Under a blanket of earth and stone, they hid from the outside world when Sven Gunnar Broström, who has been looking for petroglyphs all his life, discovered them.

- Finding petroglyphs like this is something you dream about, says Sven-Gunnar Broström, petroglyph expert.

In total, there are about 100 figures carved on an arable hill south of Enköping.

About 60 carved ships are included in the find and they stand out by being very deeply carved.

And according to Sven-Gunnar Broström, the petroglyph find is the largest in about 100 years.

By the beach

The rock carvings are around 3,000 years old and were carved at a time when the sea water reached here.

Something that can explain that there are so many ships carved into the rock face.

- This Åkerholmen was a shoreline during the Bronze Age and outside here, people rowed their boats and paddled their canoes.

There were no roads and the boat was their means of communication at that time, so it was important for the Bronze Age people, says Sven-Gunnar Broström.

Lots of petroglyphs in the area

The site south of Enköping is one of the richest in rock carvings in Sweden.

Now the petroglyphs are to be documented, but will probably be covered up later, says Jonas Svensson Hennius, archaeologist at the county board in Uppsala.

- On the one hand, the petroglyphs are located in the cultivated landscape with field crops all around, and on the other hand, the rock is sensitive and can crumble.