Walking in Winter Landscapes: Reflections on Temporality and Seasonality in Stone Age Rock Art of Northern Europe

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Painting the Past: Interpretive Approaches in Global Rock Art Research" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Temporal changes and surroundings are of vital importance to hunter-fisher-gatherers (HFG) and guide activities of HFG in northern Europe throughout the year. Lifeways differ between and within the regions of northern Europe, e.g., coastal northern Norway, inland central Sweden, or lake districts of Finland. The cynegetic activities (activities connected to hunting) of HFG change dramatically by the seasons of the year. Temporality, seasonality, seascapes, and landscapes are represented in HFG rock art by site location, motifs, scenes, and compositions related to “seasonal” activities. Stone Age rock art is a window to major innovations of people living in winter landscapes (e.g. skis, snowshoes) or seascapes (boats). Most rock art sites would have been accessible throughout the year; rock carvings in the tidal zone or near rapids would be snow- and ice-free during winter, while vertical cliffs with rock paintings would be exposed and more visible and accessible during winter. In turn this would have impact on how we study and interpret the lifeways of people inhabiting Frozen Worlds of the past. The backdrop of the study is comprehensive fieldwork during the last 20 years, studying rock art, rock art sites and their location during different seasons of the year.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Painting the Past: Interpretive Approaches in Global Rock Art Research

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39651.0