The petroglyphs are carved into granite rock. It was once part of an island, meaning people had to either stand on a boat or carve from a platform built on ice.

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Boguslen is already known for his rock paintings, including those from the Bronze Age. The team was searching for new petroglyphs in the area when they stumbled upon a moss-covered rock. They noticed lines on it that turned out to be man-made. Scientists removed the moss, revealing the petroglyphs underneath. According to Martin Ostholm, project manager for the Boguslan Rock Art Documentation Foundation, one of the archaeologists who discovered the petroglyphs, the rock was too steep to stand on, so the team had to stand on a platform to do the work.

The petroglyphs are high on a hard-to-climb granite boulder, so the researchers created a platform to study them / Bohuslän’s Photographic Foundation for the Documentation of Rock Carvings

there are among the petroglyphs Depictions of ships, humans, and animals, including four-legged creatures that could be horses. The largest of them depicts a ship 4 meters long. Many petroglyphs are 30 to 40 centimeters long.

People hit the granite surface of the rock with hard stones to create petroglyphs. This movement exposed the underlying white layer, making the petroglyphs clearly visible even from the mainland or from passing ships. It is unknown why people made the carvings, but they may have been used to mark property.

Some of the recently discovered petroglyphs / Bohuslän’s Photographic Foundation for the Documentation of Rock Carvings

Some of the recently discovered petroglyphs / Bohuslän’s Photographic Foundation for the Documentation of Rock Carvings

The meaning of the carving is also unclear. James Dodd, a researcher at Aarhus University in Denmark and the Rock Art Research Center in Andersloas, suggests that petroglyphs could tell a story if they were made in a relatively short period of time. The scientist notes that some motifs – especially chariots, wheelbarrows and animal figurines – were depicted several times. It is possible for this figure collection to form a narrative based on the repetition of motifs.

Some of the recently discovered petroglyphs / Bohuslän’s Photographic Foundation for the Documentation of Rock Carvings