Details
This major new study by one of Europe’s leading prehistorians presents and discusses a series of rock art engravings from a Bronze Age barrow in Ljungarum parish, Jönköping Län, situated in the central part of southern Sweden. Sagaholm contains the largest group of rock engravings discovered in a burial context in northern Europe. Joachim Goldhahn addresses a number of aspects of the use of rock engravings in burial rituals during the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1600–1100 BC), combining the antiquarian and scientific history of this extraordinary find. In order to understand the meaning and significance of the rock art in the barrow, the author presents a theoretical argument that the art is meaningfully composed and can been seen as the result of an active symbolic praxis which mirrors a metaphorical way of thinking. Special concern is given to the frequent horse motifs at Sagaholm, and it is argued that they, and the morphology of this particular barrow, can be seen as a metaphor for a new and exotic cosmology that reached southern Scandinavia during the Middle Bronze Age. It is further suggested that this extraordinary find points to a (re)interpretation of Scandinavian Bronze Age rock art as an important part of burial ritual, linked to certain beliefs about the regeneration of life.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction
Primary objectives and questionsDefinitionImplementation and acknowledgementsOrganisation of the book
Chapter 2 An antiquarian biography
The oldest sources
The 1971 excavation
Research methods and reporting
‘A sensation’
Forgotten finds from Sagaholm
The spearhead
Chapter 3 In the name of science
Anders Wihlborg
Harry Bergenblad
Göran Burenhult
Mats P. Malmer
Jarl Nordbladh
Klavs Randsborg
Summary
Chapter 4 The motifs
Documentation
Technical concepts and terminology
Motifs by slab
The other sandstone slabs in the kerb
Discussion
Technique and motif
Techniques and details on the motifs
Final comments
Chapter 5 The monument
Morphology of the barrow
Profiles
Plans
Parallels
Logistics
History of the sandstone slabs
Why the choice of sandstone?
Chapter 6 Chronology
The Carbon 14 method
Comparative dating
Analogies to barrows
Conclusion
Chapter 7 Narrative and metaphors
Interpreting rock art
A narrative landscape in miniature
Narrative metaphorics of the body
Metaphorics of the burial monument
Regarding the significance of the cup marked stones
Digression – rock engravings
Chapter 8 Beyond Sagaholm
Creation myths, chaos and material culture
The significance of the burial ceremony
Beyond Sagaholm
A scenario
The metaphorics of burial monuments
The metaphorics of the body
The metaphorics of the grave gifts and ornamentations
Chapter 9 Return to Sagaholm
The burial ritual’s rite of passage
Exclusion
Liminal phase
Incorporation
References
Reviews & Quotes
"This English version of the book is most welcome... well organised and concise."
Courtney Nimura
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
(11/05/2017)
