Kolmiköytisienvuori Rock Painting: A Late Neolithic Site in Finland
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Finland
- Primary era
- Stone Age
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Stone Age
- Civilizations
- Unclassified
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- Rock Art
On this page6 sections
History
Kolmiköytisienvuori rock painting is a Late Neolithic site in Finland, located in Ruokolahti on the eastern part of Lake Saimaa, and it has been dated to approximately 3000 BCE from its elevation above the lake.
Dating and archaeological setting
The Late Neolithic was the later part of Finland’s Neolithic Stone Age, when hunter-gatherer communities also made decorated pottery. At Korosniemi, about 2 kilometres west of the painting, archaeologists have found a settlement site containing Comb Ware, a Neolithic pottery tradition marked especially by impressions made with a comb-like tool. The relationship between that settlement and the rock painting remains unspecified.
Two undated stone cairns south of the painting may be remnants of slash-and-burn cultivation. Their possible connection with the painted site has not been established.
Discovery and interpretation
Timo Miettinen discovered the painting in 1977 and recorded its inventory survey. He returned to inventory it in 1994, while Minna Kähtävä-Marttinen carried out another inventory in 1996. The rock face is breaking apart around the painted location, affecting the preservation of the images.
One interpretation sees the composition as a shaman, a ritual specialist believed to communicate with or travel between human and supernatural realms, changing into a partly human and partly serpentine figure. In this reading, the serpentine form enabled movement into the underworld, understood as a supernatural lower realm, while the large human figures may represent powerful “men of the mountains.” These interpretations remain uncertain.
Remains
The painting occupies one densely decorated area on the west-southwest-facing wall of Kolmiköytisienvuori, on the western shore of Äitsaari southeast of Riislahti. Its surface lies 3.5 to 4.5 metres above the lake, at approximately 79.20 metres above sea level, with dry shoreline stones below. The painted area can be seen from far out on the lake.
A rock overhang shelters the images from rain and generally keeps the surface dry. The painting remains strongly orange-red, although the figures are heavily blurred and some details are difficult to distinguish. Long exposure to water may have contributed to the deterioration, possibly when waves or rain reached beneath the overhang. The whole image field measures about 1.35 by 2.45 metres, while the main concentration occupies a smaller area and is divided into three separate parts.
Main painted field
The largest figures occupy a strongly blurred red field. Two fairly large human figures appear to raise their arms in a worshipful gesture, while their feet or lower ends merge into the red pigment. Several broad vertical strokes stand between them around the foot area, and red pigment also extends above their heads. The field has additionally been interpreted as containing two successive boat images, with a darker human figure possibly visible near the centre.
Separate figures and subsidiary marks
A shorter human figure appears apart from the main field, high on the right. A snake-like form winds upward from the lower right beside it, while the body itself also appears serpentine. The figure may once have had bent or hooked knees. To its left, two wavy lines and a side view of a large-headed human figure may be visible. Horizontal lines and possible fish figures have also been identified.
Faded figures continue to the right of the main group. One line may meander like a snake, and a small animal has been observed above the vertical strokes. Gray lichen covers the rock in this area.
