RAW
Rock Art Worldings
Kalmar 2017-10-23/27
Abstracts
The origin of skiing
Kjell ÅkeAronssonIsseIsraelsson
The origin of skiing has been much debated. A bog find from Kalvträsk in northern Sweden, a nearly complete pair of skis, is the oldest in the world. This archaeological find indicates that the technique of skiing was in use in Scandinavia at least 5200 years ago. Skiing is however not very much represented among rock art pictures. A scene on a rock art panel in Zalavruga, western Russia is obviously describing hunters on skis. Recently detected rock paintings in the Altay region in China are discussed as the oldest depictions of skiers in the world. They can be 10 000 years old or more. In the oldest chronological layer, about 5600–6200 BP, of the rock carvings in Alta, northern Norway the practice of walking with snow shoes is depicted. As well as for the early immigrants to northern America skis were probably unknown among the first immigrants to northern Scandinavia. With using archaeological findings and traditional knowledge, can any conclusions be drawn from Scandinavian rock art pictures about the history of skiing?
The Evidence of Rock Art in Bandig Valley, Iranian Baluchistan
BehroozBarjastehDelforooz, RouhollahShiraziJaber Dehvari
Rock art is an integral part of material culture in ancient nomadic societies. Equally, it is an inseparable element of nomadic expressions and a valuable source of information on different aspects of nomadic life. In all over Baluchistan Petroglyphs are found in large numbers, but the number of the sites increases from the north (Sarhad) to the south (Makran), though, particularly in the middle, Saravan district has the largest density of rock art throughout the whole this mountainous region. In summer 2016, the authors conducted an archaeological survey in Saravan district. During the survey, in spite of the hot summer days, by marching along the valleys, we both located and photographed thousands of individual and complexes of petroglyphs throughout the area under the investigation. The data confirmed that Saravan area is very rich in petroglyphs and could be an ideal region for the study of rock art in, not only Baluchistan, but also overall Iranian plateau. The goal of this article is to introduce the petroglyphs of Bandig valley documented during our field survey in the northeast of Gosht. Pecking and engraving are two most common techniques of production. In this regard, the contour of motifs are engraved by narrow holes through percussion by a pointed tool. In the case of earlier motifs, the entire image is pecked including contour and interior part. The motifs are of various human, animal, tools and geometric shapes grouped in complexes of petroglyphs or individually. Chronologically, they are not contemporaneous and a stratigraphy of motifs can be traced according to color of the petroglyphs. It is extremely difficult to specify any exact date, but some age estimates have been made based on their stylistic features from the Late Chalcolithic to the recent times.
Rock art, Mesoamerica, ontology, interactions
Fernando Berrojalbiz
In the southern part of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico, there exists a series of rock art sites that present similar characteristics. They were created by Zapotecs during the Late Postclassic period (A.D. 1300-1521), before the Spanish conquest.This work will focus on the process of creating these paintings, taking into account one important element of their cosmology: the land was considered to be a great monster, the one who created the earth. So I want to explore the idea that painting in shelters and caves had a special meaning, one different of that of painting in the walls of a Palace, for example. It was considered to be painting on the skin or the entrails of the earth monster, and the images were conceptualized in a distinct manner.On the other hand, several authors have concluded that image creation and aesthetics in Mesoamerica are closely related to a dominant idea in the Mesoamerican worldview that living beings (a broader concept than in the Western worldview) can undergo transformations or other changes, either reversible or permanent, in accordance with a world constantly in flux and characterized by a continuous interaction of energy. So the images can be part of a regenerative technology. I will explore these ideas in relation to the rock art images of the Isthmus.Finally, the analysis will consider how the images were received by those who visited the cave. Current debates about the nature of images in Mesoamerican cultures address whether they were considered representations or reality. In this light, questions about the power of the images to provoke action, and how the images were worshipped become central to the analysis. Theories about different ontologies, especially the ideas of Descola, will be of great importance in the elaboration of this work.
News from far away.Rock art of Southwest Europe. Consideration about the Bronze Age cosmogony of northwestern Iberia
Ana M. S. Bettencourt & Manuel Santos-Estévez
This paper aims to summarize some aspects of the Bronze Age cosmogony from a set of rock engravings found recently in Iberia's NW. The emphasis will be given to a certain type of motifs: ships and their interrelations with segmented circles (wheels), weapons and quadrupeds. From the association analysis between these motifs some considerations about the existence of a solar cosmology are equated. From the geographical distribution of the set of engravings with this iconography, the hypothesis proposed by several authors on the interrelation between the Iberian NW and Scandinavia during this chronological-cultural period is reinforced.
Do rock carvings tell stories – Aspects of narrativity in Scandinavian rock art
Anna CabakRédei, Tomas Persson, Peter Skoglund & Michael Ranta
Unquestionably, narrative is a cross‐cultural phenomenon as well as occurring basically across all individuals within cultures. Despite any cultural variations as to subject matters, the capacity and practice of storytelling seems to be prevalent even among the most isolated societies. Many stories, in various kinds of semiotic modalities (whether oral, written, or pictorial), appear to touch upon our existential interests, fears, and hopes, and thereby contribute to giving structure to the instability and vulnerability of human existence. They tell us something about the world and about possible or recommended ways of interaction or manipulation. Thus, storytelling is certainly an important means of creating ontological, existential, or social orders as well as reminding us of existent ones. Stories are revealed in different kinds of formats such as oral communication, written language and images. Rock art constitutes the most expressive, widespread and accumulated corpus of images with a prehistoric date, and in Europe the largest concentration is to be found in Scandinavia. This material constitutes a palimpsest of different ways of displaying and combining images, some of which seem to hold a narrative character. But are they really telling stories, and if so, to which extent? In this paper, we will combine Charles S. Peirce’s theory of signs with concepts from narrative theory in order to broaden existing interpretative hypotheses concerning narrativity in rock art. Signs, according to Peirce, are cognitive devices with which we may take in the outer world and give it meaning through our interpretation. Petroglyphs may at first sight simply be regarded as iconic signs, but they may also be understood as indexical signs, and as such they are indicative of a certain sociocultural context at the time of their creation. In this paper, we intend to outline how semioticnarratological perspectives may provide a fruitful theoretical framework for new insights about preliterate Bronze Age societies in Middle Sweden.
A major methodological challenge which have to be dealt with in order to be able to identify potential narratives in rock art is the accumulated character of the material, where the images on a panel may represent carving events conducted over a time of one thousand years or more.Moreover, petroglyphs are not always consistently arranged in a serial or linear manner (which would facilitate narrative interpretations) and sometimes overlap or are overlaying. Thanks to recent developments in documentation techniques and the breakthrough of various 3D documentation methods this problem can now be tackled in new ways. One such method is SfM (Structure from Motion) which refer to the process of estimating three dimensional structures from two-dimensional image sequences. Thanks to the high resolution it is now possible to dissolve single images into their accumulative components making it possible to detect additions, restructuring, and reassembling of the images over time. In combination with recent developments in rock art chronology these new documentation techniques has the potential to reveal different sequences in the production of the rock art to show how individual rock art panels developed throughout the Bronze Age. In this paper we will report some preliminary results on rock art and narrativity based on fieldwork conducted in Middle Sweden in the summer of 2017.
High and mighty: a San expression of excess potency control in the altitudinous hunting grounds of southern Africa.
Sam Challis
One of the largest and weirdest anthropomorphic painted figures in the southern African subcontinent (re-)discovered in 2015 also happens to be painted at an almost unprecedented altitude. Located in an anomalous uplifting of cave sandstone incorporating the new annexation to the Maloti-Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site, the painted shelter perches at 2387m above sea level. Extremely inhospitable in winter months when snow, wind and altitude can take temperatures below -20°C, it is postulated that this was a summer stopping place for the San hunter-gatherers who followed the migrating herds of eland antelope to these rich mountain grazing grounds. A superabundance of meat and fat translates, in the San idiom, into a superfluity of !gior spiritual potency. Such circumstances, out of the ordinary in transitional and temporary camps, calls for special mediation with non-human persons and the powers that they wield. With excessive resources comes the exceptional responsibility to broker such relationships among those who have the ability to influence and utilise the supernatural - those individuals with 'hunting magic'. With bulging stomach (the seat of potency), tusks, and three legs with clawed toes, the figure in question may represent just such an instance of the strong ritual specialist struggling to control excess potency in an attempt to broker relationships with the other-than-human.
Art and consciousness
David Delnoÿ
All images embody a cognitive activity. Different figurative intentions create a broad range of interplay in the organization of the graphic signs. Their recurrence through time, from the first depictions to the present, manifests the power of their symbolic function. These representation each time evidence an active consciousness. Via the force given to the forms, humanity sought to structure the whole of the sensory world. The marked differences are here as much variations in the cultural basis or alternate the stability of a tradition and the flexibility of the expression. The image offers to thought perceptible visual expressions that can be ephemeral (e.g., on sand) or enduring (e.g., the Alta engravings). These representations are also the means for humans to establish a relationship with the Whole. Affirmation of human existence is followed by the expression of its interdependence with the Universe. In order to maintain existence of the being, a harmonious relationship must be created between the different cosmic components. The cultural tradition constitutes and regulates this existential concept. Within it, specialists establish and maintain communications between humans and the rest of the Cosmos. The image opens the way to the realization of Man and its social system. The examples taken from the rock art repertoire of Alta allow us to address certain aspects of northern ways of thinking. Hunting scenes evoke control over prey; the dreamed act seems to be facilitated in its visible realization. Complex combinations of ambiguous images seem to be associated with shamanic activities, as if these material supports reinforced their power.
Rock art, circulating artefacts and bodies in Late Bronze Age Iberia
Marta Díaz-Guardamino
This paper explores the links between rock art imagery, artefacts and human/animal bodily remains in Late Bronze Age (LBA) Iberia. Iberian ‘warrior’ stelae constitute one of the few available sources to investigate the mortuary practices of LBA communities in western and southern Iberia. The iconography of stelae revolves around the representation of warrior personae through the patterned combination of a range of carved motifs: human bodies, headgear, necklaces, brooches, swords, bows, chariots with horses, dogs, mirrors, weight looms, combs and lyres. Few of these are realistic life-size representations while most are rather small and schematic. Most of the stelae depict what appears to be the body of the deceased surrounded by grave goods, although in few occasions they also include narrative scenes. Stelae are usually found in the landscape, un-stratified, in liminal places. While their actual link with funerary remains is elusive, their role as commemorative monuments is broadly accepted.
The relationship between this rock art imagery and material ‘correlates’ has only been discussed to establish the chronology of stelae or to determine the cultural affiliation of the artefacts depicted and outline long distance relationships in which Iberian ‘elite’ individuals were engaged. As I will argue, we can achieve a better understanding of the significance of stelae and the artefacts depicted on them if we explore the links between carved motifs and material correlates. Many of the depicted artefacts are known in Iberia, although their geographic distribution is usually complementary to that shown by stelae. Added to this, the artefacts are rarely found in funerary contexts but usually as part of hoards or as single finds — in these instances frequently in liminal places — , and in few occasions in domestic contexts. This puzzling but consistent pattern seems to have been culturally produced. The hypothesis that I will discuss is that the objects depicted were ‘inalienable possessions’, items attached to their original owner that were maintained from generation to generation within the boundaries of the owning group, that these objects were depicted and deposited/buried at different stages of their life-courses, and that stelae-making and hoards were part of related rituals of passage carried out within highly connected groups.
The Early Islamic rock art assemblage – change along-side continuity in the Negev Desert, Israel
Eisenberg-Degen, Davida
It is difficult to differentiate between the Late Byzantine (6th – mid 7th c. CE) and Early Islamic period (mid 7th – 10th c CE) archaeological remains in the Negev desert, Israel. This is due to the fact that the changes that took place were gradual. As the desert townships/cities were slowly deserted, the farmsteads continued to flourish. The ceramic tradition remained intact, with few new vessel forms developing. Simple menhire were still worshiped and with time these were integrated into open air mosques. This ambiguity between the two periods is also found in the chronology of the Negev rock art. Examining panels from Ramat Materd rock art site, an initiate separation between the Roman-Byzantine rock art tradition and that of the Early Islamic period is possible. This is based on the placement of formulized Arabic prayers which express the incoming religion, Islam. In addition the spatial setting of the Arabic Inscriptions and their relationship to the engraved rock art, offer a secondary division within the Early Islamic rock art assemblage, between the sacred and the mundane petroglyphs.
Material magic: animacy between rock and art
Fredrik Fahlander
Magical interpretations of south Scandinavian rock art have never reached the same impact as the social, cosmological or religious frameworks. One reason for this may be found in the representative element of the imagery; rock art has generally been viewed as symbolic or actual depictions of boats, suns, weapons etc., and not as much as a material artefact in itself. However, recent research on ontological matters has emphasised the materiality and agential aspects of imagery and stressed how rock art besides being graphic, also may be generative with a potential to affect the course of events. One such generative aspect concerns magical thinking. By allowing rock art a pending ontological status between animacy and dead matter, it is possible to examine a range of potential magical aspects of imagery beyond social and cosmological representation. Sympathetic andapotropaic magic comprise a broad range of aspects with the aim to attract or prevent events as wall as evokeeffects among both humans and non‐humans. Also the act of cutting the rock may have broader meaning in itself be emphasising the animacy of the rock and ontological aspects of the practice. For instance, as Gell has suggested, to make imagery can also be an act to evoke and materialise an entity in question, to bring it into being. The paper will discuss a range of magical aspects in the production and use of rock art illustrated by examples from the Mälaren bay in central eastern Sweden.