Interesting things happened at Ausevika in Kinn municipality a long time ago, that would mean around 4,000 years before Christ and 5,000 years before Olav the Holy Christianized Norway. At that time, in a town in Western Norway, the people who lived here expressed what they were interested in through petroglyphs – images that are carved or cut into rocks and mountains. Motif after motif appeared, of humans and animals. Lots of deer. But also various figures that tell of a rich, inner soul life and that people liked abstract art at that time too. The rock carvings in Ausevika consist of animals, humans and various abstract figures. Photo: Julie Haugen / news Spol looked ahead 6,000 years, to the summer of 2023. Then someone (or several) found out that it was a good idea to make some extra drawings and outlines on what is referred to as one of Norway’s largest petroglyph fields. The around 300 figures that make up the field have thus been joined by some other “fun” motifs from 2023. – Knowledge-free Early one morning this week, associate professor Trond Lødøen at the University Museum in Bergen is there, together with professionals from the municipality and the county council. They must document the vandalism and see if anything can be done. The first thing Lødøen stops at is a clear figure of a deer that someone has painstakingly carved in, several thousand years before the Pyramid of Cheops was built in Egypt. 6,000 years later, someone managed to draw an erect penis on the deer, with subsequent dots showing some form of release. The drawing of the penis is not so large, but still clearly visible in the petroglyph field. Photo: Julie Haugen / news The Norwegian Army in itself is bad enough, according to the researcher, but the first assistant notices another detail. – So here is someone who has drawn a penis on a big animal. How ignorant can one actually be, Lødøen asks resignedly and shakes his head. Trond Lødøen is associate professor at the University Museum in Bergen. Photo: Julie Haugen / news Difficult to remove Perhaps those who carried out the vandalism thought that it is easy to wash away the penis, but it is not that simple. Namely, it has become more strict which chemicals can be used to remove what is probably a form of varnish. – We still hope, one way or another, that we will be able to handle it. It is worse with the letters that appear elsewhere on the field. Here someone has – not drawn – but scratched in what looks like an initial, in capital letters. EHT. Is this someone’s initials? Or does it mean something else? The police have dropped the case. Photo: Julie Haugen The professionals discuss whether there is also a number 23, which can just be glimpsed behind the initials. The researcher allowed himself to speculate a little: Is it an Eirik Hans who has been traveling? Or Even Henrik? Or someone completely different with EH for first name and T for last name? The case was reported to the police last summer, but was quickly dismissed. This vandalism is anyway far worse than the penis, according to the researcher, because it is probably impossible to repair. When someone draws in a petroglyph field, it’s not just about grinding away. Then you will quickly grind away the original figures as well. – It will look very brutal and bad. Thus, the field is a little more polluted than it was before the summer of 2023. The opportunity you and I had to catch a glimpse of prehistoric times is a little more degraded. It may be appropriate to set up a surveillance camera to prevent vandalism, says senior councilor Per Christian Burhol in Vestland County Municipality. Wondering about the motive It has happened several times now, that vandalism has been carried out on various rock carving fields. This summer, new vandalism was carried out on a petroglyph field in Nordland. Last summer letters were scratched in a field in Hardanger. Professionals generally agree that cultural heritage crime is given too low a priority, after the cases are reported to the police. In Ausevika, it is now being considered to set up a surveillance camera to prevent new incidents. But why does it happen, Trond Lødøen would like to know the answer to. He believes that some people can be “inspired” by the figures and want to become part of history themselves. If what you otherwise do in life is forgettable, you have at least become part of a 6,000-year-old rock carving field. But he refuses to believe that those who have carried out the vandalism are aware of how demanding it is to repair it. – I think it is total recklessness. Or as those who lived 6,000 years ago might have said: Simply bad deer.
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Must remove penis to save rock carving field – news Vestland
