Encultured Rocks - Encounter with a Ritual World of the Bronze Age

Abstract

There is an intriguing rock-carving place at Flyhov in the province of Västergötland, southern Sweden. The carved images appear on a series of flat rocks in connection to a number of pointed oval hollows, that are linked to each other in rows suggestive of boats joined together stem by stem. It is argued that the hollowed-out boats in the rock made this a significant place for rock-carvings. Certain phenomena of nature were ritually important during the Bronze Age, and some elements like rock and water may have had a transformative character. Metaphoric understanding of images is used to inspire interpretations of the meaning of the Bronze Age rock-carvings.