page_title: Rock art in Sweden
section_title: Distribution
hierarchical_section_title: Rock art in Sweden / Distribution
context_page_description: The Rock art in Sweden is the richest artistic material from the north of prehistoric Europe. Older scholarship mostly saw it as evidence for the religious practices of the Nordic Bronze Age. Newer research sees the art not only as depictions of cultic rituals but also as source material for cultural history and social hierarchies. The production of rock art required significant effort, so they must have had important meaning for their creators. Regional variations show that local populations, not travelling artists, were responsible for them.
context_section_description: There are rock carvings in all the southern and central Swedish provinces, except Närke. In Värmland, they occur only on the Värmlandsnäs peninsula on the shores of Lake Vänern. Petroglyphs are especially common:
  In northern Bohuslän (Massleberg) up to Østfold in Norway,
  Around Enköping in southwestern Uppland,
  At Himmelstalund near Norrköping in central Östergötland
  In southeaster Schonen (at Simrishamn).
  At Nämforsen (Stromschnelle) in Ångermanland, where images of the northern Scandinavian (hunter) and southern Scandinavian (farmer) types meet.
  There are concentrations of carvings:
  In the parish of Tisselskog in Dalsland,
  On the coast northwest of Västervik, (Småland),
  Horsahallen in the parish of Torhamn, in eastern Blekinge.
  Beyond these areas, individual carvings occur through the mainland and on the islands of Öland and Gotland. The limestone of the islands weathers easily and as a result does not generally preserve these images well.
caption: Rock art density