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Country: |
Sweden |
Locality: |
Litslena 159 |
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Region: |
Uppland |
Area: |
Litslena |
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Environment & Surface |
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Open-air
Shelter
Cave
Portable
Megalithic
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Geography: |
Smooth rock slope, 10° W. The rock is a part of a large ridge overlooking a wide plain to the N. |
Proximity: |
Part of ridge overlooking a wide plain, just behind an old schoolhouse. |
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Geology: |
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Surface: |
Flat and smooth sloping rock face, design cutting over a deep crack. |
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Art |
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Description: |
Engravings
Paintings
Painted engravings
High or low-relief
Sculpture
Litslena 159. The locality is situated at a smooth rock slope, 10° W. The rock is a part of a large ridge overlooking a wide plain to the N. There is only 1 figurative design, a large half circle 1.3 m diameter clearly carved into the flat rock surface and cutting over a deep crack. There is a narrow line carved from the straight edge of the mantle, perhaps a part of the original design. Several cup marks are just outside the curved edge.
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Figures: |
total number 1
1 mantle design
A number of cup marks
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Chronology: |
Palaeolithic
Epipalaeolithic - Mesolithic
Neolithic
Copper Age
Bronze Age
Iron Age
Roman
Middle Age
Modern
Unknown
The Uppland carvings are most north-easterly of the concentrations of south Scandinavian rock art tradition. The rock carvings of Uppland are generally dated to the middle and later part of the Bronze Age, c. 1200-500 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. There are finds of real mantles from the Bronze Age in the Danish oak-coffin graves, dated to the Early Bronze Age.
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Notes: |
The province of Uppland is one of the major rock carving areas in the South Scandinavian rock carving tradition, together with Östergötland, Skåne and Bohuslän. The land is low, with shallow valleys and a few dominant hills or ridges, but it is dotted by small "islands" of rock protruding through the soils, and sometimes by long ridges of rock all sculptured by weathered and by the ancient ice sheets. There are about 700 rock carving sites, and the carvings are found on the above described outcrops of smooth rock along the Bronze Age shoreline (1800 BC at 20 m a s, 1000 BC c. 15 m a s). |
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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 rock carvings are fragile and the major risk 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: |
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. Some of the carvings have been painted or chalked for documentation. |
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By |
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Record n. 770 / 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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