| Summary: | The Late Mesolithic site Vingen located on the west coast of Norway, is the second largest rock art site in Norway of the Northern Tradition. A large amount of the more than 2200 motifs have been interpreted as red deer (Cervus elaphus). Stone Age rock art in Fennoscandia is known for being dominated by big game depictions, especially cervids. The traditional interpretation of animal depictions in Stone Age rock art has been one where animals are seen in a functionalistic light and viewed solely as a resource. Considering animism, relational ontologies, and red deer ethology I ask questions about what we can learn about the relations between red deer and the artists or communities producing images of them in Western Norway. What made red deer, over all other animals, humans, non-humans and things, the most depicted motif in the rock art at Vingen? Why specifically red deer? In this thesis, I try to understand how red deer were viewed by the Stone Age artists depicting them. My methods to insert myself into this perspective consist of 1) isolating types of decorations and body postures in the red deer motifs and 2) quantifying this into a set of data which are then re-lated to the landscape of Vingen rock art site. Viewing the depicted red deer as descriptions of the ideas linked to red deer leads to new ways of interpreting the different red deer motifs in rela-tion to each other, other groups of motifs and the greater landscape. Metaphors in red deer behav-iour are seen as reasons for why red deer as symbol were important to the Late Mesolithic socie-ty. Moreover, I assess the potential symbolism of red deer as imagined by the Stone Age artist depicting them. Relational ontologies are explored between the greater landscape, rock carvings, humans, and red deer. The combined facets of red deer, including physical, mental and behav-ioural properties, are staged front and center in an overall interpretation of the Vingen site. Arkeologi mastergradsoppgave ARK350 MAHF-ARK
|
|---|