Picturing the Bronze Age
Published on 15. April 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
184 pages
978-1-78925-985-8 (ISBN)
Description
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. Fourteen 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.
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.
Reviews / Votes
The prehistoric traditions of creating images on open-air rock faces is well-known as a truly pan-European phenomenon. However, its importance in demonstrating local distinctiveness, shared concepts or wider social structures is frequently only brought out through collaborative international research. This volume makes a significant contribution to such endeavours. * Antiquaries Journal *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
fully color illustrated
Dimensions
Height: 279 mm
Width: 216 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-78925-985-8 (9781789259858)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Ling Johan Ling | Skoglund Peter Skoglund | Bertilsson Ulf Bertilsson
Picturing the Bronze Age
E-Book
02/2015
Oxbow Books
€25.49
Available for download
Ling Johan Ling | Skoglund Peter Skoglund | Bertilsson Ulf Bertilsson
Picturing the Bronze Age
E-Book
02/2015
OXBOW BOOKS
€25.49
Available for download
Persons
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 of lead isotope analyses on bronze items to investigate the possibility of copper extraction in 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, rock art and trees. His latest research involves the application of new dating evidence for the chronological and geographical framework of rock art in South and Central 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.
Content
Picturing the Bronze Age - an introduction
Johan Ling, Peter Skoglund and Ulf Bertilsson
From folk oddities and remarkable relics for the educated to scientific substrates for archaeologists - 135 years of changing perceptions of the rock carvings in Northern Bohuslaen, Sweden
Ulf Bertilsson
Hyper-Masculinity and the Construction of Gender Identities in the Bronze Age Rock Carvings of Southern Sweden
Lynne Bevan
Mixed media, mixed messages: religious transmission in Bronze Age Scandinavia
Richard Bradley
Walking on the stones of years. Some remarks on the NW Iberian rock art
R. Fabregas Valcarce & C. Rodriguez-Rellan
A rock with a view: New perspectives on Danish rock art
Louise Felding
Rock art and the alchemy of bronze. Metal and images in Early Bronze Age Scotland
Andrew Meirion Jones
The Stranger King (Bull) and Rock art
Michael Rowlands and Johan Ling
Trading images: exchange, transformation and identity in Valcamonica rock-art between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age
Alberto Marretta
Carl Georg Brunius. A Pioneer in Swedish Petroglyph Research from the Early Nineteenth Century Jarl Nordbladh
The maritime factor in the distribution of Bronze Age rock art in Galicia
Manuel Santos-Estevez and Alejandro Gueimil-Farina
The Alpine and Scandinavian Rock Art in the Bronze Age: a Common Cultural Matrix in a Web of Continental Influences
Umberto Sansoni
Rock-art as history Representations of human images in a historical perspective
Peter Skoglund
Sword-Wielders and Manslaughter. Recently Discovered Images on the Rock Carvings of Brastad, Western Sweden
Andreas Toreld
Johan Ling, Peter Skoglund and Ulf Bertilsson
From folk oddities and remarkable relics for the educated to scientific substrates for archaeologists - 135 years of changing perceptions of the rock carvings in Northern Bohuslaen, Sweden
Ulf Bertilsson
Hyper-Masculinity and the Construction of Gender Identities in the Bronze Age Rock Carvings of Southern Sweden
Lynne Bevan
Mixed media, mixed messages: religious transmission in Bronze Age Scandinavia
Richard Bradley
Walking on the stones of years. Some remarks on the NW Iberian rock art
R. Fabregas Valcarce & C. Rodriguez-Rellan
A rock with a view: New perspectives on Danish rock art
Louise Felding
Rock art and the alchemy of bronze. Metal and images in Early Bronze Age Scotland
Andrew Meirion Jones
The Stranger King (Bull) and Rock art
Michael Rowlands and Johan Ling
Trading images: exchange, transformation and identity in Valcamonica rock-art between the Bronze Age and the Iron Age
Alberto Marretta
Carl Georg Brunius. A Pioneer in Swedish Petroglyph Research from the Early Nineteenth Century Jarl Nordbladh
The maritime factor in the distribution of Bronze Age rock art in Galicia
Manuel Santos-Estevez and Alejandro Gueimil-Farina
The Alpine and Scandinavian Rock Art in the Bronze Age: a Common Cultural Matrix in a Web of Continental Influences
Umberto Sansoni
Rock-art as history Representations of human images in a historical perspective
Peter Skoglund
Sword-Wielders and Manslaughter. Recently Discovered Images on the Rock Carvings of Brastad, Western Sweden
Andreas Toreld