| Summary: | Abstract ? ?there is no reason?to assume that prehistorians cannot study ancient symbolism and beliefs. The question remains, however, how best to study symbolism within the material confines of archaeological research? (Fogelin 2007:63) With my essay I would like to bring up the meaning of the soapstonelamp for the Thule culture in Greenland. Humans in the arctic area, from the same in the north of Scandinavia to the inuites in Greenland, have a common way of viewing the world that stems from anemismen. The basic thought with this world image is that everything is connected; life and death, human and material object all works in relation to each other. With this said the aim with this essay is to study the lamp from this perspective. What other use is there in a lamp more then light and warmth? The lamp is recurring in stories and in these stories it gets a deeper meaning then just an everyday object. Some lamps found in Alaska have human figures and whales carved in the bottom of them. If you study the stories that are documented from Greenland you can find the symbolism but no lamps with any carvings. I believe that the symbolism, even though not found in the archaeological material, can be seen if you connect the lamp with the myths and stories.
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