The petroglyphs at Glösa

This rock face near the Swedish village of Glösa, in the province of Jämtland don’t look very special at a first glance. But it really is, especially if you are able to look closer at the carvings on the rock.

This site was probably a sacred place to a group of hunters and gatherers around 6000-5000 years ago. When they decided to carve around 30 pictures of moose’s on this cliff by the stream.

I first visited this site around 20 years ago as a teenager. Back then it was fairly easy to see the rock carvings as the red paint used by modern restorers to fill them in was much clearer and not as faded as now. As it is now they are hardly visible anymore and I was a bit disappointed at how they have been cared for by the authorities. But good news for the future was announced on a sign that they will be restored over a couple of years and new paint will be added to make them more visible again.

My disappointment aside, this is a really interesting place. The people that made the carvings obviously had a special relationship to the moose. They carved not only the exterior of the animal but also lines inside them thought to represent their intestines.

But why did they spend so much time on carving moose? Nobody knows for certain. But in the area around the carvings many prehistoric pits used for moose hunting have been found and are still visible for us today. So the moose was obviously an important pray for these hunters. The carvings might have been a way to honor their pray, to ask for a successful hunt or just a pass time. We just don’t know and probably never will.

Along the path to the carvings there is an open air museum that is free for visitors. Here you can learn more about animism and shamanic rituals among hunters and gatherers. The moose legs that are hanging in the roof are a reminder of an ancient practice among Sami people to save the legs of their prey in a special place. This was done so that the spirit of the animal could find its legs when it was time for it to be reborn. The animal gave its permission to be killed if the hunter did this. If it couldn’t find the legs the spirit would be reborn as a cripple and seek revenge against the hunter that slew it.