Trapping pits in Solberg

In former times wild reindeer and elk used to be caught in trapping pits. The oldest pits date back to 5000 BC. The method of trapping continued to be used right up to the eleventh century AD. Here in Solberg there
are 24 trapping pits which are easily accessible from the Laisholms-vägen road. A good dry footpath, barely 1 km long. There is a system of 24 pits on a sand ridge. Each pit was at one time about 2 x 3 metres wide and 2-2.5 metres deep. The pits are dug in a sand ridge extending across the reindeers’ migration path. A fence made of branches was built between the pits. The pits themselves were covered over with brushwood and leaves which gave way as the reindeer ran across.
Pit no 17 is specially important. It was here that in 1951 success was achieved in dating the construction of a pit. The sand excavated from this pit was thrown aside into the bog immediately below. This sand today lies 30 cm below ground level. Applying the C-14 method it was ascertained that the sand had been thrown into the bog around the end of the ninth century AD. Whether it was predecessors of today’s Sami folk or hunters coming up from the Norwegian coast to hunt in the mountains during the summer is still not known. Read more about trapping pits in Ernst Manker: Fångstgropar och stalotomter, 1960.