Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T12:44:54.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Transforming the Rocks – Time and Rock Art in Bohuslän, Sweden

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2017

Christian Horn  and
Rich Potter
Christian Horn
Affiliation:
Institute for Pre- and Protohistory, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany
Rich Potter
Affiliation:
Department of Historical Studies, Gothenburg University, Sweden
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Human representations are one of the most important groups of depictions in rock art in southern Scandinavia. These humans have long been discussed as complete, stable, and temporally-fixed images. The results of a new survey challenge this view. Recording rock art with Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) enabled us to discern a possible sequence of production of individual human representations, their bodily features, and associated objects. Figures from a rock art site in Finntorp (Tanum, Sweden) will be used as an example. Differences in the dimensions of the engraved lines, the chronology of the depicted objects, and the placement of body parts suggest that several individuals may have been involved in making human representations on the rocks, and that their appearance as complete figures is the result of repeated transformations. The results presented demonstrate that Scandinavian rock art is not stable in time. We suggest that rock art is best understood as the creation of communities over time, which enables them to engage with the past by transforming the rocks.

Les représentations de figures humaines constituent un des plus importants groupes d'images gravées sur roche en Scandinavie méridionale. On a longtemps considéré ces humains comme des représentations complètes, stables et fixées dans le temps. Les résultats d'un nouveau relevé vont à l'encontre de ce point de vue. Un relevé utilisant l'imagerie par transformation de la réflectance (ITR) sur le site de Finntorp (Tanum, Suède) nous a permis de documenter une séquence de représentations humaines, de parties du corps et d'objets associés. Sur la base des différences dans la taille des lignes gravées, la chronologie des objets représentés et la position des éléments du corps nous estimons que plusieurs individus ont participé à la création de ces figures humaines et que leur apparence finale était due à des transformations successives. Nous pensons que l'art rupestre scandinave est le résultat d'une évolution dans le temps, les communautés qui en étaient responsables créant des images qui leur permettaient de communier avec le passé en transformant les roches. Les résultats et l'interprétation que nous présentons ici pourraient avoir des conséquences importantes pour la recherche en art rupestre scandinave et l’âge du Bronze nordique en général. Translation by Madeleine Hummler

Menschliche Figuren sind eine der wichtigsten Motive von Felsbildern in Südskandinavien. Darstellungen von Menschen sind lange als vollständig, stabil und zeitgebunden angesehen worden. Die Ergebnisse einer neuen Untersuchung stellt diese Interpretation infrage. Die Dokumentation von Felsbildern in Finntorp (Tanum, Schweden) mittels Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) ermöglichte die Rekonstruktion der Produktionssequenz einzelner menschlicher Figuren und damit verbundener Gegenstände. Die unterschiedlichen Dimensionen der eingeritzten Linien, die chronologische Abfolge der dargestellten Objekte und in die Lage der Körperteile weisen darauf hin, dass die Figuren erst nach mehrfachen Transformationen ihre endgültige Erscheinungsform als menschliche Darstellungen annahmen und dass über eine lange Zeitspanne hinweg mehrere Individuen an der Produktion beteiligt waren. Wir sind der Meinung, dass solche Figuren von Gemeinschaften im Laufe der Zeit geschaffen und verändert wurden. Wir schlagen vor, dass die Felsbilder eine zeitübergreifende Gemeinschaft kreierten, die es eventuell ermöglichte direkt mit der Vergangenheit in Kontakt zu treten, in dem die Bilder transformiert wurden. Translation by Madeleine Hummler

Keywords

prehistoryrock artNordic Bronze Ageanthropomorphic representationsRTIpréhistoireart rupestreâge du Bronze nordiquereprésentations anthropomorphiquesITRUrgeschichteFelskunstnordische Bronzezeitanthropomorphische DarstellungenRTI
Type
Article
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , August 2018 , pp. 361 - 384
Copyright
Copyright © European Association of Archaeologists 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Almgren, B. 1987. Acta Musei Antiquitatum Septentrionalium Regiae Universitatis Upsaliensis: Vol. 6. Die Datierung bronzezeitlicher Felszeichnungen in Westschweden. Uppsala: Uppsala Universitets Museum för Nordiska Fornsaker Gustavianum.Google Scholar
Almgren, O. 1927. Hällristningar och kultbruk. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand.Google Scholar
Aner, E. & Kersten, K. 2001. Die Funde der älteren Bronzezeit des nordischen Kreises in Dänemark Schleswig-Holstein und Niedersachsen. Band 11: Thisted Amt. Neumünster: Wachholtz.Google Scholar
Bednarik, R.G. 1992. Developments in Rock Art Dating. Acta Archaeologica, 63: 141–55.Google Scholar
Bengtsson, L. 2004. Bilder vid vatten. Kring hällristningar i Askums sn, Bohuslän (GOTARC Serie C, Arkeologiska skrifter 51). Göteborg: Institutionen för arkeologi, Göteborgs Universitet.Google Scholar
Bertilsson, U. 1987. The Rock Carvings of Northern Bohuslän: Spatial Structures and Social Symbols (Stockholm Studies in Archaeology 7). Stockholm: University of Stockholm.Google Scholar
Bertilsson, U. 2015. From Folk Oddities and Remarkable Relics to Scientific Substratum: 135 Years of Changing Perceptions on the Rock Carvings in Tanum in Northern Bohuslän, Sweden. In: Ling, J., Skoglund, P. & Bertilsson, U., eds. Swedish Rock Art Series. Vol. 3: Picturing the Bronze Age. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 5–20.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. 2000. An Archaeology of Natural Places. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bradley, R. 2009. Image and Audience: Rethinking Prehistoric Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Burenhult, G. 1973. The Rock Carvings of Götaland, Excluding Gothenburg County, Bohuslän and Dalsland (Acta Archaeologica Lundensia series in 4o, 8). Bonn: Habelt & Lund: Gleerup.Google Scholar
Burenhult, G. 1980. Götalands hällristningar (utom Göteberg och Bohus län samt Dalsland) [The Rock-Carvings of Götaland (Excluding Gothenburg county, Bohuslän and Dalsland)]. (Theses and Papers in North-European Archaeology 10). Stockholm: University of Stockholm.Google Scholar
Coles, J. 2000. The Dancer on the Rock: Record and Analysis at Järrestad, Sweden. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 65: 167–87.Google Scholar
Cultural Heritage Imaging. 2013 Reflectance Transformation Imaging. Available at <http://culturalheritageimaging.org/Technologies/RTI/index.html> [accessed 2 February 2017].+[accessed+2+February+2017].>Google Scholar
Díaz-Guardamino, M., García Sanjuán, L., Wheatley, D. & Rodríguez Zamora, V. 2015. RTI and the Study of Engraved Rock Art: A Re-Examination of the Iberian South-Western Stelae of Setefilla and Almadén de la Plata 2 (Seville, Spain). Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 2: 41–54. doi:10.1016/j.daach.2015.07.002Google Scholar
Earl, G., Martinez, K. & Malzbender, T. 2010. Archaeological Applications of Polynomial Texture Mapping: Analysis, Conservation and Representation. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37: 2040–50.Google Scholar
Eliasson, T. & Schöberg, H. 1991. U-Pb Dating of the Post-kinematic Sveconorwegian (Grenvillian) Bohus Granite, SW Sweden: Evidence of Restitic Zircon. Precambrian Research, 51: 337–50.Google Scholar
Fahlander, F. 2012. Articulating Stone: The Material Practice of Petroglyphing. In: Back Danielsson, I.-M., Fahlander, F. & Sjöstrand, Y., eds. Encountering Imagery: Materialities, Perceptions, Relations. Stockholm: Stockholm University, pp. 97–116.Google Scholar
Fredell, Å. 2003. Bildbroar: Figurativ bildkommunikation av ideologi och kosmologi under sydskandinavisk bronsålder och förromersk järnålder (GOTARC. Serie B, Gothenburg Archaeological Theses 25). Göteborg: Institutionen för arkeologi, Göteborgs universitet.Google Scholar
Fredell, Å. 2009. The Kalleby Experiment: Rock Art and Rock Art Panels as Architecture. Valcamonica Symposium XXIII. Available at <https://www.academia.edu/865956/The_Kalleby_Experiment._Rock_art_and_rock_art_panels_as_architechture> [accessed 2 February 2017].+[accessed+2+February+2017].>Google Scholar
Fredell, Å. & Quintela, G.V. 2010. Body Attributes and Semantic Expressions: Knees in Rock Art and Indo-European Symbolism. In: Fredell, A.C., Kristiansen, K. & Boado, F. Criado, eds. Representations and Communications: Creating an Archaeological Matrix of Late Prehistoric Rock Art. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 75–92.Google Scholar
Fredsjö, Å. 1971. Hällristningar Kville härad i Bohuslän, Svenneby, socken. Göteborg: Göteborgs och Bohusläns fornminnesförening i samarbete med Goteborgs arkeologiska museum.Google Scholar
Goldhahn, J. 2002. Roaring Rocks: An Audio-Visual Perspective on Hunter-Gatherer Engravings in Northern Sweden and Scandinavia. Norwegian Archaeological Review, 35: 29–61.Google Scholar
Goldhahn, J. 2011. Törnsfall 107: Hällbilder vid ett röse och ett röse med hällbilder. Kalmar: Linnéuniversitetet.Google Scholar
Goldhahn, J. 2014. Engraved Biographies: Rock Art and Life-Histories of Bronze Age Objects. Current Swedish Archaeology, 22: 97–136.Google Scholar
Goldhahn, J. 2016. Sagaholm: North European Bronze Age Rock Art and Burial Ritual. Oxford: Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Hauptman Wahlgren, K. 2002 Bilder av betydelse: Hällristningar och bronsålderslandskap i nordöstra Östergötland (Stockholm Studies in Archaeology 23). Lindome: Bricoleur Press.Google Scholar
Hauptman Wahlgren, K. 2004. Switching Images on and off: Rock Carving Practices and Meaning in Bronze Age Life-World. In: Milstreu, G. & Prøhl, H., eds. Prehistoric Pictures as Archaeological Source (GOTARC Serie C, Arkeologiska skrifter 50). Tanumshede: Tanums Hällristningsmuseum, pp. 149–65.Google Scholar
Hildebrand, B.E. 1869. Till hvilken tid och hvilken folk böra de svenska hällristningarne hänföras? Antiqvarisk Tidskrift för Sverige, 2: 417–32.Google Scholar
Horn, C. 2016. Cupmarks. Adoranten, 2016: 29–43.Google Scholar
Ingold, T. 2000. The Perception of the Environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Jacob-Friesen, G. 1967. Bronzezeitliche Lanzenspitzen Norddeutschlands und Skandinaviens. Hildesheim: Lax.Google Scholar
Jones, A., Cochrane, A., Diaz-Guardamino, M., Carter, C., Dawson, I., Kotoula, E. & Minkin, L. 2015. Digital Imaging and Prehistoric Imagery: A New Analysis of the Folkton Drums. Antiquity, 89: 1083–95.Google Scholar
Kaul, F. 1998. Ships on Bronzes: A Study in Bronze Age Religion and Iconography. Copenhagen: National Museum of Denmark.Google Scholar
Laux, F. 2009. Die Schwerter in Niedersachsen (Prähistorische Bronzefunde Band 4). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.Google Scholar
Layton, R. 1985. The Cultural Context of Hunter-Gatherer Rock Art. Man, 20: 434–53.Google Scholar
Ling, J. 2008. Elevated Rock Art: Towards a Maritime Understanding of Bronze Age Rock Art in Northern Bohuslän, Sweden. Göteborg: SOLANA.Google Scholar
Ling, J. 2013. Rock Art and Seascapes in Uppland (Swedish Rock Art Series 1). Oxford: Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Ling, J. & Cornell, P. 2010. Rock Art as Secondary Agent? Society and Agency in Bronze Age Bohuslän. Norwegian Archaeological Review, 43: 26–43.Google Scholar
Ling, J. & Rowlands, M. 2015. The ‘Stranger King’ (Bull) and Rock Art. In: Ling, J., Skoglund, P. & Bertilsson, U., eds. Picturing the Bronze Age (Swedish Rock Art Series 3). Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 89–104.Google Scholar
Malzbender, T., Gelb, D. & Wolters, H. 2001. Polynomial Texture Maps. In: Pocock, L., ed. Computer Graphics: SIGGRAPH 2001: Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques. New York: Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 519–28. doi:10.1145/383259.383320Google Scholar
Malzbender, T., Gelb, D., Wolters, H. & Zuckerman, B. 2000. Enhancement of Shape Perception by Surface Reflectance Transformation: Tech. Rep. HPL 2000-38R1. Palo Alto (CA): Hewlett Packard Laboratories.Google Scholar
Maraszek, R. 2006. Spätbronzezeitliche Hortfundlandschaften in atlantischer und nordischer Metalltradition (Veröffentlichungen des Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, Band 60,1). Halle: Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte.Google Scholar
Montelius, O. 1917. Minnen frän var forntid. I. Stockholm: Norstedt & Söners.Google Scholar
Mowaljarlai, D., Vinnicombe, P., Ward, G.K. & Chippindale, C. 1988. Repainting of Images on Rock in Australia and the Maintenance of Aboriginal Culture. Antiquity, 62: 690–96.Google Scholar
Mudge, M., Malzbender, T., Schroer, C. & Lum, M. 2006. New Reflection Transformation Imaging Methods for Rock Art and Multiple-Viewpoint Display. In: Ioannides, M., Arnold, D., Niccolucci, F. & Mania, K., eds. The 7th International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage. Graz: Eurographics Association.Google Scholar
Mudge, M., Schroer, C., Noble, T., Matthews, N., Rusinkiewicz, S. & Toler-Franklin, C. 2012. Robust and Scientifically Reliable Rock Art Documentation from Digital Photographs. In: McDonald, J. & Veth, P.M., eds. A Companion to Rock Art. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 644–59.Google Scholar
Nilsson, P. 2012. The Beauty is in the Act of the Beholder: South Scandinavian Rock Art from a Uses of the Past Perspective. In: Back Danielsson, I.-M., Fahlander, F. & Sjöstrand, Y., eds. Encountering Imagery: Materialities, Perceptions, Relations. Stockholm: Stockholm University, pp. 77–96.Google Scholar
Nordbladh, J. 1989. Armour and Fighting in the South Scandinavian Bronze Age, Especially in View of Rock Art Representations. In: Larsson, T.B. & Lundmark, H., eds. Approaches to Swedish Prehistory: A Spectrum of Problems and Perspectives in Contemporary Research (BAR International Series 500). Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 323–33.Google Scholar
Nordén, A.G. 1925. Östergötlands bronsålder. Linköping: Carlson.Google Scholar
Plisson, H. & Zotkina, L.V. 2015. From 2D to 3D at Macro- and Microscopic Scale in Rock Art Studies. Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 2: 102–19. doi:10.1016/j.daach.2015.06.002Google Scholar
Schaafsma, P. 1986. Indian Rock Art of the Southwest. Santa Fe (NM): School of American Research.Google Scholar
Schmidt, J.-P. 1993. Studien zur jüngeren Bronzezeit in Schleswig-Holstein und dem nordelbischen Hamburg. Bonn: Habelt.Google Scholar
Skoglund, P. 2016. Rock Art through Time: Scanian Rock Carvings in the Bronze Age and Earliest Iron Age (Swedish Rock Art Series 5). Oxford: Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Sognnes, K. 1998. Symbols in a Changing World: Rock-Art and the Transition from Hunting to Farming in Mid Norway. In: Chippindale, C. & Taçon, P.S.C., eds. The Archaeology of Rock-Art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 146–62.Google Scholar
Uckelmann, M. 2012. Die Schilde der Bronzezeit in Nord-, West- und Zentraleuropa (Prähistorische Bronzefunde. Abteilung III, Band. 4). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.Google Scholar
Wihlborg, A. 1978. Sagaholm: A Bronze Age Barrow with Rock-Carvings. Meddelanden från Lunds Universitets, 1977/1978: 111–28.Google Scholar