De bortglömda stenarna : om byars äldre gränsmarkeringar och rågångar i Ekeberga socken

Sammanfattning: This essay is about the hamlets´ older boundaries, i.e. boundary lines (“rågångar”) and boundary markers in the form of rocks, and an own survey of two hamlet boundaries in southeast Sweden. Many of the boundary rocks were subjected to unintentional damage or destruction that arose during forestry activities, the excavation of ditches, or road construction. Boundaries between hamlets sparsely populated areas were not clearly defined from the beginning, but were established initially in the form of boundary zones, that often consisted of wetlands, watercourses, or mountain heights. These areas were utilized collectively by neighbouring hamlets. The first boundary markers in the survey area appeared in the beginning of the Middle Ages, and were composed of natural rock formations, which were characterized by placing three loose stones on a large ground anchored stone. Unequivocally hamlet boundaries were first created by land surveyors during the 1800th century up until the early 1900th century. Following written instructions, land surveyors built specialized stone formations to serve as boundaries and placed them along a line at regular intervals, five stones in a row. The land surveyor recorded all of the boundary lines and drew an accompanying map of the area. My inventory showed that almost two thirds of all the boundary markers recorded by land surveyors were missing or damaged. The markers that remained were easily located with the help of GPS, because the distances between the boundary markers were consistent with the recorded values.