Imaginary vessels in the Late Bronze age of Gotland and south Scandinavia : Ship settings, rock carvings and decorated metalwork

• The paper compares the Bronze Age ship settings of Gotland with the vessels portrayed in rock carvings on the Scandinavian mainland. It also makes comparisons with the drawings of vessels on decorated metalwork of the same period. It considers their interpretation in relation to two approaches taken to the depictions of ships in other media. One concerns the use of boats to transport the sun, while the other emphasises the close relationship between seagoing vessels and the dead. A third possibility concerns the distinctive organisation of prehistoric communities on Gotland. It seems possible that the largest of the ship settings were equivalent to the Bronze Age cult houses found on the mainland and that they may even have represented the island itself.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- Archaeology (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Bronze age

gotland

scandinavia

ship setting

rock carving

metalwork

ship

sun

death

house urn

Archaeology, North European

Arkeologi, nordeuropeisk

Kulturvård

Conservation

Bronze Age

ships

Gotland

rock carvings

metalwork

sun

death

house urns

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)