Gudinna, kvinna eller prästinna : vad visar de kvinnliga hällristningarna i Bohuslän

Sammanfattning: Tanum, is situated in the north part of Bohuslän in Sweden and is the most famouse area of Rock Art of the world. It´s now a World Heritige since 1994. More than 100 000 images are carved on the rocks near by the sea. Archaeologists believe that carved feet and cupmarks can date from mesoliticom and neoliticum. During bronze age the sealevel was 15-20 meters higher. Carvings of humans can date from the beginning of bronze age around 1800, period I, but during late bronze age 1000-300 bc, period III-V, motives of humans became more common. Of all the 4154 carvings of human figures, only a few of them, aboute 45 figures, can be identifide as woman.  This study will try to answere why there are so few carvings of woman, what the carvings of female figures shows on the rocks and in what context are the they carved? Is the female figures an image of a godess, a woman or a priestess? Can the carvings tell us something aboute the womans life during the the bronze age? Key words: axes, menstruation, birthing, boats, Bohuslän, bronze age, cairns, carvings, fertilitycult, rock art, sealevel, weddings, godess, women, priestess, neoliticum, mesoliticum.                              Nyckelord: yxor, förlossning, menstruation, båtar, Bohuslän, bronsålder, rösen, ristningar, fruktbarhetskult, stenkonst, havsnivån, bröllop, gudinna, kvinna, prästinna, neolitikum, mesolitikum.