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Location |
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Country: |
Sweden |
Locality: |
Massleberg |
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Region: |
Bohuslän |
Area: |
Skee |
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Environment & Surface |
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Altitude:
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40 m
Open-air
Shelter
Cave
Portable
Megalithic
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Geography: |
Smooth sloping rock, facing N. 40 m NW of house, close to edge of field. Woodland. |
Proximity: |
Situated at the edge of a valley, easy to reach. |
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Geology: |
Granite. |
Surface: |
Smooth, sloping rock. Light in colour. |
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Art |
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Description: |
Engravings
Paintings
Painted engravings
High or low-relief
Sculpture
The Massleberg locality is easy to reach, situated at a smooth sloping rock, light in colour. The figures are deeply carved and have been painted in red. The rock surface has been partly damaged by fire. There are There are a few scenes on the carving, the hunting scene consists of deer with elaborate antlers, surrounded by c. 10 dogs and an armless hunter, and possibly a net. There are a few recently found images, for example the big warrior with sword and the right arm raised and a beak-shaped nose. A number of elaborate ship figures, with lur-players and a red-deer with huge sun- or flower shaped antlers. In the lower part of the panel, there are one double-lined ship with 40 crew-strokes carried by a little male figure. Below two beautiful shop figures with many crew-strokes, one carved above the other. Above those ship figures, two fighting men with spears, with a female figure with a pony-tail between them.
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Figures: |
total number 160
22 ship figures
11 human figures
3 foot soles
22 animals
2 circles
1 wheel-cross
90 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. The lurs can be dated to the Late Bronze Age, and are often found in pairs.
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Notes: |
The Massleberg carving is unusually well-preserved, it is deeply carved and painted in red contrasting to the light colour of the rock. It is typically located on a gently rounded, sloping granite rock face near arable land, on the edge of a valley. This engraving contains a multitude of ships, humans, animals and cup-marks. There are also several superimposed carvings, showing that figures were added successively (bengtsson 1989:247). |
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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 subjected to air pollution, causing erosion. The rock surface has been damaged by fire. |
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Conservation: |
Good
Quite good
Mediocre
Bad
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Intervention: |
The Central Board of National Antiquities has launched a programme for compiling an inventory of damage, as a base for future repairs. The carved figures has been painted in red. |
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By |
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| Record n. 778 / 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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