Skogs-Tibble parish near Uppsala is unusually rich in Bronze Age sacrificial finds, so I'm looking closer at it for some future fieldwork. And I found an awesome site in the Sites & Monuments Register, Raä Skogs-Tibble 93:3:
Skrubbstenen [The Scrubbing Stone]. Boulder with oral tradition, granite, c. 4 by 4 m a side ... According to Ivar Hall, 80 years old, of Sågstennäs, his maternal grandfather told him that trolls used to scrub and delouse themselves against the inward-sloping side of the boulder in the two cavities there.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
In the Lake Mälaren area of Sweden, you rarely find any large pieces of Bronze Age metalwork in graves or at settlement sites. When the beautiful larger objects occur - axe heads, spear heads, swords, neck rings, belt ornaments - they almost exclusively come from odd find contexts that I for one…
Spring is late this year in Sweden, and the weather has been dreary. But now things have perked up, and suddenly I felt the itch to get out and check out some sites before the leaves and grass sprout in earnest and ruin visibility. So Sunday night I hurriedly checked through my database of Bronze…
I really enjoyed my work yesterday. The forenoon saw me in the stores of the Museum of National Antiquities looking through Otto Frödin's uncatalogued finds from the "SverkersgÃ¥rden" site near Alvastra monastery. Not only did I find all the elusive 1st Millennium stuff that's mentioned in the…
In front, a boulder upon which I found cupmarks. Behind, a Bronze Age burnt mound consisting of fire-cracked stones.
In order to study the landscape situation of something you need to know precisely where it is. This poses a problem when it comes to Bronze Age sacrificial finds, because they are…
A boulder trolls scrubbed themselves against? It's an early forerunner of the Internet! Now if a certain anti-atheist troll from Canada would grace this blogpost with one of his incoherent copy/paste diatribes, it would be perfect.
Beware the pernicious troll lice that may be left over and hiding near the stone. Rumor is that perhaps trolls were just regular people who had a bad case of troll lice and that their unusual behaviors and appearance was entirely a result of this.
The way I heard it a person properly fortified with Brännvin was less likely to attract troll lice. It is thought the herbs and spices act as a repellent.
If that isn't part of the folklore it should be. Pending insertion at the earliest possible opportunity. Consistent repetition, and utility, are the keys to creating folklore.
"Pending insertion at the earliest opportunity" -this is like the Cleopatra idea. :-)
-Were extra-terrestrials involved? I see opportunities for a profitable book series...
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Finding showing human ancestor older than previously thought offers new insights into evolution http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-human-ancestor-older-previously-tho…
Prehistoric BBQ has bone marrow and aurochs on the menu http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-prehistoric-bbq-bone-marrow-aurochs…
Ha! I got it! If you recall "Quatermass and the Pit" you may recall the perished aliens trying to re-create themselves from the grave.
The "Troll lice" is a synthetic organism that escaped from one of the many impact structures in the regions, trying to sculpt human organisms into something resembling its extra-terrestrial creators. However, genetic drift made the lice analogues inefficient, leaving the afflicted humans as grossly deformed hybrid creatures. A few interbred with humans, explaining the emergence of freaks like Glenn Beck or Jean Le Pen.
The Scrubble with Tibbles?
trolls, delousing themselves? huh --- oh, i see, it was in the PAST. the kinds of trolls we have all too many of these days are plenty lousy.
"The Scrubble with Tibbles?" WIN :-)
(OT) Considering your interest in China, this might be worth reading:
"The man leading the fight against anti-girl abortion"
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128195.800-the-man-leading-the-…
I'm actually tempted to visit the Scrubbing Stone. I'll probably find our friend David sitting on it with a laptop, a 3G connection and no meds.
(OT) Swedish astronaut Fuglesang survives homeopathic pill overdose http://www.thelocal.se/34796/20110707/
"This act is an effort to get the inefficiency of homeopathic medicine, commonly used in Sweden today, on the agenda."
Best comment: "Homeopathy is a traditional method... to take money".
--- --- --- ---
"Swedish woman beats up groper - goes free" http://www.thelocal.se/34820/20110708/
You go, girl!
A propos trolls, I just watched the 2005 Icelandic film "Beowulf and Grendel", which I enjoyed very much. It tells the classic tale reasonably faithfully, with only the minimum necessary digressions such as a love interest. Grendel is portrayed (rather sympathetically) as a troll -- he's not any kind of supernatural being, but kind of a Bigfoot creature. There's a really great mead-hall, of course.
The Icelandic scenery is stunning, and there is a commendable absence of splashy digital effects.
Intresting blog...
Check out my theory on the origins of the Proto-Germanic people:
http://www.keyoghettson.com/2010/11/proto-germanic-people_30.html