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  • UNESCO

Carving out their place

January 17, 2019 | Michael Turtle | 9 Comments

WORLD HERITAGE SITE

Tanum Rock Carvings, Bohuslän, Sweden

On the rock faces, they told their story. Simple images – basic by today’s standards – but each of them together paints a vivid picture of life for the ancient people here on the west coast of Sweden.

They weren’t painted, though, these snippets of Bronze Age culture. =

They were painstakingly carved into solid granite, probably with another hard rock because none of the metals available to these people would have been strong enough.

It was not an easy process and took time… but just a fraction of the time that the images have survived.

Tanum rock carvings, Bohuslän, Sweden

There are at least 1500 sites with these rock carvings across the Northern Bohuslän region of Sweden, each site with hundreds or thousands of images.

Do the maths very quickly and you’ll realise that means hundreds and thousands of rock carvings in a relatively small area. And, every year, new ones are discovered.

What was important to the Bronze Age people in West Sweden?

Well, the Tanum rock carvings give us the answer.

Weapons, hunting and rituals are all common themes. So are animals – and if you look for long enough you’ll be able to identify some of them. But the strongest motif across all the artworks is ships.

Tanum rock carvings, Bohuslän, Sweden

Tanum rock carvings, Bohuslän, Sweden

The land has changed in the 2000 years since the Tanum rock carvings were done. The water levels have dropped by almost 30 metres and previously unexposed land is where I’m now standing today.

But for these ancient people, the waterways that filled these valleys were the launching points for their maritime adventures.

One theory about the positions of the carvings is that they were created where ships began their journeys and were tributes or blessings to the people setting out on them.

Although the carvings are scattered across the region, the highest concentration is around the town of Tanum. A visitors centre just out of town called the Vitlycke Museum offers information and guided tours.

Tanum rock carvings, Bohuslän, Sweden

Tanum rock carvings, Bohuslän, Sweden

Tanum rock carvings, Bohuslän, Sweden

It’s here that I’m able to ask about the red paint, because it’s something that I didn’t quite understand.

“That paint has lasted well for the past 2000 years,” was my first thought. No… silly me.

In actual fact, the original carvings never had any paint. It was the groove in the stone, carved by hand, that was the artwork.

Some are just one or two millimetres deep while the more important images can be as deep as four centimetres. But they can be a little hard to see sometimes and there’s where the paint comes in.

It is the museum that has painted red a selection of images so that they are easier to identify.

Without it, I think it would be difficult to see many of the individual carvings and almost impossible to get a sense of the broader scenes that were created on the rock faces.

Tanum rock carvings, Bohuslän, Sweden

Tanum rock carvings, Bohuslän, Sweden

The closest artwork to the museum is called the Vitlycke panel and it has more than 500 images on the one rock face.

If you wander through the surrounding forest – crunching on the brown fallen pine needles beneath your feet – you don’t have to go far to find smaller rock faces with more carvings. Look carefully because they’re not all marked or painted!

Tanum rock carvings, Bohuslän, Sweden

Tanum rock carvings, Bohuslän, Sweden

Nearby – just five minutes of driving or so – are three other sites with a collection of rock carvings. They are called the Aspeberget, Litsleby and Fossum.

Although it’s not necessary to go to every single one (there are obvious similarities between each) it is definitely worth going to the Litsleby site.

It’s also known as the Spear God’s rock face and you’ll realise why pretty quickly. In the centre of a rock face, surrounded by lots of smaller images of boats and animals, is a carving of a man at least two metres high.

It is by far the largest of the carvings in the area and it’s thought that it probably represents the locals’ god of war.

Tanum rock carvings, Bohuslän, Sweden

Most of the theories about what these thousands of images mean are just that – theories. It’s unlikely anyone will ever know for sure.

The Bronze Age people of West Sweden are gone forever and will never be able to tell us. But look closely at these carvings, with their intricate depictions of daily life and religious rituals, and maybe the answer is in there somewhere.

Tanum rock carvings, Bohuslän, Sweden

They can still speak to us… through stone.

>> More info here about the Vitlycke Museum at Tanum <<
This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For more info click here. You can see all the UNESCO World Heritage Sites I’ve visited here.

Time Travel Turtle was a guest of the West Sweden Tourist Board but the opinions, over-written descriptions and bad jokes are his own.

Reader Interactions

    Comments Cancel reply

  1. Renuka |

    September 17, 2014 at 6:42 pm

    Reply

    Looks like an intriguing place. The carvings create a sense of mystery. Never seen something like this before!

  2. Ryan Biddulph |

    September 18, 2014 at 1:38 am

    Reply

    Hi Michael,

    Awesome images. It seems almost primal to me, reminiscent of finds, of early men and their carvings. Really neat, and your camera is of such a high quality too. Great snaps.

    Excellent idea up top, with your geo location tag. I’ve toyed with it on my blog, in the past. Since it’s not out and out a travel blog it may not totally align with my blog and brand but it could be a creative add; I’m blogging from paradise, and even though I’m offering blogging tips, for most posts, it can help to let folks know where I’m island hopping or land hopping these days.

    Thanks much for sharing.

    I’ll tweet in a bit.

    Ryan

  3. Mary @ Green Global Travel |

    September 19, 2014 at 10:28 pm

    Reply

    Really intriguing images! It’s a mysterious style and exciting that new ones are discovered each year! Thanks for sharing!

  4. Brittney | Travel Tips |

    September 20, 2014 at 5:43 am

    Reply

    Interesting! I never knew Sweden have this fascinating rock carvings. A nice information about an impressive find. Thank you for sharing this. I have learned something awesome today.

  5. Jade |

    September 27, 2014 at 10:19 am

    Reply

    Beautiful images. Its so amazing so be face to face with an ancient culture like that.

  6. Jim Johnson |

    October 13, 2014 at 3:26 am

    Reply

    If the sea level was 30 meters lower that today what does that say?? Perhaps it was colder then and climates change.

    • Jan Terje Hansen |

      August 14, 2015 at 1:30 pm

      Reply

      Hi Jim,
      In Scandinavia the landmass was pushed down by the weight of the ice during the last ice age, and the land is still rising by a couple of centimeters each year now that the ice is gone.

      • Michael Turtle |

        August 26, 2015 at 8:21 pm

        Reply

        Thanks for jumping in with the answer – appreciate it!

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This is the website of travel writer, Michael Turtle. After working in broadcast journalism for a decade in Australia, Michael left Sydney to travel the world indefinitely and write about the places, people and experiences he discovers. This isn't a diary - these are real stories from the world.

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