Leirfall rock carvings

The Leirfall rock carvings, located in Stjørdal Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway, are Bronze Age agricultural petroglyphs.

The Leirfall site occupies a south-facing outcrop of rock along Solemsbekken, a stream on the north side of the Stjørdal river, close to the E14 motorway.

[5] Leirfall is often mentioned in books about Norwegian archaeology because of its size, because it is part of the larger network of petroglyphs in the valley of Stjørdal, and because of the well-known processional group.

[2] The people aboard the boats are mainly labelled as "mannskapsstreker" (simple lines representing crew members), but there are some instances of more sophisticated human figures.

[3] Some of the figures at Leirfall and at the nearby petroglyph site of Bjørnstad are series of undulating lines interpreted by Sognnes as images of phosphenes, and as indications of shamanic practices.

[3] Based on his assessments of the style of the petroglyphs at Leirfall, Professor Marstrander has dated the figures as being part of "the entire Bronze Age period" (1700-500 BC).

This may mean that Bronze Age petroglyphs and sacred sites were associated with distinct settlements, and that each family or clan had their own mountains and rock carvings where they could carry out their rituals.

[3][8] Professor Sognnes has argued that, due to the sheer number of them (in the hundreds), it is difficult to defend an interpretation of the Leirfall footprints as representing gods or power.

[3] According to Nilsen, the footprints can be interpreted as individual people's signatures,[8] whereas Sognnes has theorised that they could be evidence of a ritual migration route passing various locations with associated topics or themes.

[15] For instance, the sexual intercourse scene depicted in field 2 could symbolise a "holy wedding", a ritual within a belief system based on fertility.

An overview of the types of figures in the five fields at Leirfall; illustration by Kalle Sognnes. [ 2 ]
Some of the figures at Leirfall, such as this one from field 3, have motifs that are otherwise only found in grave sites. [ 3 ]
Professor Sognnes wrote that one possible interpretation of the footprints is as signs of ritual migration routes to and over the carved surfaces. [ 15 ]
Sognnes also pointed out that the carved rock can be interpreted as a theatre or a stage where a larger audience came to watch certain rituals. [ 15 ]