Istrehågan

On the continent and the British Isles, there are large stone structures where long stones are set high up in the ground. In France and England they are called menhirs (French and English: long stone). The largest is located in Carnac in France. It is dated to 5000 BC. Similar stone structures in England, such as Stonehenge, have been seen as cultic sites, perhaps also as places where people could observe celestial bodies.

Istrehågan's rock formations are somewhat similar to the rock formations on the continent and in the British Isles. But they have nothing to do with each other. The stone settings at Istrehågan are graves. Two of the five stone settings have the shape of a ship. An important prehistoric symbol in and outside of today's Norway.

At the beginning of the 1960s, the archaeologists dug into the rock settings. They found burned bone remains in all of them. In addition, they found playing pieces made of bones, clay pot shards, bear claws and remains of charcoal that could be dated. The finds are gifts left with the dead. They prove that the rock settings are graves. They are dated to 400-550 AD, that is, the part of the Iron Age known as the migration period.

Similar cemeteries are also found in Sweden. At Blomsholm, close to Strømstad, is one of the largest shipyards we know of in Scandinavia.

The stone settings at Istrehågan were restored by Tjølling Historielag after the excavations in the 1960s.