“The grieving widow” is one of the more well-known carvings on the Vitlycke panel. But can we be sure that it’s really a grieving widow we’re looking at? Step 1: the person to the right is supposed to be a woman due to her long hair. This is because long-haired persons are sometimes found in incriminating situations with phallic characters and preserved haircuts from the Bronze Age (gals=ponytail, guys=mullets) can also be used as proof is this. Step 2: the person to the left is laying down, which is highly unusual in rock carving circumstances. Maybe he´s just tired, but that’s too mundane compared to the rest of the rock art motifs, so let´s decide that the person is dead. Step 3: is the woman grieving? Well, she seems to have some sort of connection to the other person, it looks like they are part of the same scene. And perhaps her outstretched arms could be a sign of grief. Step 4: this is where it gets really tricky, to be classified as a widow the woman must be married to the dead man, which of course just speculation. Conclusion: woman – probably, dead – not unlikely, grieving = mostly guesswork, widow – impossible to tell. It’s a nice rock carving thought! Also: extra points for finding the fly.