Petroglyphs at Hell in Stjørdal

Edited Sentinel-2 satellite image of Hell in Stjørdal.

I went on another field trip to look for petroglyphs, and this time the trip went to Hell in Stjørdal.

The place is actually named Hell, but it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the English meaning of the world hell. Hell means luck (hell og lykke) in modern Norwegian. Hell in Stjørdal probably got its name from the Norse word hellir, which means cliff, or cave under a cliff. The Norwegian word for petroglyphs is “helleristninger”, whichs is also related to the Norse word hellir.

Though when written with one “L”, Hel can refer to the Norse deity Hel who ruled the Norse underworld of the same name. Which is more similar to the English meaning of Hell.

There is an old, overgrown, sign pointing to the location of the rock carvings, but it’s a bit hard to spot among the trees.

The rock carvings at Hell depict mammals typical of “veideristninger” usually dated to the Norwegian Stone Age (ca. 10 000 BP – 1800 BP). More specifically, the carvings at Hell are speculated to have been created around 3800 BP. There is no clear evidence, such as carbon-14 dating, that can be used on the petroglyphs. The estimated date of creation is based on the symbols that are used, the style they are drawn in and the method used in carving them.