A Narrative Turn: Human Agency in Rock Carvings at Nämforsen, Northern Sweden

The idea to create pictorial narratives seems to have occurred long after humans learned to produce iconic images, that is, depictions based on visual similarity to external objects. In Scandinavia, e.g., in Gärde, Sweden or Stykket and Bøla, Norway, early Mesolithic images (e.g., rock carvings from before c. 5000 BCE) often feature animals that are solitary or without suggestion of causal or narrative relations to other figures (although they sometimes are grouped by proximity or are superimposed on each other). Notable is also the almost complete absence of human figures. However, in subsequent Neolithic configurations (after c. 5000 BCE), there are renderings of human agents involved in various forms of interaction with each other or with animals, often within distinguishable “scenes” or compositions.

In this paper we outline the emergence of pictorial narratives in Scandinavian rock carvings. In particular, we focus on some of the first depictions of human agency as displayed in Nämforsen, Sweden (c. 5000-1800 BCE). Further, we present an analysis of occurring human-animal relationships, interpretable as early attempts to create narrativizing images.