Rock Art and Trade Networks: From Scandinavia to the Italian Alps

Lene Melheim,Anette Sand-Eriksen

doi:10.1515/opar-2020-0101

Abstract

AbstractThis article uses rock art to explore potential bonds between Scandinavia and Italy, starting in the second half of the third millennium BCE with the enigmatic Mjeltehaugen burial monument in coastal western Norway and its striking rock art images, and ending in the first millennium BCE with ship motifs in inland Val Camonica, Italy. While the carved dagger on the Mjeltehaugen slab is unique in its Nordic setting, such weapon depictions are frequently seen on the Continent, e.g. in South Tyrol, and more often in later Nordic rock art. Strong evidence of trade relations between the Italian Alps and Scandinavia is found c. 1500–1100 BCE when the importation of copper from South Tyrol coincided with two-way transmission of luxury items, and again in a different form, c. 1000–700 BCE when strong similarities in burial traditions between the two areas may be seen as evidence of direct cultural connections or a shared cultural koiné. In order to understand the social fabric of these relations and how they unfolded through time, the authors discuss several different models of interaction. It is hypothesised that rock art practices played a role in establishing and maintaining durable social relations, through what we consider to be a two-way transmission of symbolic concepts and iconography during seasonal meetings related to trade and travel.

Highlights

Recent approaches building on provenance analysis of copper have contributed to widening our knowledge about the metal networks that the northerners got their copper and tin from during the Nordic Bronze Age (NBA)
From c. 1000 BCE with the spread of house or hut urns, notable similarities occur in burial customs and funerary pottery between Nordic and Italian groups, a phenomenon described by Sabatini (2007) as a material koiné – a cultural space of shared values. In line with these previous studies, we consider trade, gift-exchange and other forms of cultural exchange to be mutually influential in shaping relations between Scandinavia and Italy during the Bronze Age
We have used rock art imagery to better understand the character of the social networks that enhanced travel and trade during the Bronze Age

Summary

Introduction

Recent approaches building on provenance analysis of copper have contributed to widening our knowledge about the metal networks that the northerners got their copper and tin from during the Nordic Bronze Age (NBA). Aiming at further contextualizing the data from metal analysis, this paper will approach rock art as a potential indicator of cultural contact and connections between Scandinavia and the Italian Alps through the second millennium BCE (Figure 1 & 5); connections that were manifested through the exchange of luxury items and similarities in burial practices. This forces us to reconsider received theories about metal circulation, exchange mechanisms, and cultural transmission, and not least, the social aspects of these exchange relations, which are yet only partially explored and understood (Melheim et al, 2018b). Similarities in material culture between Scandinavia and Italy have been noted in metalwork and pottery

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Discussion

Conclusion