Herand is a small village in Ullensvang municipality, Vestland county. In addition to a site with rock carvings, there is also cultural trail you can follow to learn more about the area and it’s a nice little place to visit.

The petroglyphs are typically dated to around 1100 -500 BC in the Nordic Bronze Age, and they belong to the petroglyph category of “jordbruksristninger”. The site has ship figures, groups of human figures and also the circular or spiral patterns sometimes connected to sun symbology.

The above images are from the “main” rock with petroglyphs at Herand. Below are images from another rock a short distance away from the main one. It can be easy to miss this second rock with petroglyphs if you are visiting the site.

Among the carvings at Herand there are a few groups of human figures that seem to be connected together. There are a few other examples of these kind of petroglyph figures in Norway. Often they are interpreted as being about fertility and that they depict the figures having intercourse. Another theory is that these kind of groups depicts processions of captured prisoners.