Fig. 137 is a copy of a petroglyph in Tanum parish, Bohuslän, Sweden. The large figure is doubtless a champion or commander, the exaggerated size of which is to be noted in connection with that of the Zulu chiefs in Fig. [142], infra, from South Africa, and Fig. [1024], infra, from North America. There are numerous small holes and footprints between the chief and the attacking force. Height, 20 feet; width, 15 feet.
In Bohuslän the tracings are cut in the quartz, which is the geological formation of the coast. They are mostly upon slightly inclined rocks, which are generally 200 or 300 feet or more above the present level of the sea, and which have been polished by the action of the ice. The width of the lines in the same representation varies from 1 to 2 inches and even more, and their depth is often only a third or fourth of an inch, and at times so shallow as to be barely perceptible. Those tracings, which have for hundreds, perhaps for thousands, of years been laid bare to the ravages of the northern climate, are now most difficult to decipher, while those which have been protected by earth are as fresh as if they had been cut to-day. Many seem to have been cut near the middle or base of the hills, which were covered with vegetation, and were in the course of time concealed by the detritus from above.
Fig. 138 is from the same author (b) and locality. Height, 29 feet; width, 17 feet. The large birds and footprints and a chief designated by his size will be noticed, and also a character in the middle of the extreme upper part of the illustration which may be compared with the largest human form in Fig. [983], infra, from Tule valley, California.
Fig. 138.—Petroglyph in Bohuslän, Sweden.
FRANCE.
Perrier du Carne (a), gives the following account (translated and condensed) of signs carved on the dolmen of Trou-aux-Anglais, in Épone:
This dolmen, situated in the commune of Épone, in a place called Le Bois de la Garenne, was constructed beneath the ground; it was concealed from view and it is to this circumstance, no doubt, that its preservation is due. Nothing indicates that it has been surmounted by a tumulus; in any case this tumulus had long since disappeared, and the ground was entirely leveled when the digging was commenced some years ago. * * *
The characters (Fig. 139) are carved in intaglio on the farthest stone of the entrance, on the left side. The whole of the inscription measures 1m, 10 in height and 82 centimeters in width, and may be divided into two groups, an upper and a lower one.
