Skillnadens dimensioner

Abstract

Size Matters: The Significance of Dimensional Displacements in Rock Art This paper aims to discuss displacements in size and materiality as an option to stylistic and typological approaches in archaeology. Although displacements in dimensions often have a practical and functional background, the cumulative result of such shifts often have unforeseen and unintended effects which may result in new forms and material constellations. In this sense, relations between the material and size constitute a platform that partially bypasses relativism and one-dimensional links between materiality and ideology that often are the case of interpretative and representational methodologies. As an alternative, a non-representational and relational approach is explored. It is illustrated by two examples concerning rock art of the Late Neolithic – Early Bronze Age in northern Europe. The petroglyphs are perceived as “material articulations” that are not simply representing or reflecting past worlds – but are integrated parts of them. By stressing displacements in dimensions it is apparent that the petroglyphs are part of relations that transgress cultural and regional contexts.