What do the rock paintings of Sweden have in common with ancient Greece and Cyprus? New archaeological findings support that since the Bronze Age there was a commercial and cultural connection between the Mediterranean and Scandinavia, with Cypriot copper and Scandinavian amber forming the main axes of a network that stretched thousands of kilometers. This is supported by Swedish archaeologists, which is found in an article from 2020 in a Swedish newspaper.
2020-07-20 Bohustidning
Ancient rock paintings in Bohuslän may not depict local ships, but ships bringing valuable copper from the Mediterranean.
Bronze tools discovered by researchers in Sweden may have been made from copper brought from Cyprus, archaeologists now believe. According to their theory, rock paintings from the Tanumshede site in Bohumslän may record long-distance trade between Scandinavia and the Mediterranean.
When the Bronze Age began, around 1600 BC, thousands of depictions began to be carved into the rocks of Bohuslän. One of the most common motifs is ships, often accompanied by shapes reminiscent of copper ingots.
Most of the copper circulating in Europe during the Bronze Age came from Sicily, Sardinia, Spain and Cyprus, as revealed by isotopic analyses that can trace the origin of a metal.
The largest known concentration of copper was found in the shipwreck of the "Uluburun", which sank off the coast of Turkey about 3.300 years ago. Underwater excavations showed that the ship was carrying ten tons of copper in blocks, all of which appear to have come from Cyprus.
The ancient copper industry of Cyprus produced relatively pure metal, which was cast into large slabs. Bronze Age slabs resembled stretched oxhide and had four lugs for easy carrying. Each could weigh up to 37 kilograms.
Archaeologists from the University of Gothenburg have found that the copper in 70 Swedish Bronze Age handbooks and axes came from Cyprus. It was likely traded for Baltic amber.
"Copper and bronze were then as valuable as oil is today. Bronze and amber were the two driving forces of the Bronze Age economy, to such an extent that even marriage alliances were formed between powerful families to secure the amber trade," says archaeology professor Christian Christiansen.
The famous “Egtved Girl,” a young woman who lived around 1380 BC and was found in a burial monument in Denmark in 1926, reveals how trade relations were sealed with marriages.
Analysis of her hair, teeth and nails showed that she was not originally from Denmark. Furthermore, the wool in her clothes came from southern Germany.
"My assessment is that Egtved's girl was a young woman from southern Germany who married a man from Jutland in order to create an alliance between two powerful families," says Christiansen.
The precious metal was exchanged for amber from Scandinavia, which was highly sought after in the Mycenaean Greek world and the Middle East. The motifs and symbols that appear in the Bohuslän rock paintings suggest that cultural and religious influences were also carried along with the copper.
During the Bronze Age, new figures and symbols appear on the rocks of Bohuslán, with remarkable similarities to Mediterranean religion and culture. Among them are bulls, warriors, and horned figures.
The Tanumschede rock paintings depict large bulls next to ships and bullfighting scenes. The bull was a central symbol of Minoan Crete about 3.500 years ago, and is also found in the Hittite culture of Anatolia.
Another mysterious motif is the horned human figures, reminiscent of depictions from southern Turkey during the Bronze Age and associated with the Hittite storm god Tarhun. At the same time, several rock paintings show warriors on two-wheeled chariots, a characteristic theme of Mycenaean Greece.
According to Danish researcher Fleming Kaul of the National Museum of Denmark, these similarities indicate that religious ideas and cultural symbols traveled along with goods along Bronze Age trade networks.
"The motifs in the Swedish rock paintings and tombs may have been transferred from Mycenae. For example, two-wheeled chariots also appear in Mycenaean tombs," he notes.
Of particular interest is the fact that around the same time that bronze axes appear in Scandinavia, around 1600 BC, the Bronze Age Greeks begin to bury their warriors with amber from the north.
Perhaps, then, the Bohuslan rock paintings depict the copper and amber trade between Greece, Cyprus and Scandinavia around 3.600 years ago.
Finally, it is worth noting that in 1935 a rock from Bohuslän, Sweden, was transported to Missolonghi for the erection of a monument in honor of the Swedish philhellenes who participated in the Greek Revolution of 1821. Another symbolic link between Hellenism and Sweden.
photos / source: https://ypervorioi.blogspot.com/2026/06/3600.html
