AnthropologiePub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2025-12-22DOI: 10.1016/j.anthro.2025.103445
Eugen Kolpakov
{"title":"Rock art of the Kola North","authors":"Eugen Kolpakov","doi":"10.1016/j.anthro.2025.103445","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anthro.2025.103445","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article provides brief information about the ancient rock art of the Kola North, the far northwest of Russia. Four rock art sites were discovered from 1973 to 1997 in this geographic region: Kanozero, Čalmn-Varrė, Pyaive, Maika. The proposed typological dating for Kanozero is 4000–2000 BC. There are zoomorphs, ichthyomorphs, ornithomorphs, anthropomorphs, boats, traces of anthropomorphs and zoomorphs, various geometric figures on these sites. All figures are made in a silhouette style, with exception of a few anthropomorphs, which have something depicted inside the body (pregnant women). A third part of compositions depict sea hunting for cetaceans. A quarter of the rock compositions reflects relationships of anthropomorphs, humans and/or mythical creatures. Kola rock carvings fit well into the wide range of hunter/fisher/gatherers rock art of the Northern Europe, despite many differences. The fact that individual figures and rock compositions break down into a small number of very standardized types suggests that mythological stories rather than “scenes from life” were depicted.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46860,"journal":{"name":"Anthropologie","volume":"130 1","pages":"Article 103445"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145840012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AnthropologiePub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-04-15DOI: 10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103459
Bettina Schulz Paulsson
{"title":"Transmission symbolique et la mer dans l’Europe mégalithique (4700–2500 cal av. J.-C.)","authors":"Bettina Schulz Paulsson","doi":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103459","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103459","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents the summarized outcomes of a comparative study of the megalithic art in Europe in order to analyze and explain how inter-cultural exchange between prehistoric societies (∼4500–2500<!--> <!-->cal BC) shaped megalithic art, and to theorize and interpret the significance and function of these images. New research is consistent with the conclusion that the Megalith builders undertook long-distance voyages enabled by skills in shipbuilding and navigation ∼2000<!--> <!-->years earlier than the previously proposed Bronze Age date (Schulz Paulsson, 2017, 2019). The chronology and coastal setting of the ∼35,000 still existing European megalithic graves and standing stones, widespread trade in green stone artefacts and a shared symbolic universe indicate societies strongly associated with maritime environments. From several hundreds of these megaliths, especially from Brittany, Andalusia, Portugal, Galicia, Catalonia, Sardinia, the Maltese archipelago, Ireland and Scotland are paintings and engravings known, some are combined to form complex symbolic systems. Strikingly, identical motifs can be found along the coast separated by long distances. The transfer of symbols between the regions indicates transcultural encounters in all its variety from travels to population migration and the maritime transmission of similar cosmological worldviews.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46860,"journal":{"name":"Anthropologie","volume":"130 1","pages":"Article 103459"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147709446","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AnthropologiePub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-03-06DOI: 10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103450
Fernando Coimbra
{"title":"Protohistoric Rock Art in the Basin of the Portuguese Tagus","authors":"Fernando Coimbra","doi":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103450","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103450","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Regarding the Portuguese area of the Tagus basin, there are rock art examples on the banks of the Tagus itself and on the valleys of tributaries such as Zêzere, Ocreza and Ribeira de Pracana. The Rock Art of the Tagus Valley was discovered in the early 1970s and most of it was submerged in 1974 by the waters of the Fratel dam, having “spared” only some areas such as S. Simão (Nisa), Gardete (Vila Velha de Ródão) and some rocks located along the tributaries Ocreza and Ribeira de Pracana. However, the existence of more than 1600 latex casts, done before the flooding of the area, preserved the figures of some engravings that are now under water, allowing better understanding of this rock art complex. With the development of research, it was noticed that the typology of some engravings from the Tagus Valley dated from Bronze Age and Iron Age could be found also along the Basin of this river, in the valleys of tributaries such as the Zêzere and Ocreza, in areas that were not flooded. The author presents examples of engravings with a protohistoric chronology, considering their typology divided into five main groups: 1, anthropomorphic figures; 2, zoomorphic figures; 3, weapons; 4, geometric motifs; 5, symbols. At the end, some chronological issues are approached, followed by a few considerations about the importance of Protohistoric rock art.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46860,"journal":{"name":"Anthropologie","volume":"130 1","pages":"Article 103450"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147394905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AnthropologiePub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-01-08DOI: 10.1016/j.anthro.2025.103446
David Delnoÿ
{"title":"L’Art rupestre du Bohuslän, Suède. Sémiotique visuelle et structure de la pensée","authors":"David Delnoÿ","doi":"10.1016/j.anthro.2025.103446","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anthro.2025.103446","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rock art in southern Sweden appeared in the middle of the second millennium B.C.. Tanum and Brastad are two of the most densely engraved sites. The archaeological context in which these engravings develop allows us to understand this phenomenon as an element of transition between northern cultures and external influences. The geography in which the engravings are found is also important, and here too reveals a link with earlier traditions. The analysis of the panels reveals a corpus composed of ten different graphic categories. Beyond the symbolism specific to each of the figures, the numerous scenes allow us to reach the structure of the image and to define key elements of the cultures whose engravings we admire today. Finally, the structuralist perspective will allow us to broaden the point of view and to shed light on the permanence of certain symbols.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46860,"journal":{"name":"Anthropologie","volume":"130 1","pages":"Article 103446"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145924772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AnthropologiePub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-02-11DOI: 10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103448
David Delnoÿ
{"title":"L’art rupestre d’Alta, Norvège. Sémiotique visuelle","authors":"David Delnoÿ","doi":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103448","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103448","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Alta rock art shapes appear remarkably similar over a period of nearly six millennia. Careful observation reveals graphic variations that give the shapes a distinctive appearance. After defining these variations, we subjected the data to multiple factor analysis in order to highlight the similarities between certain groups. The results interpretation confirms the four phases of representation defined elsewhere and allows us to link altitude, dating and engraved groups. This study also offers the possibility of comparing the engravings with other decorated panels, and indicating the possible phases of activity in these areas. We also consider the modest rock paintings of Alta.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46860,"journal":{"name":"Anthropologie","volume":"130 1","pages":"Article 103448"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147394904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
IF 0.8 4区 地球科学
AnthropologiePub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-03-06DOI: 10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103452
AnthropologiePub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-04-13DOI: 10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103460
Ana M.S. Bettencourt
{"title":"Des signes aux interprétations : études de cas sur l’art rupestre protohistorique dans le nord-ouest de la péninsule ibérique","authors":"Ana M.S. Bettencourt","doi":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103460","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103460","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Starting from the premise that figurative art existed in the protohistory of the North-west of the Iberian Peninsula, which must be distinguished from the two best-known artistic styles whose origins date back to the Neolithic period (Atlantic rock art and Schematic rock art), various motifs engraved in rocks are analysed and discussed in the form of case studies (halberds, segmented circles/crossed wheels and antenna daggers or swords of Santa Tegra type). It can be concluded that (1) this art began at the start of the Bronze Age and continued until the beginning of the Iron Age; (2) consists of figurative motifs, sometimes, organised in the form of narratives; (3) it embodies complex relationships with ancestral motifs; (4) the introduction of certain symbols resulted from contact with North Atlantic populations (in the Bronze Age), while others are of Mediterranean origin and were introduced at the end of the Bronze Age/beginning of the Iron Age. Alongside mythologies of Nordic origin, there are also phenomena of original syncretism based on symbolic representations of power and celestial cults. The study of rock art is a promising field of research for understanding the ideological and religious world of the communities that lived in the North-west of the Iberian Peninsula during protohistoric times.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46860,"journal":{"name":"Anthropologie","volume":"130 1","pages":"Article 103460"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147709397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AnthropologiePub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-02-28DOI: 10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103451
Flemming Kaul
{"title":"The Sun, the Ship, and the Horse in Nordic Bronze Age Iconography, in Petroglyphs and on Bronze Objects","authors":"Flemming Kaul","doi":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103451","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103451","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Nordic Bronze Age of South Scandinavia (1700-500 BC) is distinguished by a remarkable abundance of pictorial renderings, as rock art–petroglyphs – and as miniature images on bronzes, both yielding splendid insights into the spiritual and ritual life of that period of Europe's past. Whereas some of the complex motifs of Nordic Bronze Age rock art are considered as renderings of Bronze Age rituals, often held on board ships, the miniature art of the bronze objects forms narratives related to the transempirical facies of religion. The iconographic material yields possibilities of tracing a central mythological complex of Bronze Age religion, the eternal cyclical voyage of the Sun – through all spheres round-and-round, up-and-down. During its daily and nightly voyage, the sun is assisted by mythological animals such as the fish, the horse and the snake. Sun-ships, manned with the souls of the dead, the ancestors, connect the animal helpers, securing the movement of the sun. Through illustrative examples of Nordic Bronze Age religious art, from Swedish rock carvings like Sotetorp, and Danish bronze figurines, via the famous “Chariot of the Sun”, to images on Danish bronze razors, a strong picture emerges of Bronze Age beliefs and rituals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46860,"journal":{"name":"Anthropologie","volume":"130 1","pages":"Article 103451"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147394903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AnthropologiePub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-03-03DOI: 10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103455
Sara Garcês
{"title":"The Tagus Valley Rock Complex, Portugal: A chronological proposal","authors":"Sara Garcês","doi":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103455","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103455","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Tagus Valley Rock Art Complex in central Portugal constitutes one of the most extensive concentrations of open-air engravings in Europe, comprising nearly 7,000 figures distributed across 12 sites along 40<!--> <!-->km of the Tagus River basin. First documented in 1971, the complex preserves a long and continuous artistic sequence ranging from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Late Bronze Age. Early documentation efforts, especially the large-scale latex mould programme of the 1970s, enabled the preservation and study of a vast corpus of motifs despite the submersion of many panels following the construction of the Fratel dam. Through systematic typological, stylistic and spatial analysis, the engravings were classified into major categories — anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, open and closed linear structures . , geometric motifs, tools, weapons, footprints, and indeterminate figures — revealing a highly diverse symbolic repertoire. The proposed chronological framework distinguishes five major phases: (<strong>1</strong>) an Upper Palaeolithic horizon, recently expanded with new discoveries in the Ocreza valley; (<strong>2</strong>) an extensive pre-schematic phase associated with late hunter-gatherer communities, dominated by trapezoidal and anatomically stylised animal figures; (<strong>3</strong>) a long schematic cycle spanning between the Early Neolithic until the Bronze Age and characterised by highly abstract human and geometric motifs; (<strong>4</strong>) isolated Roman and modern inscriptions; and (<strong>5</strong>) limited Christian symbols. Spatial analysis highlights the strategic placement of major engraving nuclei near river crossings and rapids, suggesting persistent use of the landscape over millennia. Overall, the Tagus Valley complex provides an exceptional record of symbolic, social and economic transformations in prehistoric and protohistoric western Iberia.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46860,"journal":{"name":"Anthropologie","volume":"130 1","pages":"Article 103455"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147394906","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AnthropologiePub Date : 2026-01-01Epub Date: 2026-04-15DOI: 10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103456
Henry de Lumley
{"title":"Témoignages de rites propitiatoires pratiqués par les premiers peuples métallurgistes des Alpes méridionales, dans la région du mont Bego, entre 3 300 et 1 800 ans avant J.-C.","authors":"Henry de Lumley","doi":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103456","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.anthro.2026.103456","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The engraved rocks of Mount Bego feature around 40,000 figurative symbols, many of which are related to the world of water (wavy lines represent streams, cup marks represent rain, etc.). Others refer to areas modified by humans: reticulated patterns represent fields or pastures. Depictions of daggers, symbols of the god of thunder, evoking lightning, have been inscribed between the horns of a horn-shaped symbol representing livestock and agricultural areas. There seems to be a link between the representations of natural elements (rain) and those of areas modified by humans (fields and pastures). Studies have shown that between 3,300 and 1,800 BC, the climate was significantly warmer and drier than it is today; cultivated areas dried out more quickly in summer. Finding water to irrigate the fields and water the animals was therefore the main economic concern of the populations in these regions. It would therefore seem that the inscriptions addressed to their god and linked to cultivated areas are evidence of propitiatory rites, intended to bring rain to fertilize the fields and allow livestock to thrive thanks to rich pastures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":46860,"journal":{"name":"Anthropologie","volume":"130 1","pages":"Article 103456"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147709398","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}