Grooves (archaeology)

Grooves in a fan-shaped pattern and with one crossing, Gotland, Sweden
Grooves, the one at left at the edge of another one, Gotland, Sweden.
Cut of a groove measured in a groove on Gotland.
A stone with grooves that has been put in the border of a prehistoric grave. The grooves are on the side of the stone. Gotland
Grooves on Gotland
Grooves in Gantofta, Scania
Detail of the grooves in Gantofta

There are grooves (Swedish: sliprännor, slipskåror. Sw-En translation: sharpening grooves) carved into rock in many places in Europe, and some of them appear on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland. They are common in France, where they were used to polish stone axes.

In Sweden, there are also grooves in north-western Scania and Halland. In Gantofta located 14 km (8.7 mi) south of Helsingborg a face of sandstone rock is engraved with thousands of grooves. Local tradition says they were made as whetstones.[1]

Grooves in France date from the Neolithic and are called polissoirs. Those in l’Aube date from c. 2500 to 2000 BCE. People who built dolmens, erected menhirs and made grooves supported an archaeological culture known as Seine-Oise-Marne. The Aube district had more than 130 monuments from this period including 49 grooves before 1927. Today there are only 34 including 16 grooves. Many stones were cut into roadstones or building blocks for homes.

Grooves have also been found in Tavastia in Finland and in Luxembourg, as well as at Fyfield Down in England.

Neolithic Grooves have been found in Tamil Nadu, India.[2][3]

  1. ^ Mårtensson, Torsten. "Sliprännornas praktiska bruk" (PDF). Fornvännen.
  2. ^ Subramanian, TS (21 July 2016). "Footprints of Neolithic age". The Hindu. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  3. ^ Subramanian, TS (3 April 2013). "Bedrock on which Neolithic man sharpened stone tools found in T.N." The Hindu. Retrieved 21 December 2016.