Location Sweden Criteria i, iii, iv Address 457 93 Tanum, Sweden UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription 1994 | Type Cultural Reference 557 Phone +46 525 182 00 | |
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UNESCO region Europe and North America Hours Open today · Open 24 hoursTuesdayOpen 24 hoursWednesdayOpen 24 hoursThursdayOpen 24 hoursFridayOpen 24 hoursSaturdayOpen 24 hoursSundayOpen 24 hoursMondayOpen 24 hoursSuggest an edit Similar Vitlycke Museum, Engelsberg Ironworks, Hovgården, Birka y Hovgården, Gammelstad Church Town | ||
Rock carvings in tanum unesco nhk
The Rock Carvings in Tanum (Swedish: Hällristningsområdet i Tanum), near Tanumshede, Bohuslän, Sweden, has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO because of the high concentration of petroglyphs.
One of the larger rocks of Nordic Bronze Age petroglyphs in Scandinavia, the Vitlyckehäll, is located in Tanumshede.
In total there are thousands of images called the Tanum petroglyphs, on about 600 panels within the World Heritage Area. These are concentrated in distinct areas along a 25 km stretch, which was the coastline of a fjord during the Bronze Age, and covers an area of about 51 hectares (126 acres or 0.5 km²).
Scandinavian Bronze Age and Iron Age people were sophisticated craftsmen and very competent travelers by water. (Dates for ages vary with the region; in Scandinavia, the Bronze Age is roughly 1800 to 500 BCE) Many of the glyphs depict boats of which some seem to be of the Hjortspring boat type carrying around a dozen passengers. Wagons or carts are also depicted.
Other glyphs depict humans with a bow, spear or axe, and others depict hunting scenes. In all cases the pictures show people performing rituals. There is a human at a plough drawn by two oxen, holding what might be a branch or an ox-goading crop made of a number of strips of hide.
The rock carvings are endangered by erosion due to pollution. To the dismay of some archaeologists, some have been painted red to make them more visible for tourists.