Swedish Rock Art
SEAC 2001
Annual Meeting of the
European Society for Astronomy in Culture
Stockholm, August 27-30, 2001
Swedish rock art
Rock carvings in Sweden occur in the thousands and are to be found mainly in the southern half of the country. There are large numbers of noteworthy examples in Uppland, the Norrköping area and Bohuslän. The earliest are from ca 8000 BCE, but most were carved during the Bronze Age (ca 1800-500 BCE in Sweden). The most frequently recurring figures are humans (of both genders), cattle, deer, moose, boats, wagons, wheels, cup marks and concentric circles. There is no general agreement as to the meaning of the motifs. They have been interpreted as representing historical events, myths, cultic actions, scenes from every day life and an ideographic script.
A recent and attractive hypothesis is that of astronomer Göran Henriksson, Uppsala Observatoriet, who maintains that some of the carvings are representations of specific, datable celestial events such as supernovas, comets and eclipses. According to his interpretation, for example, the boats are calendar ships, each representing a two-month period in the year.
some rock carvings with astronomical interpretations
Photos © Göran Henriksson