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12 I. THE COUNTRY AND PEOPLE.
Norway. They bear witness to a civilization advancing
by somewhat different roads from that of the Stone Age,
probably from Vendland and the Vistula, as well as from
the south, but not necessarily by only one or two routes
since there is no commoner feature of these rock-gravings
than the presence of numerous ships.
These rock-gravings are cut on the surfaces of granite
boulders and sloping scarps, and they are pictures, on
rather a large scale, evidently recording historic events,
and apparently such as afterwards became the subjects of
the most ancient northern poems, especially sea-fights and
the combats of single champions. They are nevertheless
not so much pictures as picture-writings, although the
key to them has not yet been found. They seem, how
ever, to be contemporary with smaller gravings on the
walls of burial chambers, of which the most important are
at Kivik on the east coast of Skane (S. H.1
, figs. 126-9).
The most frequent objects on the rock-gravings are men
and ships, but we find also a number of domestic animals,
horned cattle, reindeer, horses and birds. There seem to
be even representations of such south-country creatures as
the turtle, the ostrich, the camel, and, possibly, the lion.
Then we have footprints, shoes, cup-marks, weapons,
shields, sledges, trees, and various nondescript signs.
5
The human figure is always drawn naked, usually fight
ing or on shipboard, but in one or two cases ploughing
(Du Chaillu :
Figs. 902, cp. 912), rarely riding (fig. 899),
or skating (fig. 909). The combatants carry shields
(always round), sometimes with a central boss, sometimes
with a cross. This wheel-shaped shield or hjul also
appears as a sign by itself. The Thor-cross, hook-cross,
or svastika, which seems to be a development of it, is not
5
The fullest collection of illustrations of these gravings
accessible to me is that in P. Du Chaillu s Viking Age, Vol.
ii., ch. 8, Lond. 1889, figs. 890-913, to which reference is made
in the text. See also Montelius :
Civ., figs 84-88, and Sv.
Hist. 1
,
Vol. i., p 107. Special works by A. E. Holmberg :
Skandinaviens hdll-ristningar and L. Baltzer are referred to in
these books.
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