A rock carving hidden for 200 years has been rediscovered in Tanum, the largest find in the world heritage site in over 30 years. The discovery was made using an old sketch by Carl Georg Brunius. The carving will however be buried again for protection.
A rock carving has been rediscovered under a forest road in Tanum in northern Bohuslän, after being hidden for 200 years. The find is the largest in the area in over 30 years and was made using a depiction from the early 1800s by Carl Georg Brunius, who sketched rock carvings in his home parish Tanum. The drawings exist as unpublished manuscripts in an archive in Stockholm, according to antiquarian Hans Lundenmark at Vitlycke museum.
The carving consists of at least a dozen ships, six animals, three foot soles, and a number of cup marks. The earthy rock does not look impressive now but will be dried, cleaned, examined, and scanned before being covered again. “It unfortunately lies right in the middle of a forest road,” says Lundenmark.
“It will be protected and buried, which might sound a bit sad. At the same time, we are a bit spoiled with fine rock carvings, so this one we pass on to future generations,” he adds.
There are over 600 known rock carvings in Tanum. Another of Brunius's depictions with at least 200 individual carvings remains missing despite searches since the early 1900s and recently. “It is extremely strange since it is so large. But it has somehow disappeared from collective memory,” says Lundenmark.