Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T11:41:05.981Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

To all our relations: evidence of Sámi involvement in the creation of rock paintings in Finland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2013

Francis Joy
Francis Joy*
Affiliation:
The Faculty of Art and Design, The Arctic Centre, University of Lapland, P.O. Box 122, Rovaniemi, Finland (francis.joy@ulapland.fi)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Research undertaken between 1960 to 1990 into what was once a rock painting tradition in Finland, lacked a clear understanding of parallels between the painted figures found at rock painting locations in the southern and central areas of the country, and the motifs painted on the heads of Sámi shaman divination drums from Lapland. However, due to the discovery and analysis of the content of more rock painting sites in Finland from 1990 up to the present, a more comprehensive framework has emerged in which scholars from across different academic disciplines have discovered many more similar characteristics linking the rock paintings and drum symbolism. These recent findings point towards the survival of a nature based sacrificial religion from the Stone Age era in Finland. The source of this was shamanistic in its essence, and is seen portrayed on rock and boulder formations by hunters similarly to how figures were illustrated on drum heads by the Sámi shamans from the nomadic era of the 17th and 18th centuries in Lapland. This more recent recognition strengthens the argument for Sámi involvement in the creation of rock paintings in Finland.

Type
Notes
Information
Polar Record , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 108 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Autio, E. 1995. Horned anthropomorphic figures in Finnish rock-paintings: shamans or something else? Helsinki: The Archaeological Society of Finland (Fennoscandia Archaeologica 12): 13–18.Google Scholar
Joy, F. 2011. The history of Lapland and the case of the sámi noaidi drum figures reversed. URL: http://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol47/joy.pdf (accessed 19 March 2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kare, A. 2000. Rock paintings in Finland. In: Kare, A. (editor). MYANNDASH: Rock art in the ancient Arctic. Rovaniemi: Arctic Centre Foundation: 98–127.Google Scholar
Kivikäs, P. 1995. Kallionmaalaukset muinainen kuva-arkisto [Paintings on rock: an ancient picture archive]. Jyväskylä: Gummerus Kirjapaino Oy.Google Scholar
Kivikäs, P. 1990. Saraakallio – munaiset kuvat [Saraakallio ancient images]. Jyväskyla: Atena.Google Scholar
Laestadius, L.-L. 1838–1840. Fragments of Lappish mythology. Canada: Aspasia Books (Reprint 2002).Google Scholar
Lahelma, A. 2001. Kalliomaalaukset ja shamanismi – tulkintaa neuropsychologian ja maalausten sijainnin valossa [rock paintings and shamanism: interpreting in the light of neuropsychology and the location of the paintings]. Muinaistutkija 2/200. 2–21.Google Scholar
Lahelma, A. 2005. Between the worlds. Rock art, landscape and shamanism in subneolothic Finland. Norwegian Archaeological Review 38 (1): 29–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lahelma, A. 2008. Communicating with stone persons. Anthropomorphism, Saami religion and Finnish rock art. In: A touch of red: archaeological and ethnographic approaches to interpreting Finnish rock paintings. Helsinki: Suomen Muinaismuistoyhdistys ry - Finska Fornminnesföreningen rf. (The Finnish Antiquarian Society): 121–142.Google Scholar
Luukkonen, I. 1994–2011. Suomen kalliomaalauksia [Finnish rock paintings]. URL: http://www.ismoluukkonen.net/kalliotaide/suomi/ (accessed 19 March 2013).Google Scholar
Manker, E.M. 1938. Die lappische zaubertrommel. Eine ethnologische monographie. 1, die trommel als denkmal materieller kultur. Stockholm: Thule (Acta Lapponica 1).Google Scholar
Manker, E.M 1950. Die lappische zaubertrommel: eine ethnologische monographie. 2, die trommel als urkunde geistigen lebens. Stockholm: Gebers (Acta Lapponica 6).Google Scholar
Pekonen, O. 1999. Raising a storm. In: Books from Finland 33(1). Helsinki: Helsinki University Library: 55–59.Google Scholar
Pulkkinen, R., Seurujärvi-Kari, I. and Kulonen, U.M.. 2005. The Saami: a cultural encyclopedia. Helsinki: The Finnish Literary Society (SKS Kirjat).Google Scholar
Simola, H. 2001. Kallioon piirretyt kuvat: retki Äänisen kallionpiirrosten maailmaan [Images drawn onto rock: journey to the rock drawings world of Ääninen]. Muinaistutkija 4/2001: 33–42.Google Scholar
Siikala, A.L. 1981. Finnish rock art, animal ceremonialism and shamanism. In: Temenos: studies in comparative religion, presented by scholars in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden 17. Helsinki: Finnish Society for the study of Comparative Religion: 81–100.Google Scholar