The Shore Connection. Cognitive Landscape and Communication with Rock Carvings in Northernmost Europe

Abstract

The rock carvings in Scandinavia and Northern Russia are predominantly located in the shore area. It is argued that this location is connected with a basic cosmology where the cosmos is divided into an upper (in the sky), a middle (on earth) and a lower (under the ground/water) world. It is argued that the shore is the only landscape where the three cosmic worlds and natural zones water, earth, sky meet and, as such, the rock carvings signify liminal places where communication between the human and the three spirit worlds of the cosmos was made. The 'interaction' of some compositions of carved figures with structures in the rock surface both illustrate the tripartite division of the cosmos and indicate that the carvings and the rock surface together depict a cosmic landscape, that they in fact represent a cosmic map and a cosmological story or stories.