The Rock Art of Nämforsen, Sweden The survey 2001-2003 By Thomas B Larsson & Sven-Gunnar Broström UMARK 62, 2011 ISSN 1401-5986 Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden About the authors Thomas B Larsson is professor of archaeology at Umeå University, Sweden. He has mainly carried out research on the European and South Scandinavian Bronze Age, but during the last decade his focus has shifted towards the Stone Age of Northern Fennoscandia. Rock art, dwellings, pitfall traps, moose hunting and climate change during the Late Stone Age are currently his favored research topics. Sven-Gunnar Broström is honorary doctor at the Faculty of Humanities, Umeå University, Sweden. He has surveyed and documented rock art in Sweden during the last 50 years, and he is one of the most experienced field workers in Sweden when it comes to rock art. Together with colleagues he has found more than 20% of the known rock carvings in south and middle Sweden. Cover: Rock art panel from Laxön in Nämforsen (Plate XII, D:16a, according to Hallström’s description). Rock art images presented in black were documented by Hallström (1960), while red images represent additional figures recorded at the new documentation of Nämforsen by Broström & Larsson in 2001-2003. Contents Introduction and background 3 Hallström’s map over the carving area at Nämforsen (1960) 4 Presentation of the rock art panels 5 Main Group I. Laxön 6 The new documentation of Main Group I 7 Main Group II. Notön 42 The new documentation of Main Group II 43 Main Group III. Brådön 89 The new documentation of Main Group III 90 Summary 109 Selected photos from the documentation 111 References 114 Map of Sweden and the location of Nämforsen, County of Västernorrland, Sweden. 2 Introduction In the following report we present the results of a survey of the famous rock art site Nämforsen, in the county of Västernorrland, Sweden. The survey was part of a project named Rock Art, Language and Environment, managed and financed by HumLab at Umeå University, Sweden. The project was co-financed by Umeå University and RANE (Rock Art in Northern Europe) – a project financed by the European Union. The aim was to make a detailed survey of the known rock carvings at the site and also to look for new ones. The location of the images and the structure of the rock surfaces were digitized and recorded in high resolution, making it possible to get a good 3D-image of the entire site and its surroundings. As the first step, the rock surfaces at Laxön, Brådön and Notön in Nämforsen were investigated with torchlight during nighttime. The contours of the carvings identified were then marked with a piece of chalk. During daytime the images were copied to a plastic sheet with three or more coordinate points on each sheet. The x, y and z values were measured with a Total Station. The sheets were later scanned. This report gives a more traditional 2D-version of the rock art at Nämforsen. The point of departure is Gustaf Hallström’s documentation of Nämforsen, published in 1960. When presenting the images we follow Hallström’s subdivision and labeling of the different areas, which makes it easy for the reader to compare the current documentation with Hallström’s. We are aware of the fact that other researchers than Hallström have surveyed and found new rock carvings on the cliffs at Nämforsen (e.g. Christian Lindqvist 1994, 1999), but we have anyhow chosen to compare our documentation with Hallström’s. We believe that scholars, both in Sweden and internationally, mainly use the work of Hallström as the empirical basis when discussing and analyzing Nämforsen, and therefore this new documentation should be related to Hallström’s major work from 1960. The rock carvings are shown in two colors: black, representing images documented by Hallström, while red images are the ‘new’ ones, recorded in our campaign 2001-2003. There are also images recorded by Hallström that we could not find, and images found by Hallström that we see, but interpret in a different way. Each group of rock carvings, or single images (following Hallström’s system), are positioned according to the Swedish coordinate system SWEREF 99. In this report one midpoint coordinate point is given for each rock art panel. A digital and web-searchable database of the rock carvings at Nämforsen is currently under production by HumLab at Umeå University, financed by the County Administrative Board of Västernorrland. Many thanks to Johan Olofsson, Sara Hjalmarsson and Sofia Yasin, who collected all the field data with the Total Station. Thanks to Kenneth Ihrestam for digital processing of the plastic sheets. We would also like to thank Nämforsen Rock Art Museum, Näsåker, for help and assistance in many ways during the field work. A special thanks to Fredrik Palm, HumLab, Umeå University, for helping us out with the ‘missing’ coordinate data and other technical problems. 3 Hallström’s maps over the carving area at Nämforsen (1960, Pl. XXVII) 4 Presentation of the rock art panels Main Group I. Laxön and the southern shore (Hallström 1960, Pl. X-XV) 5 The new documentation of Main Group I. A:1 Comments: 2 cup-marks and 1 short line were found beneath the animal to the right. Also, the head of this animal could be fully traced. X 593975,46 Y 7036088,91 Z 84,89 A:2 Comments: 1 animal (moose), partly damaged by erosion. X 593975,56 Y 7036091,16 Z 85,73 A:3 Comments: 1 new ship engraving was found, 0.5 m to the left of the one documented by Hallström. X 593974,52 Y 7036093,90 Z 86,00 6 A:4 Comments: 1 short line was added. X 593971,89 Y 7036094,36 Z 85,94 A:5a Comments: Nothing to add. X 593965,02 Y 7036094,03 Z 85,76 A:5b Comments: Nothing to add. X 593966,48 Y 7036092,54 Z 85,63 7 A:6a Comments: Nothing to add. X 593958,52 Y 7036098,94 Z 85,78 A:6b Comments: Nothing to add. X 593929,02 Y 7036099,57 Z 87,41 A:7 Comments: Nothing to add. X 593951,17 Y 7036097,10 Z 85,17 8 A:8 Comments: 1 short line was found c. 0.35 m above the Z-shaped image. X 593949,97 Y 7036098,58 Z 85,67 A:9a Comments: 4 animals (probably moose) and some lines were added to this scene. X 593942,84 Y 7036099,24 Z 85,03 9 A:9b Comments: A new image (part of an animal?) was found close to A:9a. X 593944,58 Y 7036099,77 Z 85,21 A:10 Comments: 1 short, angled line was added to this panel. X 593941,67 Y 7036102,48 Z 85,62 A:10a Comments: 1 angular line. Another short line, registered by Hallström, could not be found. X 593937,46 Y 7036099,68 Z 84,70 10 B:1 Comments: 2 new animals (moose) were added to this panel. X 593984,77 Y 7036098,77 Z 84,24 B:2 Comments: Hallström has no plate for B:2, but he mentions “indistinct figures” (1960:145). We have traced 1 ship, 3 pickaxes, a possible moose (up in the right hand corner), and lines of different shapes. X 593983,24 Y 7036101,00 Z 84,19 11 B:3 Comments: This panel has some new images: 3 fragmentary animals, 1 ship and lines of different shapes. X 593978,33 Y 7036109,44 Z 83,97 C:1 Comments: 3 animals (moose), 1 fish, 1 cup-mark should be added to this panel. X 593966,35 Y 7036127,28 Z 82,84 12 C:2 Comments: 1 new moose and 1 line. The animal with hanging belly was partly traced by Hallström. X 593971,39 Y 7036128,85 Z 82,48 C:3 Comments: A new pair of legs was found under the moose to the right. X 593975,40 Y 7036128,15 Z 81,44 D:1, D:2& D:2b Comments: This scene is a compilation of Hallström’s D1, D2 and D2b. As can be seen, a lot of animals, ships, and anthropomorphic images should be added to Hallström’s original documentation. X 593971,80 Y 7036141,60 Z 83,85 13 D:1a Comments: 1 ship, 2 incomplete animals (moose) and lines should be added to this scene. X 593976,38 Y 7036139,66 Z 82,70 D:2a Comments: A forked line and another line connecting the two animals were found on this panel. X 593968,14 Y 7036144,30 Z 83,54 D:2c Comments: A new image of a ship (?). X 593969,01 Y 7036139,81 Z 83,88 14 D:2d Comments: A short line. X 593969,17 Y 7036141,57 Z 83,73 D:2e Comments: A short line and a cup-mark. X 593971,14 Y 7036143,84 Z 83,81 D:2f Comments: 1 ship, 1 part of another ship (or animal?), and 2 short lines. X 593963,91 Y 7036142,75 Z 83,93 D:2g Comments: 2 animals (moose), 1 cup-mark and 1 short, curved line. X 593967,57 Y 7036139,80 Z 84,06 15 D:3 Comments: A lot of small lines or “flying objects” were found above the ship and (probably) 1 animal in the upper left corner of the scene. X 593980,66 Y 7036142,46 Z 81,63 D:3a Comments: 1 cup-mark was found above the head of the “centaur”.