It is unclear whether this site ought to be considered a beach site like other hunting petroglyphs around the Trondheim Fjord, but there is widespread agreement that the placement of the carvings close to the river was deliberate. Rock carvings were frequently placed by the last waterfall before the river opened into the fjord, as is attested from several Swedish petroglyph sites. Rock art that is situated beside a waterfall may have been used in a shamanistic practice, wherein the roar of the water was one of several means of allowing the shaman, perhaps a Sami noaidi, to enter into a trance. In Sami religion it is a common thought that the deity Tjatseolmai, the ruler of water, was to be found near sites with running water.Bergkunst kommuniserer tanker og ideer [Rock art communcating concepts and ideas]; baalka.no. On this note, it is possible that the bear figure may have been a physical representation of Tjatseolmai. The Sami researcher Ernst Manker believed that all kinds of significant places in the landscape could be perceived as a sacred site within the Sami animistic cosmology.Ernst Manker. Lapparnas heliga ställen. 1957. Quoted by Norberg.
