444 NORSK NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 



fastened to the top plank by two iron nails — bearing an oblique pro- 

 longation at one end, and furnished with a loop of wicker-work rope 

 or leather, through which the oar is passed, and which prevents its 

 slipping out of the keip while rowing. These rowlocks are in Norway 

 considered superior to ordinary tholes, being not so liable to break as 

 the latter. 



In some fishing craft the planks are tied to the frames by ropes 

 through holes in the under side of the frames and corresponding holes 

 or in cleats projecting from the ])lanks. 



Little, if any, change appears to have been made in northern navjil 

 architecture, for in the Northland boats of the present day we recog- 

 nize the oldest forms known to us from the rock sculptures {Helleriai- 

 7iinger, or Hallristningar) discovered in Sweden and Norway, with an 

 antiquity reaching far back into prehistoric times, and supposed to have 

 originated from 500 to 800 years before the Christian era; from boat- 

 shaped stone burial grftups {SMbsscetninger, or StensTiepper) supposed to 

 have been erected during the transition time from the bronze period to 

 the iron age in Scandinavia, and from Boat remains found at various 

 times and places, representing structures dating from the third to 

 about the ninth or tenth century of the Christian era. 



I. — Helleristninger,^ 



or hallristningar, the picture groups of Scandinavia, engraved upon 

 rock and originated during the bronze age, represent in simple outlims 



' O. Rygh: Om Helleristniuger i Norge. I Videnskabs Selskabet i Kristiania For- 

 hanflliuger, 1873, p. 455-470. Dr, Henry Peterson : Notice sur les Pierres Sculpt^es 

 du Danemark ; in : Memoires de la Soci6t6 Royale des Antiquaires des Nord ; Copeu- 

 hagne, 1877, p. 330-342. (Cited by Dr. C. Ran: Cup-shaped and other Lapidari.au 

 Sculptures, p. 25, in — Contributions to North American Ethnology, vol. v ; U. S. Geo- 

 graphical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region ; U. S. Department 

 of Interior.) 



