Between the Worlds. Rock Art, Landscape and Shamanism in Subneolithic Finland

The Finnish rock paintings, dated to ca. 5000–1500 cal. BC, form a significant but so far relatively poorly known body of rock art in Northern Europe. The paintings are made with red ochre on steep cliffs rising at lakeshores and typically feature images of elks, men, boats, handprints and geometric designs. Traditional interpretations associate the art with shamanism. This interpretation, it is argued, finds additional support from the presence of a group of images that appear to portray experiences of metamorphosis, of falling in trance and of summoning zoomorphic spirit helper beings. Moreover, the location of the paintings can similarly be viewed in the light of a shamanistic cosmology. Ethnographic analogies are sought in aspects of Saami shamanism and the cult of the sieidi, rock formations worshipped as expressing a supernatural power.