 90 cup marks.

Chronology:

Palaeolithic   Epipalaeolithic - Mesolithic   Neolithic   Copper Age   Bronze Age   Iron Age   Roman   Middle Age   Modern   Unknown
The rock carvings of Southern Scandinavia are generally dated to the middle and later part of the Bronze Age, c. 1500-500 BC. Occasionally, more absolute dating of single panels or figures can be made, based on typological or stylistic features of the image, and by comparisons with identifiable objects.

Notes:

The strange figure at Gerum, the so called "May-pole" has been interpreted to depict a real festively-dressed pole, still a part of the ceremonies at Midsummer in Sweden. The decoration could vary in different villages in Sweden, but most common is the use of leaves, wild flowers and garlands. Young children are holding these laces and are singing and dancing around the pole. The custom is old but still practised in Sweden. The purpose is to promote fertility (Hygen & Bengtsson 1999:160).
 
Bibliography        





European total bibliography, by EuroPreArt partnersTotal (Europe)
Sweden EuroPreArt general bibliography, by Gotland University College, Visby, Sweden.General (country)
Specific Tanum, Gerum bibliography, by Gotland University College, Visby, Sweden.Specific (site)
Rock Art Studies: A Bibliographic worldwide Database (external link). Compiled by Leigh Marymor. Copyright (C) 2001-2002 by the Library, University of California, Berkeley Bibliographic
Rock Art
Database

 

 
Conservation        

Status:

Public   Private   Park   Classified site

Risk:

The major risk for rock carvings are chemical weathering, which makes the hard quartzite losen up and fall out, leaving white dots on the darker rock surface. Also natural weathering (mechanical weathering) during winter/spring, when water freeze in cracks and openings in the rock, creates major damage to rock faces with carvings. The biological weathering is also a danger to the rock carvings, and even to intense cleaning of the rock surface during documentation can make the rock fragile and expose the carvings to wind, water and air-born pollution.

Conservation:

Good   Quite good   Mediocre   Bad

Intervention:

Problems concerning conservation and preservation, registration and documentation of rock carvings in Scandinavia are discussed by several departments, i.e. Riksantikvaren in Norway, Riksantikvarieämbetet in Sweden, several universities and research departments. Different methods are tested, for example covering of carved surfaces, measuring of temperature and different contents in water and air and also the composition in the granite. Hollows and cracks in the rock surface can be repaired and carefully filled in. An easy method of taking care of the rock surface is by ordinary sweeping.

 

By          

Compiler:

Li Winter 2001.

Institution:

Gotland University College, Visby, Sweden.  http://www.hgo.se/
 
         Record n. 786 / 807
No commercial use is allowed. Specific © is mentioned in the captions or owned by each Author or Institution  
 
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NEW: Alpine rock paintings
enter the Balma dei Cervi Virtual Museum and surf the Virtual Tour: spherical pano-views,
hi-def flat photos and tracings


EuroPreArt, European Prehistoric Art, is a web-based archaeological project funded by the European Union which aims to establish a lasting data-base of European prehistoric art documentation, to launch the base of an European institutional network and to contribute to the awareness of the diversity and richness of European Prehistoric Art.
It is proposed by: Instituto Politécnico de Tomar (IPT, Portugal), CUEBC - European University Centre for Cultural Heritage (Italy - Europe), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España), Asociación Cultural Colectivo Barbaón (España), Université de Liège (Belgique), Gotland University College (Sverige), University College Dublin (Eire), Cooperativa Archeologica Le Orme dell'Uomo (Italia), Study Centre and Museum of Prehistoric Art of Pinerolo (Italia), The European Centre for Prehistoric Research in the Alto Ribatejo (Portugal), ArqueoJovem - a youth NGO (Portugal).
Instituto Politécnico de Tomar - Portugal CUEBC - European University Centre for Cultural Heritage, Ravello - Italy CSIC - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid - Spain Orme dell'Uomo - Footsteps of Man, Valcamonica - Italy Asociación Cultural Colectivo Barbaón, Extremadura -Spain Liège University - Belgium Gotland University - Sweden University College Dublin - Ireland CeSMAP - Centro Studi e Museo d'Arte Preistorica. Pinerolo, Italy Arqueo Jovem

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