The leading interpretation is that the images either depict a type of ritual dance performed by those who used the cave, or that the figures represent the people or powers that inhabited the rock.

[1] In the middle of the cave, archaeologists have discovered a 10–20 cm thick cultural layer containing charcoal, animal bones and the remains of clams and snails.

[2][9] The bones belonged to various sea creatures: fish such as Atlantic cod, flatfish and Atlantic herring; several seal species; and a number of bird species including the great black-backed gull, willow grouse, common guillemot, great auk (now extinct), smew, white-tailed eagle, northern goshawk and rock dove.

The bones found also include the remains of cattle, sheep, goats and horses, animals associated with the Norwegian neolithic ("bondesteinalder") and periods that followed.

[1][7] The majority of other scholars believe that the cave could not have been a regular permanent or temporary settlement site and argue that it was used exclusively for rituals and ceremonies.

[16][17] Professor Sverre Marstrander also emphasised the cave as a site for ceremonies related to hunting magic.

[19] Professor Kalle Sognnes regards Solsemhula as a gathering place for a "select small group of people who [...] possessed abilities and powers that made it possible for them to face non-human entities in this subterranean otherworld.

"[2] He refers to the Romanian religious historian Mircea Eliade's concept of hierophany, a place where the sacred makes its presence felt.