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Country: |
Sweden |
Locality: |
Tegneby Mellangården raä 72 |
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Region: |
Bohuslän |
Area: |
Tanum |
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Environment & Surface |
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Altitude:
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30 m
Open-air
Shelter
Cave
Portable
Megalithic
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Geography: |
Facing ENE, sloping 4º on a partly smooth rock in woods. |
Proximity: |
100 m from the carving Tanum no. 75 Litsleby, 65 m S of road and alongside the road to Smedstorpet. Situated in the E part of an overgrown stone circle, and two minor stone circles in the vicinity. |
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Geology: |
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Surface: |
Very flat surface, partly smooth with glacial striations (N35ºW - S35ºE). |
Dimensions:
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Length 3.00 m.
Width 1.00 m.
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Art |
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Description: |
Engravings
Paintings
Painted engravings
High or low-relief
Sculpture
Tanum no. 72 Tegneby Mellangården. The carving is only 3 x 1 m and consists of a scene with a battle between seven horsemen equipped with spears and rectangular shields, and two warriors equipped with similar weapons. The figures are relatively small, 15-35 cm long. The shields are of a rectangular "Celtic" type, and dates the carving to the early Iron Age. There are 2 ship figures, which show a close similarity to the figures of Tanum no. 75 Litsleby, so do the horsemen. The horses with riders are 27-36 cm long, and the 2 human figures are 20-27 cm high. The 2 ship figures are both 20 cm long. There are also 2 incompletely carved horses, 15-21 cm long, 2 obscure figures, 6 x 12 cm resp. 7 x 17 cm. There are 2 cup marks, 3-5 cm ø.
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Figures: |
total number 18
2 ship figures
2 human figures
8 horses with riders
2 animals (incompletely carved horses).
2 obscure figures
2 cup marks
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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. Some of the figures at Tegneby Mellangården show similarities with finds dated to the 4th Century BC, for example the horsemen with rectangular shields.
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Notes: |
The scene with horses and raiders equipped with rectangular shields have been interpreted as a ritual battle, linked to ancient Greek myths about Castor and Polydeukes, the twin son of Zeus (Almgren 1927:114). Other interpretations concerns power and status, weapons and horses in a changing time (Bertilsson 1989). |
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Bibliography |
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Conservation |
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Status: |
Public
Private
Park
Classified site
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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. |
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Conservation: |
Good
Quite good
Mediocre
Bad
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Intervention: |
The environmental pollution project in Sweden was started in 1989 with the express purpose of examining the influence of the pollution on relics of culture including rock carvings. This was done to get a survey of the full extent of the damage. The project is run by the Riksantikvarieämbetet (Raä), Central Board of National Antiquities. On the basis of the results of the examination the Raä will estimate the possibilities of acute and long term arrangements of preservation. |
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By |
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Record n. 792 / 807 |
No commercial use is allowed. Specific © is mentioned in the captions or owned by each Author or Institution |
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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).
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