The Circumpolar Context of the ‘Sun Ship’ Motif in South Scandinavian Rock Art (original) (raw)

Historically, the two ‘great traditions’ of north European rock art – the South Scandinavian type and the hunters’ rock art of the north – have been studied by diff erent scholars working within diff erent research traditions. Even though the two rock art traditions overlap in both space and time, and show some evidence of communication and interaction, the scholarly traditions rarely do, but tend to interpret each type of rock art according to models that seem oblivious to each other. This paper takes a look at the interpretations off ered for a single type of motif in South Scandinavian rock art, the ‘sun ship’ or a ship fi gure that is associated with or attached to a symbol of the sun, and examines it in the context of the hunters’ rock art. Ever since Oscar Almgren and others, the motif has played a central role in interpretations of Bronze Age rock art: it has been associated with elements of Indo-European mythology, and its roots have been traced to the Mediterranean world and Ancient Egypt. However, there is a lesser known research tradition, represented mainly by Russian and North American scholars, that points out parallels to the same motif also in the rock art of the northern circumpolar zone. Given other evidence of rock art phenomena with a circumpolar distribution, as well as the general resurgence of circumpolar studies, these ‘sun ships of the east’ do not appear isolated or incidental but would merit more attention in interpretations of South Scandinavian rock art.