Prehistoric rock art in Scandinavia
eBook - ePub

Prehistoric rock art in Scandinavia

Agency and Environmental Change

Courtney Nimura

Share book
  1. 160 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Prehistoric rock art in Scandinavia

Agency and Environmental Change

Courtney Nimura

Book details
Book preview
Table of contents
Citations

About This Book

Scandinavia is home to prolific and varied rock art images among which the ship motif is prominent. Because of this, the rock art of Scandinavia has often been interpreted in terms of social ritual, cosmology, and religion associated with the maritime sphere. This comprehensive review is based on the creation of a Scandinavia-wide GIS database for prehistoric rock art and reexamines theoretical approaches and interpretations, in particular with regard to the significance of the ship and its relationship to a maritime landscape Discussion focuses on material agency as a means to understanding the role of rock art within society. Two main theories are developed. The first is that the sea was fundamental to the purpose and meaning of rock art, especially in the Bronze Age and, therefore, that sea-level/shoreline changes would have inspired a renegotiation of the relationship between the rock art sites and their intended purpose. The fundamental question posed is: would such changes to the landscape have affected the purpose and meaning of rock art for the communities that made and used these sites? Various theories from within and outside of archaeology are drawn on to examine environmental change and analyze the rock art, led to second theory: that the purpose of rock art might have been altered to have an effect on the disappearing sea. The general theory that rock art would have been affected by environmental change was discussed in tandem with existing interpretations of the meaning and purpose of rock art. Imbuing rock art with agency means that it could be intertwined in an active web of relations involving maritime landscapes, shoreline displacement and communities. Though created in stone and fixed in time and place, rock art images have propagated belief systems that would have changed over time as they were re-carved, abandoned and used by different groups of inhabitants. In the thousands of years rock art was created, it is likely that shoreline displacement would have inspired a renegotiation of the purpose and meaning of the imagery situated alongside the Scandinavian seas. This journey through a prehistoric Scandinavian landscape will lead us into a world of ancient beliefs and traditions revolving around this extraordinary art form.

Frequently asked questions

How do I cancel my subscription?
Simply head over to the account section in settings and click on “Cancel Subscription” - it’s as simple as that. After you cancel, your membership will stay active for the remainder of the time you’ve paid for. Learn more here.
Can/how do I download books?
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
What is the difference between the pricing plans?
Both plans give you full access to the library and all of Perlego’s features. The only differences are the price and subscription period: With the annual plan you’ll save around 30% compared to 12 months on the monthly plan.
What is Perlego?
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Do you support text-to-speech?
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Is Prehistoric rock art in Scandinavia an online PDF/ePUB?
Yes, you can access Prehistoric rock art in Scandinavia by Courtney Nimura in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Arte & Técnicas artísticas. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Oxbow Books
Year
2015
ISBN
9781785701207
PART I
1. ROCK ART IN PREHISTORIC SCANDINAVIA
Scandinavian prehistoric rock art was created from as early as the middle Mesolithic through to the Early Iron Age. The period upon which this book focuses is the Nordic Bronze Age c. 1700–500 BC, for it is in this period that the majority of rock art was created. This chapter acts as an introduction to Scandinavian prehistoric rock art. It will look at when and where it was created, what images it portrays and compare those to other sources of similar imagery. It will then introduce a few general interpretations, leading on to the specifically maritime theories presented in Chapter 2. In this book motif names will be capitalised to distinguish the images from actual features.
Rock art scholars delineate two main methods of interpretation: informed methods and formal methods. Writing either informed or formal interpretations of Scandinavian rock art requires investigation into more than just the field of archaeology (see Chippindale 2001; Chippindale and Nash 2004, 14; Chippindale and Taçon 1998; Whitley 2005, 79). Informed methods draw primarily from ethnography, on the insights directly or indirectly gleaned from those who made and used the art (Chippindale and Nash 2004, 14). Through the use of these ‘insider stories’ one aims to interpret the images as an insider, which is referred to as an emic perspective. Informed methods were first established to fight generalisation rather than perpetuate universal rules of art making practice. Formal methods, on the other hand, use quantitative or locational data to interpret, and this is referred to as an etic perspective. Formal methods are an outsider’s tools independent of insider knowledge. In regards to rock art, ‘The information available is then restricted to that which is immanent in the images themselves, or which we can discern from their relations to each other and to the landscape, or by relation to whatever archaeological context is available’ (Chippindale and Nash 2004, 14). In this chapter many of the rock art studies will employ both informed and formal methods of interpretations, and as we delve into the literature it will become apparent that both methods give rise to benefits and hindrances.
Historically the study of rock art has been a topic of interest for many disciplines, not just archaeology: mainly anthropology (of art), sociology, ethnography, art history, museum studies and (the philosophy of) aesthetics. These disciplines are, of course, also influenced by the social and political historical context in which they were written. Each discipline has an intellectual history that has influenced the history of rock art studies (what we have chosen to research) and rock art theory (the way we have chosen to interpret the material). Though this rich and complex history will not be fully explored here, many of the theories obviously draw on the discourses of these disciplines, and they will be presented throughout this book.
Dating rock art and issues of chronology
A major issue in the study of rock art, and the first question that most people will ask when confronted with this material is: how do you date it? The most popular methods of dating rock art today are by shoreline displacement and typology, both in isolation and in combination with one another. Shoreline displacement depends heavily on geological studies that include a variety of factors such as postglacial isostatic and eustatic data. Johan Ling’s recent studies of the regions of Bohuslän (2014) and Uppland (2012) are examples of the detailed level of shoreline dating currently achievable (see also Sognnes 2003; 2010a; Gjerde 2010a, 59; Goldhahn 2008a, 19; Helskog 1999; 2004; Coles 2004; 2005). In one example from Bohuslän, Ling (2014, 91: fig. 7.26) dissects the ‘Runohäll’ rock art panel in Tanum by altitudes and measured terrain curves, showing when different sections of the panel could have been carved (Fig. 1.1). Typologies of motif imagery are based largely on the imagery from objects that can be dated by absolute methods (such as ship imagery on bronzes found in sealed grave contexts). Typology studies have a longer history and are still used today for relative dating (Malmer 1981; Kaul 1998; 2004a; b; see Goldhahn 2008a, 17 for a comprehensive list). The ship motif has been a key motif around which typologies have been created, for it appears on objects that can be more precisely dated (Fig. 1.2). Issues regarding dating and creating chronologies for rock art sites are particularly evident at sites whose imagery accumulated over long periods of time. Determining how to chronologically organise activity at sites has been and continues to be deliberated (Østmo 1991; Helskog 1985; Sognnes 2008). Currently more excavations are being undertaken at rock art sites, but these are sporadic. Though the dates of many rock art sites, and the methodology by which this is determined, is still debated, the majority are assigned general date spans that can be used to place them into an archaeological chronology.
Mesolithic art
We begin our tour of Scandinavian rock art in the Stone Age. During the Mesolithic in southern Scandinavia (Denmark and Skåne), art-making practice was dominated by portable art and rock art was not widely produced. In this region, portable art took numerous forms: amber pendants and figurines, ornamented antler axes, hammers and shafts, bone daggers, knives, mattock-heads and points, stone knives, as well as worked flint and painted wood. Mesolithic portable art is almost non-existent in northern Scandinavia as opposed to southern Scandinavia. In Tomasz Plonka’s (2003) catalogue, the section on central Scandinavian portable art collates the objects found in Vestland, Østland, Trøndelag in Norway and Jämtland, Dalarna, Bohulsän, Närke, Södermanland, Västergötland, Östergötland in Sweden. North of these centrally located counties, there is little to report. Portable art in this period was indeed a tradition that flourished primarily in the south.
However, unlike in southern Scandinavia, there was a distinct rock art tradition in northern Scandinavia beginning in the late Mesolithic and arguably even earlier than that. Because of this regional division, rock art from the Mesolithic–Neolithic is often called ‘the Northern tradition’ (c. 9000–2000 BC), or ‘the Hunter’s tradition’. The oldest and best known sites from this period come from northern Norway: the Nordland region, Alta in Finnmark, the Troms County region and Vingen in Bremanger. Northern tradition rock art is characterised by depictions of big game animals such as elk, red deer, reindeer and large sea mammals such as porpoises, seals and whales that were contemporary residents. Regional traditions within the Northern tradition can also be discerned. Sites in Nordland, for example, are polished instead of carved or pecked and were originally situated at the Stone Age shoreline (Lødøen and Mandt 2010, 4). One such polished rock art site in this region is at Fykan Lake in Glomfjord. It was originally situated above a waterfall, and portrays one of only two known fish images from this tradition, along with other animal motifs such as a chimeric-style bear with the head of an elk (Lødøen and Mandt 2010, 74). Sagelva at Hamarøy depicts two lone reindeer situated close to what were once roaring rapids; so close that it is likely the water level reached just below the polished figures (Gjerde 2010a, 213, 236–37; Lødøen and Mandt 2010, 75–6). Their location is also in proximity to reindeer hunting pits, possibly of similar date (though this is highly speculative), and more generally to reindeer crossing grounds that would have been favourable for hunting (Gjerde 2010a, 216). At the World Heritage Site in Alta, Finnmark, the rock art chronology spans from 5000 BC–AD 100 and comprises five main concentrations of rock art around the Alta fjord: Kåfjord (c. 5000–1800 BC), Hjemmeluft, Storsteinen (c. 4200–1800 BC), Amtmannsnes (c. 1800 BC) and Transfarelvdalen (c. 2000 BC–0, and possibly as old as 3000 BC) (Gjerde 2010a; Helskog 2014, 29; Lødøen and Mandt 2010). Here similar ‘stylistic traits’ are observed on either side of the bay at the same sea level elevation, and it is assumed that these panels were carved close to the shoreline (Helskog 1988; Lødøen and Mandt 2010, 22–3). Vingen in Bremanger dates from c. 5000–4000 BC and is situated on the edge of the Vingepollen arm of the Frøysjøen fjord (Bakka 1979; Lødøen and Mandt 2010; Lødøen 2006; Mandt 1998). It is one of the larger concentrations of rock art containing c. 2100 images on 300 panels and features a variety of animal motifs dominated by deer (over 40%).
Figure 1.1. ‘The ‘Runohäll’, Tanum 311, with the measured terrain curves (documentation by Gerhard Milstreau & Henning Prøhl 1996), showing the altitude and when, during the Bronze Age, the site rose out of the sea. It would not have been possible to make the rock art during period I; it is more likely that it was made during later phases, 1500–1000 BC’ (Ling 2014, 91: fig. 7.26).
Figure 1.2. ‘Diagram showing the chronological-typological development of Nordic-Bronze-Age ship-renderings. Left column, datable ships, right column, ships on the rocks which can be dated by analogy with the ships shown in the left column’ (Kaul 1998, 88).
Generally speaking, the Stone Age/Northern tradition rock art sites seem to be located in proximity to watery locations. This has led to rock art interpretations that place importance on the sea. It was the Kåfjord site in Alta that served as exemplary of Helskog’s theory of the tripartite ‘shoreline connection’, a cosmological landscape where sky, water and land meet. And it is at Vingen that Lødøen and others have postulated that the dramatic mountainous and watery landscape could have made Vingen a ‘sacred place’. Marek Zvelebil (2008) postulated that sites such as Nämforsen in Sweden were connected to or represent the cosmologies of the region that were closely related to the landscape. These theories will be considered more closely towards the end of this chapter.
Neolithic art
In Denmark, southern Sweden and southwestern Norway, the beginning of the Neolithic is dated to around 4000 BC, though it was adopted at differing rates throughout the south Scandinavian region. These primary Neolithic groups were labelled the Funnel Beaker culture (TRB) in Denmark and southern Sweden (as far north as the Dalälven River). Shortly after, the Pitted Ware culture (GRK) developed in east central Sweden and spread quickly into southern Scandinavia (mainly northern Skåne). After the GRK, southern Scandinavia became home to the Single Grave/Corded Ware culture in Denmark and the Battle-Axe culture in Sweden (north of Skåne) and Norway. The Corded Ware and Pitted Ware cultures existed simultaneously in various parts of southern Sweden and (possibly) southernmost Norway (Hallgren 2009). In northern Scandinavia, the Neolithic in Norway and northern Sweden is much harder to describe, for here the Neolithic package does not contain all its standard defining characteristics. In eastern Norway, Torben Ballin (2004) dates the transition to the early Neolithic c. 5200 BP/4005 BC. Christopher Prescott (1996) goes so far as to question whether the Neolithic (by common definition) even existed in Norway, with more concrete signs of the Neolithic cultural package only seen in the Late Neolithic c. 2400 BC. The Slate Culture, for example, describes groups of early Neolithic hunter-gatherers who made pottery (indicative of Neolithic cultures) but had not yet adopted farming (a missing indicator of Neolithic culture). At about 2800 BC, the Corded Ware/Single Grave culture (as called in Denmark) and the Battle Axe culture (as called in Norway and Sweden) grew to dominate the entire region until the Bronze Age (Jensen 2006a; Larsson 1994). What this brief introduction exemplifies is that this period in Scandinavian prehistory is complex, and the rock art tradition within it is equally so.
As in the Mesolithic, the tradition of rock art in the Neolithic is scarcer in the south compared to the north. Some of the few examples of Neolithic rock art from southern Scandinavia are found in the form of Cup Marks on passage graves from the middle Neolithic. Straddling the line between portable art and rock art is the collection of engraved stone slabs from settlements such as Rävgrav in the Skateholm area (Larsson 1992, 15) or from megalithic tombs (Kaul 1993; 1997). One such engraved stone dates to around 2800 BC and is ornamented with eight concentric circles that are connected by radiating lines (Kaul 1997, 165–66). Kaul (1997, 167) has postulated that the ornamentation on the stone is ‘some sort of a sacred image of the sun used or made for cultic purposes’.
In northern Scandinavia, the largest concentrations of Neolithic rock art can be found at Nämforsen, Norrfors and Laxforsen. Nämforsen in Norland, northern Sweden is dated to c. 5500–3500 BP/4345–1825 BC and is predominantly Neolithic, though contains some panels that are arguably Late Mesolithic (Zvelebil 2008, 46; Bolin 2000; Gjerde 2010a; Goldhahn 2002; Hallström 1960; Malmer 1981; Sognnes 2002; Tilley 1991). Nämforsen is situated in a distinctly watery landscape, which is typical of other Mesolithic and Neolithic sites. It is one of the eight Neolithic rock carving sites (some of which are arguably of earlier date) that Joakim Goldhahn (2002, 33) shows is situated next to loud rapids or what he calls ‘sounding water’. In this period there is also a rise in portable art from northern Scandinavia. Non-plastic ornamented materials have been found at Nämforsen in the form of red slate daggers (4000–1700 BC) (Goldhahn 2002, 54–5; Tilley 1991). Goldhahn believes that the red colour is particularly interesting not only because the material is rare, but also because the colour connects them to the tradition of using red ochre in burials. The red slate material is sourced from outcrops along the Ångerman River but has a wider geographical distribution, suggesting an expansive gift exchange system of red slate objects. Goldhahn wonders if ‘the rituals connected with the rock-engravings in Nämforsen played a vital part in this ceremonial gift exchange system and in the production and reproduction of human social relations’ (Goldhahn 2002, 55). Wyszomirska’s (1984, 61) comparative study of figurines includes 81 figurines found at 21 different Neolithic hunter-gatherer sites in Sweden and six figurines from five different Neolithic hunter-gatherer sites in Norway. The Swedish figurines come in a variety of forms, namely ‘anthropomorphic figures, elks, unidentifiable quadrupeds, seals, birds, bears, boars/domestic pigs, wild horses, and unidentifiable … highly fragmented figures’, as do the Norwegian figurines, appearing as ‘birds, bears, seals, elks, whales, and human beings’ (Wyszomirska 1984, 63). What is striking is the similarity of imagery between rock art and portable art in this period. It seems that the two art forms were intertwined and had a much greater influence on each other than in the preceding period.
Bronze Age art
The environmental distinction between the Mesolithic and Bronze Age periods is unique, for the first is a period of coastal inundation and the second a period of shoreline displacement. Even considering regional differences, these periods were both highly affected by changes to the shoreline, though visually and experientially they were very different types of changes. And as has already been pointed out in the Mesolithic and in the Neolithic, the rock art is often found close to watery locations. This will be repeated again in the Bronze Age.
Literature concerning the Bronze Age is vast and the distinguishing characteristics are more easily identified than in the previous periods. Bronze Age Scandinavia is less geographically divided than in the Mesolithic and Neolithic, though it is most pronounced on the coasts of Norway, the east coasts and southern half of Sweden, and all of southern Scandinavia. Scholars have traditionally included the whole of Scandinavia under the heading the ‘Nordic Bronze Age’. The chronology used for the Bronze Age of Scandinavia is based on Oscar Montelius’s divisions: the late Neolithic B is named the ‘earliest’ Bronze Age and thereafter there are six periods, each c. 200 years long that fall into two main periods, the Early Bronze Age (Periods I–III, c. 1700–1100 BC) and Late Bronze Age (Periods IV–VI, 1100–500 BC) (Jensen 2006b).
In the Early–Middle Bronze Age the archaeological record shows an explosion of change in material culture, settlement and subsistence patterns, burial practices and art making practices, which includes the mass production of rock art. Portable bronzes and rock art are abundant across Denmark, Norway and Sweden, but are concentrated in the central to southern regions. This ‘Southern tradition’ was created from c. 1800 BC to AD 400 (Lødøen and Mandt 2010). The Southern tradition of rock art is famous for its thousands of depictions of Ships and a lexicon of largely figurative motifs. Along with Ship motifs there are Sun symbols, Horses, Eels or Snakes, Dogs, Humans, Weapons, Wheeled Vehicles, Feet and Foot Soles, to name a few. And these motifs are found in a variety of combinations that comprise sometimes-elaborate scenes. At Alta, in northern Norway, Animals are corralled or hunted by Humans wielding weapons at Kåfjord; on Storsteinen over 600 motifs, mostly Animals, are arranged in a complex scene that eludes interpretation. In the south, most famously in Bohuslän, humans are portrayed engaging in duels, in ‘wedding’ scenes (see Fig. 1.3), as acrobats or in ‘martial arts’ activities and these often include Animals, Ships and abstract motifs (see also Figs 3.2, 3.5 and 3.6).
Though there are many crossovers between imagery in portable art and rock art, not all appear in the same media. As Richard Bradley (2009, 125) explains ‘It is generally accepted that among the commonest elements shared between bronze artefacts and rock carvings are boats (many of them with their crews), sun symbols and horses. Portable artefacts also depict sea creatures, while human figures, weapons, and other species of animals are found in open-air rock art’. Nor do the images all app...

Table of contents