Good luck charms

Many archaeologists interpret such stones and crystals as ritual objects associated with magical powers. Others believe they may have served a more practical function in craftwork. The stones with cup marks (skålgropar in Swedish) were found on a Bronze Age settlement site in Uppland, dating from the 11th century BC. That is unusual, as such stones are usually found as stray objects.

What were they used for?

What these small, cup-marked stones were actually used for remains uncertain. The locations where they have been found suggest that people carried them around, and that they were left behind at settlement sites or more often lost in the surrounding countryside. Handheld cup-marked stones may have been used as pressure stones when drilling in wood or stone, or for making fire.

Some archaeologists believe that the tradition of carving cup marks had a magical or ritual significance. One interpretation is that these small stones were seen as protective charms to carry in a pocket or travel bag when venturing beyond the safety of one’s home.

Visible to many

Not all cup-marked stones are portable. Countless examples have been pecked into rock outcrops or boulders in the landscape or appear on Bronze Age rock carvings alongside ships, animals, and human figures. These were visible to generations of passers-by.

Cup marks on rocks have long attracted speculation. Written sources show that they played an important role in Swedish folk belief from the 17th to the 20th century. In folklore, they were called älvkvarnsstenar, “elf mill-stones.”

People imagined that elves came at night to grind grain in the tiny hollows. One spell recorded in Boglösa parish, Uppland, reads: “I anoint the stone to heal flesh and bone.” A particularly vivid cult tradition has been documented around Enköping, where a major rock art site is located.

Wise women

Those who practised this folk cult were almost always women. The tradition is known to have survived into the 1920s. The most common practices included anointing the cup marks with animal fat, and offering sewing needles or coins. The ritual was to be performed counterclockwise, ideally three times and at sunset. The goal was to cure illnesses believed to have been caused by unknowingly disturbing or offending the elves.

Children were often forbidden from approaching the cup marks or touching the offerings, for fear that illness might befall them. To heal sick children, people in the Mälaren region would recite: “Take this and play with it, just leave my child in peace.”

The Church disapproved

The Church disapproved of the älvkvarn cult, viewing it as pagan. A few rocks with cupmarks were deliberately blown up, as clergy or local residents considered the rituals harmful. Some stones with cup marks were intentionally used as building material in bridges and houses to prevent the wise women from returning to anoint the cup marks.