Sexy beasts – animistic ontology, sexuality and hunter-gatherer rock art in Northern Fennoscandia

• Published in: Time and Mind
• Main Author: Lahelma, Antti
• Other Authors: Archaeology, Department of Cultures
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2019
• Subjects: 615 History and Archaeology; Rock art; Northern Europe; animism; hunting; sexuality; ELK; Fennoscandia; karelia*; North-Western Russia
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/308507

A wide range of rock art sites associated with hunter-gatherer populations in Northern Fennoscandia depict scenes where men, women and animals (usually elk or deer) are involved in a sexually charged act. For instance, at Namforsen (Sweden) and Kanozero (north-western Russia), elks appear to be 'monitoring' a human couple having sex. Ithyphallic figures accompanied by animals are found at several sites, such as Kanozero, where an ithyphallic figure brandishing an elk-headed staff is faced by a capercaillie. Even acts of zoophilia, or humans in sexual congress with animals, appear to be depicted at a number of sites. These scenes are here approached in the light of an animistic ontology and the notion of perspectivism, introduced by Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, where non-human beings are entangled in social and thus also sexual relations with humans. In the ethnographic sources pertaining to northern circumpolar cultures, hunting is perceived as a sexual act, where each kill involves seducing the prey. In northern and eastern parts of Finland and Karelia, this mentality persisted well into the historical period, as evidenced by hunting spells and ceremonies recorded in the 19th Century. Peer reviewed