This article discusses the mythological significance of the three most frequently occurring rock art motifs in the middle of northern Sweden, that is of elks, boats and humans. It is here suggested that the most frequently depicted motifs can be related directly to potency in societies practising shamanism during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. The close relationship between rock carvings/paintings and water is emphasized as important when understanding the mythological message expressed in the rock art. It is furthermore assumed that some of the images of elks, boats and humans may portray the experience of the ritual conductor in his/her attempt to communicate with the spiritual world.
Anisimov, A. F. (1963) ‘Cosmological Concepts of the Peoples of the North’, in H. Michael (ed.) Studies in Siberian Shamanism No. 4, pp. 157-229. Translations from Russian Sources. Toronto: Arctic Institute of the North.
2.
Baudou, E. (1977) ‘Den förhistoriska fångstkulturen i Västernorrland’ in E. Bandou and K.-G. Selinge (eds) Västernorrlands förhistoria, pp. 15-152. Härnösand: Västernorrlands läns Landsting.
3.
Baudou, E. (1992) Norrlands forntid - ett historiskt perspektiv. Höganäs: Förlags AB Wiken.
4.
Baudou, E. (1993) ‘Hällristningarna vid Nämforsen - datering och kulturmiljö’, in L. Forsberg and T. Larsson (eds) Ekonomi och näringsformer i nordisk bronsålder, pp. 247-61. Umeå: Arkeologiska Institutionen.
5.
Bertilsson, U. (1992) ‘En nyupptäckt hällmålning vid Trolltjärn i Anundsjö’, in L. Grundberg and L. Edblom (eds) Arkeologi Nolaskogs. Fornlämningar, fynd och forskning i norra Ångermanland, pp. 55-8. Örnsköldsvik: Örnsköldsviks Museum.
6.
Bloch, M. (1992) Prey into Hunter. The Politics of Religious Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
7.
Bolin, H. (1996) ‘Kinship, Marriage and Traces of Social Interaction. Aspects on the Hunter-Gatherer Societies in Northern Sweden During the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age’, Current Swedish Archaeology4: 7-19. Stockholm.
8.
Bolin, H. (in press) ‘Crossroads of Culture. Aspects of the Social and Cultural Setting in Northern Sweden During the Last Two Millennia BC.’ in Fennoscandia Archaeologica XVI (1999).
9.
Bradley, R. and Fábregas Valcarce, R. (1998) ‘Crossing the Border: Contrasting Styles of Rock Art in the Prehistory of North-west Iberia’, Oxford Journal of Archaeology17(3): 287-308.
10.
Carpelan, C. (1977) ‘Älgoch björnhuvudföremål från Europas nordliga delar’ in Finskt Museum 82(1975): 5-67.
11.
Helsingfors. Chernela, J. (1988) ‘Righting History in the Northwest Amazon: Myth, Structure, and History in an Arapaço Narrative’ in J.D. Hill (ed.) Rethinking History and Myth. Indigenous South American Perspectives on the Past, pp. 35-49. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
12.
Drury, N. (1996 [1989]) The Elements of Shamanism. Shaftesbury: Element Books.
13.
Edgren, T. (1993) Finlands historia 1. T. Edgren and L. Törnblom (eds). Schildts: Ekenäs.
14.
Eliade, M. and Couliano, I. (1991) The Eliade Guide to World Religions. San Francisco, CA: Harper.
15.
Forsberg, L. (1988) ‘Bosättningsmönster vid Lule och Ume älv under bronsålder och förromersk järnålder’, Arkeologi i norr 1/1988: 51-101. Umeå: Arkeologiska Institutionen.
16.
Forsberg, L. (1993) ‘En kronologisk analys av ristningarna vid Nämforsen’, in L. Forsberg and T. Larsson (eds) Ekonomi och näringsformer i nordisk bronsålder, pp. 195-246. Umeå: Arkeologiska Institutionen.
17.
Hallström, G. (1943) ‘En nyupptäckt svensk hällmålning’, Fornvännen 1943, pp. 146-61. Stockholm.
18.
Hallström, G. (1960) Monumental Art of Northern Sweden from the Stone Age. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell.
19.
Hedeager, L. (1997) Skygger af en anden verkelighed. Oldnordiske myter. Haslev: Nordisk Bogproduktion A/S.
20.
Helskog, K. (1987) ‘Selective Depictions. A Study of 3000 Years of Rock Carvings from Arctic Norway and their Relationship to the Sami Drum’ in I. Hodder (ed.) Archaeology as Long-Term History, pp. 17-30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
21.
Helskog, K. (1995) ‘Maleness and Femaleness in the Sky and in the Underworld - and in between’ in K. Helsksog and B. Olsen (eds) Perceiving Rock Art: Social and Political Perspectives, pp. 247-262. Oslo: Novus forlag.
22.
Hill, J. D. (1988) ‘Myth and History’ in J. D. Hill (ed.) Rethinking History and Myth. Indigenous South American Perspectives on the Past, pp. 1-17. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
23.
Hill, J. D. and Wright, R. M. (1988) ‘Time, Narrative, and Ritual: Historical Interpretations from an Amazonian Society’ in J. D. Hill (ed.) Rethinking History and Myth. Indigenous South American Perspectives on the Past, pp. 78-105. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
24.
Hodder, I. (1986) Reading the Past. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
25.
Hugh-Jones, C. (1979) From the Milk River: Spatial and Temporal Processes in Northwest Amazonia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
26.
Hultkrantz, Å. (1978) ‘Introduction: Ecological and Phenomenological Aspects of Shamanism’ in L. Bäckman and Å. Hultkrantz (eds) Studies in Lapp Shamanism, pp. 9-35. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.
27.
Ingold, T. (1986) The Appropriation of Nature. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
28.
Janson, S. et al. (1989) Hällristningar och hällmålningar i Sverige. Stockholm: Bokförlaget Forum.
29.
Jensen, R. (1977) ‘Hällbilder och fångstmiljö’, in Jämtland/Härjedalen. Svenska turisföreningens årsskrift: pp. 270-86. Esselte Herzogs.
30.
Jensen, R. (1989) ‘Härjedalen och Jämtland’ in Hällristningar och hällmålningar i Sverige, pp. 198-212. Stockholm: Bokförlaget Forum.
31.
Kjellén, E. and Hyenstrand, Å. (1977) Hällristningar och bronsålderssamhälle i sydvästra Uppland. Upplands fornminnesförenings tidskrift 49. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksell.
32.
Kristiansen, K. (1987) ‘Centre and Periphery in Bronze Age Scandinavia’, in M. Rowlands, M. Larsen and K. Kristiansen (eds) Centre and Periphery in the Ancient World, pp. 74-85. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
33.
Lewis-Williams, D. (1984) ‘Ideological Continuities in Prehistoric Southern Africa: The Evidence of Rock Art’ in C. Schrire (ed.) Past and Present in Hunter Gatherers Studies, pp. 225-252. Orlando, FL: Orlando Academic Press.
34.
Lewis-Williams, D. (1988) ‘People of the Eland: An Archaeo-Linguistic Crux’, in T. Ingold, D. Riches and J. Woodburn (eds) Hunter and Gatherers II. Property, Power and Ideology, pp. 203-211. Oxford: Berg.
35.
Lewis-Williams, D. (1991) ‘Wrestling with Analogy: a Methodological Dilemma in Upper Paleolithic Art Research’, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society57: 149-162.
36.
Lindqvist, C. (1994) Fångstfolkets bilder. En studie av de nordfennoskandiska kustanknutna jägarhällristningarna. Stockholm: Diss. Akademitryck AB.
37.
Malmer, M. (1989) ‘Bergkonstens mening och innehåll’ in Hällristningar och hällmålningar i Sverige, pp. 9-28. Stockholm: Bokförlaget Forum.
38.
Malmer, M. (1992) ‘Har nordlig och sydlig hällristningstradition påverkat varandra - och i så fall hur, och varför?’, Arkeologi i norr 3: 7-18.
Meschke, C. (1967) ‘En norrländsk stenåldersboplats med skärvstensvall’ in Antikvariskt Arkiv 31. Lund.
41.
Morphy, H. (1989) ‘On Representing Ancestral Beings’ in H. Morphy (ed.) Animals into Art, pp. 144-160. London: Unwin-Hyman.
42.
Mulk, I-M. (1998) ‘Nyfunna hällristningar avbildar samiska segelbåtar’ in Poulär Arkeologi. Nr 4.
43.
Nordbladh, J. (1994) ‘Comments on The Hunter’s Rock Art in Northern Norway. Problems of Chronology and Interpretation’, Norwegian Archaeological Review27(1): 17-20.
44.
Scandinavian University Press. Ramqvist, P. (1989) ‘Ångermanland, Västerbotten och Lappland’ in Hällristningar och hällmålningar i Sverige. pp. 213-23. Stockholm: Bokförlaget Forum.
45.
Ricoeur, P. (1995 [1981]) Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
46.
Sognnes, K. (1995) ‘The Social Context of Rock Art in Trøndelag, Norway: Rock Art at a Frontier’, in K. Helsksog and B. Olsen (eds) Perceiving Rock Art: Social and Political Perspectives, pp. 130-145. Oslo: Novus forlag.
47.
Taavitsainen, J-P., Simola, H. and Grönlund, E. (1998) ‘Cultivation History Beyond the Periphery: Early Agriculture in the North European Boreal Forest’, Journal of World Prehistory12(2).
48.
Tilley, C. (1991) Material Culture and Text. The Art of Ambiguity. London: Routledge.
49.
Tilley, C. (1994) A Phenomenology of Landscape. Places, Paths and Monuments. Oxford: Berg.
50.
Wennstedt Edvinger, B. (1993) Genus och djursymbolik. Umeå: Lic.
