Exploring ideas behind the whale images in the Norwegian Rock Art Record

Abstract

The paper discusses alternative explanations to hunting perspectives that have represented the most common explanatory framework when prehistoric whale images or other animal species are interpreted and explained within rock art studies. On the basis of iconographical examples of the Northern Tradition rock art of Norway, dated to the Late Mesolithic (approximately 6-7000 cal BP), it will be argued that complex rock art depictions that have survived for thousands of years still store past content that can be extracted to provide a deeper insight into how animals were understood in the past, going beyond the idea of whales purely as prey to be hunted.

Keywords

• Northern tradition
• Rock art
• Norway
• sea mammal
• whale
• Mesolithic