Uusia kalliomaalauksia Päijät-Hämeestä

Abstract

The first discovery of a prehistoric rock painting in Finland took place in 1911. The next one was not found until fifty years later, but since the 1960s rock paintings have been found almost every year, usually more thanone per year. In the 1960s and 1970s these finds aroused a great deal of attention, among both the public and Finnish archaeologists, but by the 1980s scholarly discussion on ancient rock art ceased for all practical purposes. Around the same time, the number of new finds also decreased. In the 1990s and early 2000s interest in rock art has revived in Finland, which is also evident in the number of new finds. Most of the approximately 80 prehistoric rock paintings that are known from Finland have been discovered by accident or through the efforts of active amateurs. Systematic archaeological surveys and inventories of rock art have been attempted only rarely, because this has been regarded as difficult and too uncertain with regard to its results. In the spring of 2003, however, the Lahti City Museum carried out a pilot inventory of prehistoric rock art in the Paijat-Hame region. One rock painting is known previously from the province, which suggested the possibility of discovering new sites. The discovery of six hitherto unknown rock paintings in the relatively short period of the field survey came, however, as a surprise. The new finds of rock paintings are from the municipalities of Asikkala, Heinola and Nastola. The rock painting at Rautvuori in Heinola is on the shore of Lake Ala-Rieveli. It is a large feature of red ochre partly covered by 20th-century graffiti, and it is not certain whether it contains any figurative designs. The Rajakivi rock painiting in Heinola is on a large boulder moved by the Ice Age and now situated on the shore of Lake Konnivesi. The painting contains only one design, which may be the imprint of a human left hand. The painting at Linnakallio in Nastola is on the bluff of an Iron Age hillfort on the shore of Lake Salajarvi. Although the painting is damaged, a small image of an elk can be distinguished from it. The most interesting visual themes of the recently discovered paintings are in Asikkala. The rock painting at Levealahti contains at least an elk figure, a design representing a boat, and an unidentified animal figure. The painting included other themes, of which only fragments now remain. The rock painting at Huonpohjanvuori is partly covered by lichens. The painted designs include at least one elk, a boat design, possible human figures and patches of red ochre. Both the Levealahti and the Huonpohjanvuori paintings are on rock faces on the shore of Lake Ruotsalainen, while the Patalahti rock painting in Asikkala is on the shore of Lake Paijanne. This painting contains at least two boat designs, of which one in particular displays an elk's head figure at the prow. The crews of the boats are represented by wedge-shaped figures. The Patalahti painting arouses particular interest, as it contains for the time being the most distinct examples of the elk-boat motif in Finnish rock art. Since similar elk boats are known in rock art from Sweden, Norway and Russian Karelia, the interpretation of Finnish boat designs as antlers cannot be accepted. The combinations of elk and boat motifs, which are also expressed in the so-called boat-antler elks (for example in the rock painting Pyhanpaa in Kuhmoinen), would appear to make reference to the logic typical of mythical thought and thus server as an important key to the conceptual world reflected by prehistoric rock paintings in Finland. The paintings at Rautvuori, Rajakivi and Linnakallio cannot be dated with the aid of shore displacement chronology. Shore displacement dating, however, is possible for the rock paintings in Asikkala. According to a tentative estimate, the painting at Patalahti was painted seen after the waters broke through the Heinolanharju ridge, thus making it approximately 7,000 years old. T

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