Beyond ‘the Phenomenological Walk’: Perspectives on the Experience of Images

Abstract

Scandinavian rock art has been of major interest for archaeological studies of a phenomenological character. By reflecting on the experience of rock art it has been argued that images choreograph movement and that this embodied interaction reflects both social order and world views. This perspective has been applied in studies of both open-air rock art and images in the confined spaces of caves. When critically evaluating these efforts, it seems clear that these phenomenological studies reduce rock art to a mere representation of the experience of place. Phenomenology also fails to challenge the assumption that the meaning of images is created primarily by the intentions of its creator. It is therefore suggested that, in order to discuss the experience of images as meaningful, we need to develop the phenomenological theory of embodiment into a material phenomenology. This material turn enables us to problematize the relationship between intentionality and the meaning of images, which could lead to a perspective where rock art affects both the experience of place and of landscape and the creation of new images. Consequently, an archaeology of images should treat rock art as an expression which creates and maintains practices and relations with places and landscapes.

Keywords:

• Rock art
• theory
• phenomenology
• materiality
• archaeology of images

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the editors of the Norwegian Archaeological Review, one anonymous referee and Joanna Brück for the constructive comments on this paper. I also wish to thank Mats Burström and Fredrik Fahlander for commenting on earlier drafts of this paper and Pamela Boston for straightening out my English.