Picturing the Bronze Age: 3 (Swedish Rock Art Research Series) - Hardcover

Pictures from the Bronze Age are numerous, vivid and complex. There is no other prehistoric period that has produced such a wide range of images spanning from rock art to figurines to decoration on bronzes and gold. Fifteen papers, with a geographical coverage from Scandinavia to the Iberian Peninsula, examine a wide range of topics reflecting the many forms and expressions of Bronze Age imagery encompassing important themes including religion, materiality, mobility, interaction, power and gender. Contributors explore specific elements of rock art in some detail such as the representation of the human form; images of manslaughter; and gender identities. The relationship between rock art imagery and its location on the one hand, and metalwork and networks of trade and exchange of both materials and ideas on the other, are considered. Modern and ancient perceptions of rock art are discussed, in particular the changing perceptions that have developed during almost 150 years of documented research. Picturing the Bronze Age is based on an international workshop with the same title held in Tanum, Sweden in October 2012.

Johan Ling is a researcher and lecturer at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History in Gothenburg. His research interests are primarily in rock art, its chronology and landscapes, particularly the relationship between rock art and shore displacement in Bronze Age Sweden; and in the use lead isotope analyses on bronze items to investigate the possibility of copper extraction Sweden at that time. Peter Skoglund is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Gothenburg. His main research interest is Scandinavian Bronze Age material culture, especially regional variations in material culture and the relationship between local material expressions and external influences, with particular reference to monuments and rock art. His latest research involves the application of new dating evidence for the chronological and geographical framework of rock art in South Sweden and its social and ritual significance. Ulf Bertilsson is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Gothenburg with research interests in the interpretation of Bronze Age rock art and, particularly its cosmological referents. He has been a key player in the establishment and development of the Swedish rock art archive held by the university.