Tag Archives: Siggjo

The rhyolite quarries at Bømlo in Norway: Traces of firesetting in the Neolithic

A couple of days ago I climbed the mountain Siggjo in Western Norway together with my family. Siggjo is renowned for its deposits of the volcanic stone rhyolite that was heavily used for arrow heads and other tools from c. 4000 to 2500 BC in the Norwegian Neolithic. Finally I got to see the great traces of firesetting that are present in these hilltop quarries! The traces were interpreted by archaeologist Sigmund Alsaker almost 30 years ago, and we relied on them as an important reference when conducting experiments with firesetting in the North-Norwegian Mesolithic Melsvik chert quarries two years ago – experiments that I have previously reported in my blog. Continue reading

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