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Transcription: [00:02:41]
[[Galaxy theme music]]
{SPEAKER name="Ann Carroll"}
Rock carving photographs may give us clues about the early history of North America. This is Smithsonian Galaxy. I'm Ann Carroll.
[00:02:55]
Long ago, primitive images of boats, men, animals, and the sun were etched into the granite slopes of Sweden's countryside. Today, these rock carvings survive the Bronze Age men who carved them some 4,000 years ago.
[00:03:09]
Swedish photographer Pehr Hasselrot has captured the fine detail of the rock carving in a photography exhibit now at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History.
[00:03:20]
At first, he says, the carvings were not that easy to find.

{SPEAKER name="Pehr Hasselrot"}
There are rock carvings all over Sweden,
[00:03:25]
but anthropologists and archeologists they just make a note of it and put it in the archives and then it's forgotten.
[00:03:34]
The local people, they know about it, so they might go there sometimes, but for people from outside, it's not too easy to find.
[00:03:39]

{SPEAKER name="Ann Carroll"}
Mr. Hasselrot is the first to successfully photograph these carvings, which vary in size from 10 to 60 feet.
[00:03:47]
His secret is a special lamp which highlights even the most delicate line.

{SPEAKER name="Pehr Hasselrot"}
Before, they used to take pictures of these rock carvings with car headlights, which means you use spotlights, but they were very hard to control. This lamp covers the whole surface with a very even light, and that hasn't been done before.
[00:04:07]

{SPEAKER name="Ann Carroll"}
For the best lighting effects, Mr. Hasselrot shoots only at night.
[00:04:11]

{SPEAKER name="Pehr Hasselrot"}
I use a fine-grain film and sometimes a wide-angle lens, and I work from a top of a ladder because if I don't take it from above, I get the wrong impression of the details.
[00:04:24]

{SPEAKER name="Ann Carroll"}
Rock carvings have recently been discovered on the east coast of North America. They are so similar to the Swedish ones that Mr. Hasselrot feels there must be a connection.
[00:04:35]

{SPEAKER name="Pehr Hasselrot"}
The rock carvings on the east coast could be made by Scandinavians. The Vikings came here, obviously. Why couldn't the Bronze Age people about 2,000 years earlier come here?
[00:04:47]

{SPEAKER name="Ann Carroll"}
Swedish photographer Pehr Hasselrot whose rock carving photographs are now on view at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Reporting from the Smithsonian Institution, I am Ann Carroll.
[[Galaxy theme music]]
[00:04:59]

Transcription Notes:
Speaker #2 = Pehr Hasselrot https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217151