Rock Art and the Wild Mind: Visual Imagery in Mesolithic Northern Europe

by Ingrid Fuglestvedt

Rock Art and the Wild Mind presents a study of Mesolithic rock art on the Scandinavian peninsula, including the large rock art sites in Alta, Nämforsen and Vingen. Hunters’ rock art of this area, despite local styles, bears a strong commonality in what it depicts, most often terrestrial big game in diverse confrontations with the human realm. The various types of compositions are defined as visual thematizations of the enigmatic relationship between humans and big game animals. These thematizations, here defined as motemes , are explained as being products of the Mesolithic mind ‘in action’, observed through repetitions, variations and transformations of a number of defined motemes. Through a transformational logic, the transition from ‘animic’ to ‘totemic’ rock art is observed. Totemic rock art reaches a peak during the final stages of the Late Mesolithic, and it is suggested that this can be interpreted as representing an increasing focus on human society towards the end of this era. The move from animism to totemism is explained as being part of the overall social development on the Scandinavian peninsula. This book will be of interest to students of rock art generally and scholars working on the historical developments of prehistoric hunter-gatherers in northern Europe. It will also appeal to students and academics in the fields of art history and aesthetics and to those interested in the work of Lévi-Strauss.

458 pages, Hardcover

Published December 19, 2017

Reviews

[Nyr-Sigtar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ingrid Fuglestvedt's Rock Art and the Wild Mind is a bracingly ambitious attempt to bring Lévi-Straussian structuralism back into the study of Mesolithic rock art, and the results are as dazzling as they are occasionally maddening. Fuglestvedt argues persuasively that Scandinavian hunters' rock art represents "visual thinking" rather than illustrated myths - compositions that function more like music than language, repeating and transforming motemes (visual themes) in ways that reflect the "wild thinking" of concrete, analogical logic. Her analysis of the Alta rock art is genuinely revelatory, showing how simple motifs like circles, zigzags, and diamond patterns emerge from the visual contraction of human figures into graphic designs, and how the "herd of big game" motif serves as a key metaphor for human society. The chapters on animism and totemism are theoretically sophisticated, though they require patience with Descola's ontological framework. Where the book falters is in its relentless theoretical density - Fuglestvedt assumes deep familiarity with Lévi-Strauss, and the prose can be impenetrable for the uninitiated. The shamanism critique is devastating (and overdue), but one wonders if the structuralist approach is doing real work or simply imposing order on inherently ambiguous data. Still, for rock art specialists willing to wrestle with it, this is a major contribution that fundamentally reframes how we understand Mesolithic visual culture. Just don't expect a page-turner.