A Bronze Age boat carved into rock in northwest Iberia may show that ancient sailors, traders and local communities were far more connected than once thought. New research suggests several boat images found in Portugal and Galicia share close links with Scandinavian rock art, pointing to long-distance contact across Europe’s Atlantic coast thousands of years ago.
The study, led by Marta Díaz-Guardamino and published in PLOS One, reexamines boat carvings from several rock art sites in northwest Iberia. The researchers used high-resolution 3D scanning, photogrammetry, Reflectance Transformation Imaging and GIS landscape analysis to study the carvings in new detail.
New scans reveal hidden details
Boat images are common in Scandinavian Bronze Age rock art. More than 20,000 examples have been found there. But in Iberia, nautical images are rare. That makes the newly studied carvings important. Researchers say they may offer evidence of shared ideas, maritime skill and trade links between distant communities.
The team studied rock art from sites in northern Portugal and southwest Galicia. These included Santo Adrião, Eira do Louvado, Laje da Churra, Senhora de Encarnação, Penedo do Muro and Laxe Auga dos Cebros. Some of the carvings had been known before. Others became clearer only after new digital recording.
The scans revealed details that earlier studies had missed. Some boats appear to show masts, rigging, oars, steering devices, curved hulls and raised ends. These features closely resemble boat images found in Bronze Age Scandinavia.
Carvings show possible northern links
One carving at Santo Adrião drew special attention. New imaging suggests it may show a vessel with strong Scandinavian-style features. These include raised ends, possible animal-head decorations and vertical lines across the hull.
Researchers say this interpretation should be treated with care. But if correct, it may be one of the clearest signs of contact between northwest Iberia and Scandinavia during the Bronze Age.
Other sites also showed striking parallels. At Penedo do Muro, boats appear in a “keel-to-keel” position, a layout often seen in Scandinavian bronze objects. At Auga dos Cebros, a large boat carving includes a mast, rigging and possible steering gear.
Similar details appear in Swedish rock art. At Laje da Churra, several boats show crews, oars and possible sails.
Based on comparisons with dated Scandinavian examples, the researchers suggest many Iberian boat carvings may date from about 1200 to 500 B.C. That range covers the Late Bronze Age and the start of the Iron Age in Iberia.
Images point to advanced seafaring
The findings also point to advanced seafaring. The carvings suggest that people along the Atlantic coast used, saw, or understood complex boats. Some vessels may have been rowed. Others may have used sails. That raises new questions about how widely sail technology spread in Atlantic Europe during the Bronze Age.
The study does not argue that every boat image came from foreign sailors. Some may have been carved by local communities who took part in long-distance trade. Others may have been made by visitors who reached Iberian shores. In either case, the carvings suggest close contact between local people and wider maritime networks.
Rock art sites faced the sea
The landscape also mattered. Many of the rock art sites sit near the Atlantic coast, river mouths, estuaries or important viewpoints. GIS analysis showed that several sites had wide views over sea routes, bays and landing places. Even inland sites may have been linked to river travel or tin resources.
That matters because metals drove many Bronze Age connections. Iberia was rich in copper, silver and tin. These materials moved through trade routes that linked the Mediterranean, Atlantic Europe, Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia.
Boats carried ritual meaning
Researchers say the carvings may have held more than practical meaning. Boats often carried symbolic power in Bronze Age Europe. In Scandinavia, they were linked to the sun, journeys and ritual life. Similar symbols, including sun-like circles near boats, also appear in Iberian rock art.
The study challenges the idea that prehistoric Europe was shaped mainly by land routes. Instead, it presents Atlantic Europe as a connected seascape. Boats, metals, rituals and ideas moved across long distances.
The images carved into Iberian rocks may record that wider world. They show that northwest Iberia was not a remote edge of Europe. It was a meeting point for sailors, traders and ideas during a period of growing maritime exchange.
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