The Singing Stone at Helleren
Type: Ringing stone
Local name: Syngesteinen
Locality
County: Rogaland
Municipality: Lund
Location: Helleren, Ualand
The stone is found a few meters in the forest, about 200 meters above (south of) the courtyard of Helleren.
Description
The ringing stone, which is located in a boulder field land, measures approx. 4 x 2 x 1 meters. Its volume is, consequently, around 8 m3. The stone is flat at the top, almost like a slab. No trace marks are visible, but the surface is slightly weathered, so potential marks may have disappeared. The sound is metallic and clear, with a pitch of between F# and G. The sound is best at the ends, at a point to the north (see video) and at the end on the other side. The vibration can be heard and felt well at the opposite end of where you hit, so the whole boulder is clearly put in vibration.
Cultural history and tradition
There are no preserved legends or special stories associated with the stone, but people in the area have known about it. The landowner Nils Heskestad says that when they settled on the farm, old people told about the singing stone. After an elderly woman told that she used to play on the stone as a child, they were able to locate the stone. Klokkursteinen(literally ‘The bell–clock-stone’) is a name for a stone supposed to be in the same area. This might an older name for the singing stone.
At Helleren, which is named after a large rock shelter close to the courtyard, there has been settlement since the Old Stone Age. Investigations at the place have yielded several dates, and archaeologists believe that there has been human activity here continuously from the Stone Age to modern times. The proximity to the rock shelter may indicate that people have known about and played on the ringing stone for a long time, though this is difficult to prove.
Sources: Nils Heskestad and hellerstunet.wordpress.com. Thanks to Nils Heskestad (Hellerstunet) and Sylvie Skadberg (Dalane Tidende).
Bilder
