Elevated rock art. Towards a maritime understanding of Bronze Age rock art in northern Bohuslän, Sweden

Abstract

Elevated rock artTowards a maritime understanding of Bronze Age rock art in northern Bohuslän, Sweden. Johan Ling GOTARC Serie B. Gothenburg Archaeological Thesis 49. Gothen¬burg.The main focus of this dissertation is the issue of how Bohuslän rock art and landscape may be perceived and understood. Since the Bronze Age, the landscape has been transformed by shore displacement but in the research tradition this has attracted very little attention. Furthermore, due to a misunderstanding of shore displacement but also to certain ideas about the character of Bronze Age society, rock art research in Tanum has drawn much of its inspiration from the present agrarian landscape. The perception of the landscape has not been a major issue. This thesis accordingly aims to shed light on the process of shore displacement and its social and cognitive implications for the interpretation of rock art in the prehistoric landscape. The findings clearly show that in the Bronze Age, the majority of rock art sites in Bohuslän had a very close spatial connection to the sea.These conditions make it possible to apply new perspectives to Bohuslän rock art. Much rock art analysis focuses on the contemplative observer and elaborates this theme. The more direct acti¬vities related to rock art are seldom fully considered. I therefore discuss the basic conditions for the production of rock art and then move on to discuss social theory and approaches to image, commu¬nication, symbolism and social action, related to the palpable social forms of the reading of rock art. When considering rock art, it is the social praxis in the landscape that is of primary importance. Moreover, since Oscar Almgren there has been a tendency to picture the groups in Bohuslän as pas¬sive and immobile agriculturalists, performing rituals on the rocks. However, the sparse evidence points instead to a more complex pattern of utilisation and social praxis. The general location and content of the Bronze Age remains indicate a tendency towards the maritime realm, which seems to have included both socio-ritual and socio-economic matters of production and consumption. The thesis emphasises that Bronze Age groups in Bohuslän were highly active and mobile. The nume¬rous configurations of ship images on the rocks could indicate a general transition or drift towards the maritime realm. Marking or manifesting such transitions in some way may have been important and it is tempting to perceive the rock art as traces of such transitions or positions in the landscape. All this points to a maritime understanding of Bronze Age rock art in northern Bohuslän.Keywords: Rock art, Bronze Age, Scandinavia, Bohuslän, maritime praxis, terrestrial, thought style, shore displacement, seascape, social praxis, iconic order, social position, social transition