A Touch of Red: Archaeological and Ethnographic Approaches to Interpreting Finnish Rock Paintings (ISKOS, 15)

This thesis is formed by an introductory essay and five peer-reviewed papers. In the introduction, the papers are referred to according to their Roman numerals. Approximately 125 prehistoric rock paintings have been found in the modern territory of Finland. The paintings were done with red ochre and are almost without exception located on steep lakeshore cliffs associated with ancient water routes. Most of the sites are found in the central and eastern parts of the country, especially on the shores of Lakes Päijänne and Saimaa. Using shore displacement chronology, the art has been dated to ca. 5000–1500 BC. It was thus created mainly during the Stone Age and can be associated with the so-called 'Comb Ware' cultures of the Subneolithic period. The range of motifs is rather limited, consisting mainly of schematic depictions of stick-figure humans, elks, boats, handprints and geometric signs. Few paintings include any evidence of narrative scenes, making their interpretation a rather difficult task. In Finnish archaeological literature, the paintings have traditionally been associated with 'sympathetic' hunting magic, or the belief that the ritual shooting of the painted animals would increase hunting luck. Some writers have also suggested totemistic and shamanistic readings of the art. This dissertation is a critical review of the interpretations offered of Finnish rock art and an exploration of the potentials of archaeological and ethnographic research in increasing our knowledge of its meaning. Methods used include 'formal' approaches such as archaeological excavation, landscape analysis and the application of neuropsychological research to the study of rock art, as well as ethnographically 'informed' approaches that make use of Saami and Baltic Finnish ethnohistorical sources in interpretation. Approximately 125 prehistoric rock paintings have been found in the modern territory of Finland. The paintings were done with red ochre and are almost without exception located on steep lakeshore cliffs associated with ancient water routes. Most of the sites are found in the central and eastern parts of the country, especially on the shores of Lakes Pijnne and Saimaa. Using shore displacement chronology, the art has been dated to ca. 5000 1500 BC. It was thus created mainly during the Stone Age and can be associated with the so-called Comb Ware cultures of the Subneolithic period. The range of motifs is rather limited, consisting mainly of schematic depictions of stick-figure humans, elks, boats, handprints and geometric signs. Few paintings include any evidence of narrative scenes, making their interpretation a rather difficult task. In Finnish archaeological literature, the paintings have traditionally been associated with sympathetic hunting magic, or the belief that the ritual shooting of the painted animals would increase hunting luck. Some writers have also suggested totemistic and shamanistic readings of the art. This dissertation is a critical review of the interpretations offered of Finnish rock art and an exploration of the potentials of archaeological and ethnographic research in increasing our knowledge of its meaning. Methods used include formal approaches such as archaeological excavation, landscape analysis and the application of neuropsychological research to the study of rock art, as well as ethnographically informed approaches that make use of Saami and Baltic Finnish ethnohistorical sources in interpretation. In conclusion, it is argued that although North European hunter-gatherer rock art is often thought to lie beyond the reach of informed knowledge, the exceptional continuity of prehistoric settlement in Finland validates the informed approach in the interpretation of Finnish rock paintings. The art can be confidently associated with shamanism of the kind still practiced by the Saami of Northern Fennoscandia in the historical period. Evidence of similar shamanistic practices, concepts and cosmology are also found in traditional Finnish-Karelian epic poetry. Previous readings of the art based on hunting magic and totemism are rejected. Most of the paintings appear to depict experiences of falling into a trance, of shamanic metamorphosis and trance journeys, and of spirit helper beings comparable to those employed by the Saami shaman (noaidi). As demonstrated by the results of an excavation at the rock painting of Valkeisaari, the painted cliffs themselves find a close parallel in the Saami cult of the 'sieidi', or sacred cliffs and boulders worshipped as expressing a supernatural power. Like the Saami, the prehistoric inhabitants of the Finnish Lake Region seem to have believed that certain cliffs were alive and inhabited by the spirit helpers of the shaman. The rock paintings can thus be associated with shamanic vision quests, and the making of art with an effort to socialize the other members of the community, especially the ritual specialists, with trance visions. However, the paintings were not merely to be looked at. The red ochre handprints pressed on images of elks, as well as the fact that many paintings appear smeared, indicate that they were also to be touched perhaps in order to tap into the supernatural potency inherent in the cliff and in the paintings of spirit animals. Preface 6 List of papers 8 Abstract 9 1 Introduction 10 1.1 The main research questions 10 1.2 Methods used 11 1.2.1 Informed methods 12 1.2.2 Formal methods 12 1.2.3 General analogy 14 1.3 Sources 14 1.4 Structure of the dissertation 15 2 Location, subject matter and dating. 18 2.1 Finnish rock paintings and the 'circumpolar rock art belt' 18 2.2 Location and geographical distribution 20 2.3 The range of motifs 23 2.3.1 Anthropomorphs 25 2.3.2 Cervids 25 2.3.3 Boats 25 2.3.4 Non-cervid animals 26 2.3.5 Geometric figures and handprints 27 2.4 A short history of research 28 2.4.1 Beginnings 28 2.4.2 The decades of professional research (1960s and 70s) 30 2.4.3 The amateurs take over (1980s and 90s) 30 2.4.4 Recent developments 31 2.5 How old is the art? 33 2.5.1 Shoreline dating of rock paintings 33 2.5.2 Iconographic parallels 35 2.5.3 Associated finds 37 2.5.4 Conclusion 40 2.6 Dating changes in motif types 41 2.7 Prehistoric cultural context 42 3 Interpretation 45 3.1 Previous interpretations 45 3.2 Initial hypothesis 48 3.3 The concept of 'shamanism' 49 3.4 Reading Finnish rock art 51 3.4.1 Elk and human figures 52 3.4.2 Boats 56 3.4.3 Geometric figures 57 3.5 "A touch of red" 59 4 Conclusion 62 References 65 Appendix 1: The account of a Saami shamanic séance in "Historia Norvegiae" 192 Appendix 2: A list of figures represented in Finnish rock paintings 194 Appendix 3: A catalogue of Finnish rock painting sites known in 2007 200