Ulf Bertilsson | University of Gothenburg (original) (raw)

Papers by Ulf Bertilsson

Boundless rock art – symbols, contexts and times in prehistoric imagery of Fennoscandia

Archaeopress Publishing Ltd eBooks, Oct 31, 2015

Prehistoric Rock Art is abundant in Fennoscandia. An extreme varied richness of images, in the fo... more Prehistoric Rock Art is abundant in Fennoscandia. An extreme varied richness of images, in the form of paintings and engravings were produced during a period of time of about eight millennia. This affluence has given rise to an, equally, rich research tradition and a splitting of the rock art in two major blocks has been established. The blocks derive their origin from early-observed differences in mo- tives that, if we generalize, roughly, focused on animals instead of humans – zoomorphs instead of antropmorphs in rock art research terms; and in the technique used to make images cutting and polishing or painting instead of engraving; and when this was coupled with the observed spatial distribution – essentially northern and southern; and the, also observed, cultural context hunters and farmers, also then confirmed in dating – Stone Age and Bronze Age. As this picture gradually became clearer, the interpretation became the more entrenched. In tandem, these concepts thus represent the essence of these two, over time, increasingly strong, explicit and discursive research traditions, which are still mostly confirmed and rarely questioned. There has actually been a certain awareness of some overlap between the two major traditions, and that overlap will be our point of departure. A more common feature, however, is that research early focused on, and defined, what separates traditions, rather than on what they have in common. It is, nevertheless, important to note some scientists have had an awareness that rock art images may have a meaning also on a level different than a regional or local. A level that represents a wider dimension, with a Meta meaning of the images. The objective of this article is to take a closer look at those dichotomous relationships sketched above, by presenting examples, some hitherto unobserved, of images, symbols and panels that seem to transcend those fixed boundaries and to overcome these established concepts. Simultaneously, one can argue that pictures and symbols may have a different, more generic sense, corresponding with a broader geographic and temporal spread, on, what we like to call, a Meta level. And that this had a somewhat different reason than the specific geographical environment and the immediate surrounding landscape in which the peoples who produced the rock art in Fennoscandia lived. A cognitive research perspective inspires our analysis, where, primarily, thoughts and ideas, and not geographical environments, are the starting point of human action. Further, this implies that the human mind – psyche and thought – created the reality that she responded and reacted to. According to cognitive theory, the way in which humans interpret, think, remember and make decisions is based on internal cognitive schemas – organized patterns of thinking and actions that humans use to understand and respond to their experiences. This means that it could be possible to find similar pictorial representations in different areas of Fennoscandia and elsewhere in the world, independent of the natural environment and temporal representation.

Carved Footprints and Prehistoric Beliefs

Archaeopress Publishing Ltd eBooks, Feb 8, 2016

Biography of the Fossum Panel

The Fossum panel is doubtless one of the most famous rock art sites in the World Heritage of Tanu... more The Fossum panel is doubtless one of the most famous rock art sites in the World Heritage of Tanum. The highly narrativeperformance of the images and scenes andthe general composition of the entire panel have been stressed by yet many scholars over the years.The re-dating of many of the war related representational images at the site in Fossum is a significant result with clear implications for the interpretation of the meaning, function and use of this particular panel. Clearly, most of the warriors seem to have been made during the transition between period II-III.

Warriors and weapons

Weapons and Tools in Rock Art, 2021

Rock Art Studies: News of the World V

Rock Carvings Research is an established branch of archaeological research in Scandinavia, gradua... more Rock Carvings Research is an established branch of archaeological research in Scandinavia, gradually evolving since the 1980s and now one of the strongest fields of research. It is still in a phase of expansion, as shown by an increasing number of researchers and publications. During the period 2010-2014 about 10 theses, monographs and books were published, along with a far greater number of articles and reports. The expansion is also evident in the university research projects that focus on petroglyphs, and various ongoing documentation projects.SHFA has continued its basic mission to inventory and digitize all the rock art documentation in public and private archives. The scanned documents are stored in a database accessible to researchers and other interested parties via the web portal www.shfa.se. The information is also available in English, Danish and Italian. Since 2010 the portal has had over 700,000 visitors (August 2015), and has also become an important tool for the University’s third task, to disseminate research results to the community outside the academy. Our review deals with a number of books and articles that we have selected as representative of the research period in question; this is therefore not a complete account of everything published in 2010-2014.

Nämforsen – A Northern Rock Art Metropolis with Southern Pretences

In this article, the focus is on the rock carvings at Nämforsen, and the comprehensive study they... more In this article, the focus is on the rock carvings at Nämforsen, and the comprehensive study they have been subjected to over the past half-century. This applies to the documentation, dating and interpretation of the carvings and also to the surrounding archaeological context. Hallström’s starting point has been that the Northern Tradition masterpiece carvings were heavily influenced by the Southern Tradition, a view he later modified. Although other researchers have pointed to certain similarities to the Southern Tradition, the notion that the carvings belong to the Stone Age and are completely characterised by the northern hunting and trapping cultures has become very firmly established. One difficulty in this reasoning is that the two neighbouring settlements, Ställverket and Råinget, had their most intensive settlement during the Bronze Age i.e. after the period carvings are considered to have occurred. Another problem is apparent in the lack of bones of elk, and instead finds of bones of fish that indicate their food did not come from the animals they depicted the most. The author incorporates the numerous coastal burial cairns from the Bronze Age in the analysis and believes that, because they are to a large extent simultaneous with these settlements, they may also have a connection to the carvings. For these, he highlights a special type of manned ships that seem to occur at ‘strategic’ locations on the rocks. Moreover, bronze casting was done at Råinget. A possible explanation for these phenomena is the advancing Bell Beaker culture that also left its mark in the form of a very typical flint arrowhead at the Ställverket settlement. This shows that the area was drawn into a growing network of trade and exchange in the Bronze Age.

World heritage rock art documentation in Tanum – a brief history of methodology and projects until the early 2000s

Giving the Past a Future: Essays in Archaeology and Rock Art Studies in Honour of Dr. Phil. h.c. Gerhard Milstreu, 2018

In 1994, the Tanum rock art and rock carvings were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list. In the ... more In 1994, the Tanum rock art and rock carvings were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list. In the expert opinion of John Coles commissioned by ICOMOS, whose opinion became the basis for the World Heritage Committee’s decision, it was stipulated: “The rock carvings of Bohuslän are one of the treasures from the ancient world of the Nordic countries. Nowhere in the whole of Europe can such amount and variation in the vivid images carved into the rock surfaces be found” Coles 1994.

Scandinavia and Northern Europe

Rich's Vascular Trauma, 2016

Abstract In most Northern European countries, the incidence of trauma is low; and the majority of... more Abstract In most Northern European countries, the incidence of trauma is low; and the majority of vascular injuries are iatrogenic, up to 79% in some countries. Vascular surgery is an independent specialty or a subspecialty of general surgery; and the vascular surgeon is the one who is mainly responsible for the treatment of vascular injuries, except for Germany and The Netherlands where trauma surgeons perform the first-line surgery. Endovascular treatment options are available in most countries, but mainly in large academic centers. With increasing fragmentation of surgical training and with the growing potential of endovascular treatment options, major challenges remain in both the organization of emergency surgery care and the training of a new generation of surgeons who are capable of working in this new environment.

Introduction The petroglyphs at Nämforsen in Ångermanland, Sweden are a masterpiece among the Sca... more Introduction The petroglyphs at Nämforsen in Ångermanland, Sweden are a masterpiece among the Scandinavian rocks carvings, with its massive imagery of elks, ships and humans. The magnificent situation in the midst of the plangent rapids reinforces the northern accent. Although clear southern elements such as weapons, footprints and circle-crosses occur, the relatively low frequency of these phenomena seemingly has not affected the overall interpretation and dating of the site to any significant extent.

The Kivik tomb

New Perspectives on the Bronze Age

Bohuslän - ett experimentområde

Images on the Rocks and in the Archives - four centuries of documentations of prehistoric rock art in Sweden

Within the framework of the strategic plan for a new Vetenskapsradsprojekt that has just set up a... more Within the framework of the strategic plan for a new Vetenskapsradsprojekt that has just set up at Gothenburg University a research program with the title "From Ancient Remains for the Educated to Heritage for the Public and the World". The aim is to trace the historical changes from the first discovery of rock art until its present World Heritage status. By analyzing how social, cultural and academic forces have interacted and changed over time, imposrtant aspects of the formation of a cultural heritage will be illuminated and its interaction with the academic discourse could be studied.Traces from earlier societies and their notionl worlds are all around us.

Rock art at the end of the world. Rock paintings and engravings in Northern Sweden. pure hunting magic or reflections of shamanism

Gustav Hallstrom et d'autres chercheurs pensent que l'art rupestre de la Scandinavie du N... more Gustav Hallstrom et d'autres chercheurs pensent que l'art rupestre de la Scandinavie du Nord est le resultat de la magie de la chasse et qu'il s'est diffuse a partir du Nord vers le Sud. Mais les nouvelles decouvertes dans la Suede du Sud ont conduit a considerer de nouveau les theories precedentes. On a besoin d'examiner avec beaucoup d'attention des aspects de l'art rupestre qui ont ete negliges jusqu'a maintenant, comme la relation avec le milieu et la location dans le paysage. Plusieurs sites traditionels de la Scandinavie avec des peintures et des gravures ont ete examines de nouveau et compares avec ceux decouverts au sud-ouest. La position des peintures et des gravures est consideree tres importante, puisqu'elle indique une nouvelle facon de communiquer entre l'homme et la nature.

Carved footprints and prehistoric beliefs: examples of symbol and myth, practice and ideology

a first study of its design, sprawl, dating and interpretation in the archaeological source mater... more a first study of its design, sprawl, dating and interpretation in the archaeological source material as part of a further investigation of this theme (Bertilsson 2013). Case studies of signi4cant rock art sites in Sweden, Norway, Italy and Israel showed that the footprint is quite a general phenomenon, occurring in all these areas during the time period starting c. 3000 BC and continuing until at least 500 BC. The earliest dating applies to Har Karkom in Israel, and the youngest, Zurla in Valcamonica in Italy. The widespread occurrence of the symbol on the prehistoric rock pictures means that it must be perceived as a pictogram or an archetypal symbol (Anati 1993, Fredell 2003: 9). The footprints have been interpreted in different ways; as the epitome of an otherwise invisible deity, a sign of reverence or as a symbol of a dead person (Almgren 1962, Anati 1994, Gavaldo 2009) (for a series of further proposals for interpretation of footprints see Coles 2005: 52).

Rock carvings and the air pollution project in Sweden 1988-1996

Pour eviter la degradation des gravures rupestres dans la zone de Tanum, en Suede, l'auteur p... more Pour eviter la degradation des gravures rupestres dans la zone de Tanum, en Suede, l'auteur propose une serie d'interventions: telles que l'inventaire et la documentation des roches, le releve des deteriorations, et des actions preventives pour l'avenir. Une solution immediate au probleme est primordiale, puisque les effets negatifs de la pollution peuvent avoir des repercussions sur le patrimoine d'art rupestre au niveau mondial.

The rock carvings of Northern Bohuslan: Spatial structures and social symbols

An academic directory and search engine.

Old images - new fashions

Boundless rock art – symbols, contexts and times in prehistoric imagery of Fennoscandia

Archaeopress Publishing Ltd eBooks, Oct 31, 2015

Prehistoric Rock Art is abundant in Fennoscandia. An extreme varied richness of images, in the fo... more Prehistoric Rock Art is abundant in Fennoscandia. An extreme varied richness of images, in the form of paintings and engravings were produced during a period of time of about eight millennia. This affluence has given rise to an, equally, rich research tradition and a splitting of the rock art in two major blocks has been established. The blocks derive their origin from early-observed differences in mo- tives that, if we generalize, roughly, focused on animals instead of humans – zoomorphs instead of antropmorphs in rock art research terms; and in the technique used to make images cutting and polishing or painting instead of engraving; and when this was coupled with the observed spatial distribution – essentially northern and southern; and the, also observed, cultural context hunters and farmers, also then confirmed in dating – Stone Age and Bronze Age. As this picture gradually became clearer, the interpretation became the more entrenched. In tandem, these concepts thus represent the essence of these two, over time, increasingly strong, explicit and discursive research traditions, which are still mostly confirmed and rarely questioned. There has actually been a certain awareness of some overlap between the two major traditions, and that overlap will be our point of departure. A more common feature, however, is that research early focused on, and defined, what separates traditions, rather than on what they have in common. It is, nevertheless, important to note some scientists have had an awareness that rock art images may have a meaning also on a level different than a regional or local. A level that represents a wider dimension, with a Meta meaning of the images. The objective of this article is to take a closer look at those dichotomous relationships sketched above, by presenting examples, some hitherto unobserved, of images, symbols and panels that seem to transcend those fixed boundaries and to overcome these established concepts. Simultaneously, one can argue that pictures and symbols may have a different, more generic sense, corresponding with a broader geographic and temporal spread, on, what we like to call, a Meta level. And that this had a somewhat different reason than the specific geographical environment and the immediate surrounding landscape in which the peoples who produced the rock art in Fennoscandia lived. A cognitive research perspective inspires our analysis, where, primarily, thoughts and ideas, and not geographical environments, are the starting point of human action. Further, this implies that the human mind – psyche and thought – created the reality that she responded and reacted to. According to cognitive theory, the way in which humans interpret, think, remember and make decisions is based on internal cognitive schemas – organized patterns of thinking and actions that humans use to understand and respond to their experiences. This means that it could be possible to find similar pictorial representations in different areas of Fennoscandia and elsewhere in the world, independent of the natural environment and temporal representation.

Carved Footprints and Prehistoric Beliefs

Archaeopress Publishing Ltd eBooks, Feb 8, 2016

Biography of the Fossum Panel

The Fossum panel is doubtless one of the most famous rock art sites in the World Heritage of Tanu... more The Fossum panel is doubtless one of the most famous rock art sites in the World Heritage of Tanum. The highly narrativeperformance of the images and scenes andthe general composition of the entire panel have been stressed by yet many scholars over the years.The re-dating of many of the war related representational images at the site in Fossum is a significant result with clear implications for the interpretation of the meaning, function and use of this particular panel. Clearly, most of the warriors seem to have been made during the transition between period II-III.

Warriors and weapons

Weapons and Tools in Rock Art, 2021

Rock Art Studies: News of the World V

Rock Carvings Research is an established branch of archaeological research in Scandinavia, gradua... more Rock Carvings Research is an established branch of archaeological research in Scandinavia, gradually evolving since the 1980s and now one of the strongest fields of research. It is still in a phase of expansion, as shown by an increasing number of researchers and publications. During the period 2010-2014 about 10 theses, monographs and books were published, along with a far greater number of articles and reports. The expansion is also evident in the university research projects that focus on petroglyphs, and various ongoing documentation projects.SHFA has continued its basic mission to inventory and digitize all the rock art documentation in public and private archives. The scanned documents are stored in a database accessible to researchers and other interested parties via the web portal www.shfa.se. The information is also available in English, Danish and Italian. Since 2010 the portal has had over 700,000 visitors (August 2015), and has also become an important tool for the University’s third task, to disseminate research results to the community outside the academy. Our review deals with a number of books and articles that we have selected as representative of the research period in question; this is therefore not a complete account of everything published in 2010-2014.

Nämforsen – A Northern Rock Art Metropolis with Southern Pretences

In this article, the focus is on the rock carvings at Nämforsen, and the comprehensive study they... more In this article, the focus is on the rock carvings at Nämforsen, and the comprehensive study they have been subjected to over the past half-century. This applies to the documentation, dating and interpretation of the carvings and also to the surrounding archaeological context. Hallström’s starting point has been that the Northern Tradition masterpiece carvings were heavily influenced by the Southern Tradition, a view he later modified. Although other researchers have pointed to certain similarities to the Southern Tradition, the notion that the carvings belong to the Stone Age and are completely characterised by the northern hunting and trapping cultures has become very firmly established. One difficulty in this reasoning is that the two neighbouring settlements, Ställverket and Råinget, had their most intensive settlement during the Bronze Age i.e. after the period carvings are considered to have occurred. Another problem is apparent in the lack of bones of elk, and instead finds of bones of fish that indicate their food did not come from the animals they depicted the most. The author incorporates the numerous coastal burial cairns from the Bronze Age in the analysis and believes that, because they are to a large extent simultaneous with these settlements, they may also have a connection to the carvings. For these, he highlights a special type of manned ships that seem to occur at ‘strategic’ locations on the rocks. Moreover, bronze casting was done at Råinget. A possible explanation for these phenomena is the advancing Bell Beaker culture that also left its mark in the form of a very typical flint arrowhead at the Ställverket settlement. This shows that the area was drawn into a growing network of trade and exchange in the Bronze Age.

World heritage rock art documentation in Tanum – a brief history of methodology and projects until the early 2000s

Giving the Past a Future: Essays in Archaeology and Rock Art Studies in Honour of Dr. Phil. h.c. Gerhard Milstreu, 2018

In 1994, the Tanum rock art and rock carvings were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list. In the ... more In 1994, the Tanum rock art and rock carvings were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list. In the expert opinion of John Coles commissioned by ICOMOS, whose opinion became the basis for the World Heritage Committee’s decision, it was stipulated: “The rock carvings of Bohuslän are one of the treasures from the ancient world of the Nordic countries. Nowhere in the whole of Europe can such amount and variation in the vivid images carved into the rock surfaces be found” Coles 1994.

Scandinavia and Northern Europe

Rich's Vascular Trauma, 2016

Abstract In most Northern European countries, the incidence of trauma is low; and the majority of... more Abstract In most Northern European countries, the incidence of trauma is low; and the majority of vascular injuries are iatrogenic, up to 79% in some countries. Vascular surgery is an independent specialty or a subspecialty of general surgery; and the vascular surgeon is the one who is mainly responsible for the treatment of vascular injuries, except for Germany and The Netherlands where trauma surgeons perform the first-line surgery. Endovascular treatment options are available in most countries, but mainly in large academic centers. With increasing fragmentation of surgical training and with the growing potential of endovascular treatment options, major challenges remain in both the organization of emergency surgery care and the training of a new generation of surgeons who are capable of working in this new environment.

Introduction The petroglyphs at Nämforsen in Ångermanland, Sweden are a masterpiece among the Sca... more Introduction The petroglyphs at Nämforsen in Ångermanland, Sweden are a masterpiece among the Scandinavian rocks carvings, with its massive imagery of elks, ships and humans. The magnificent situation in the midst of the plangent rapids reinforces the northern accent. Although clear southern elements such as weapons, footprints and circle-crosses occur, the relatively low frequency of these phenomena seemingly has not affected the overall interpretation and dating of the site to any significant extent.

The Kivik tomb

New Perspectives on the Bronze Age

Bohuslän - ett experimentområde

Images on the Rocks and in the Archives - four centuries of documentations of prehistoric rock art in Sweden

Within the framework of the strategic plan for a new Vetenskapsradsprojekt that has just set up a... more Within the framework of the strategic plan for a new Vetenskapsradsprojekt that has just set up at Gothenburg University a research program with the title "From Ancient Remains for the Educated to Heritage for the Public and the World". The aim is to trace the historical changes from the first discovery of rock art until its present World Heritage status. By analyzing how social, cultural and academic forces have interacted and changed over time, imposrtant aspects of the formation of a cultural heritage will be illuminated and its interaction with the academic discourse could be studied.Traces from earlier societies and their notionl worlds are all around us.

Rock art at the end of the world. Rock paintings and engravings in Northern Sweden. pure hunting magic or reflections of shamanism

Gustav Hallstrom et d'autres chercheurs pensent que l'art rupestre de la Scandinavie du N... more Gustav Hallstrom et d'autres chercheurs pensent que l'art rupestre de la Scandinavie du Nord est le resultat de la magie de la chasse et qu'il s'est diffuse a partir du Nord vers le Sud. Mais les nouvelles decouvertes dans la Suede du Sud ont conduit a considerer de nouveau les theories precedentes. On a besoin d'examiner avec beaucoup d'attention des aspects de l'art rupestre qui ont ete negliges jusqu'a maintenant, comme la relation avec le milieu et la location dans le paysage. Plusieurs sites traditionels de la Scandinavie avec des peintures et des gravures ont ete examines de nouveau et compares avec ceux decouverts au sud-ouest. La position des peintures et des gravures est consideree tres importante, puisqu'elle indique une nouvelle facon de communiquer entre l'homme et la nature.

Carved footprints and prehistoric beliefs: examples of symbol and myth, practice and ideology

a first study of its design, sprawl, dating and interpretation in the archaeological source mater... more a first study of its design, sprawl, dating and interpretation in the archaeological source material as part of a further investigation of this theme (Bertilsson 2013). Case studies of signi4cant rock art sites in Sweden, Norway, Italy and Israel showed that the footprint is quite a general phenomenon, occurring in all these areas during the time period starting c. 3000 BC and continuing until at least 500 BC. The earliest dating applies to Har Karkom in Israel, and the youngest, Zurla in Valcamonica in Italy. The widespread occurrence of the symbol on the prehistoric rock pictures means that it must be perceived as a pictogram or an archetypal symbol (Anati 1993, Fredell 2003: 9). The footprints have been interpreted in different ways; as the epitome of an otherwise invisible deity, a sign of reverence or as a symbol of a dead person (Almgren 1962, Anati 1994, Gavaldo 2009) (for a series of further proposals for interpretation of footprints see Coles 2005: 52).

Rock carvings and the air pollution project in Sweden 1988-1996

Pour eviter la degradation des gravures rupestres dans la zone de Tanum, en Suede, l'auteur p... more Pour eviter la degradation des gravures rupestres dans la zone de Tanum, en Suede, l'auteur propose une serie d'interventions: telles que l'inventaire et la documentation des roches, le releve des deteriorations, et des actions preventives pour l'avenir. Une solution immediate au probleme est primordiale, puisque les effets negatifs de la pollution peuvent avoir des repercussions sur le patrimoine d'art rupestre au niveau mondial.

The rock carvings of Northern Bohuslan: Spatial structures and social symbols

An academic directory and search engine.

Old images - new fashions

In this article, the focus is on the rock carvings at Nämforsen, and the comprehensive study they... more In this article, the focus is on the rock carvings at Nämforsen, and the comprehensive study they have been subjected to over the past half-century. This applies to the documentation, dating and interpretation of the carvings and also to the surrounding archaeological context. Hallström’s starting point has been that the Northern Tradition masterpiece carvings were heavily influenced by the Southern Tradition, a view he later modified. Although other researchers have pointed to certain similarities to the Southern Tradition, the notion that the carvings belong to the Stone Age and are completely characterised by the northern

hunting and trapping cultures has become very firmly established. One difficulty in this reasoning is that the two neighbouring settlements, Ställverket and Råinget, had their most intensive settlement during the Bronze Age i.e. after the period carvings are considered to have occurred. Another problem is apparent in the lack of bones of elk, and instead finds of bones of fish that indicate their food did not come from the animals they depicted the most. The author incorporates the numerous coastal burial cairns from the Bronze Age in the analysis and believes that, because they are to a large extent simultaneous with these settlements, they may also have a connection to the carvings. For these, he highlights a special type of manned ships that seem to occur at ‘strategic’ locations on the rocks. Moreover, bronze casting was done at Råinget. A possible explanation for these phenomena is the advancing Bell Beaker culture that also left its mark in the form of a very typical flint arrowhead at the Ställverket settlement. This shows that the area was drawn into a growing network of trade and exchange in the Bronze Age.