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This is the second book in a trilogy of volumes on landscape phenomenology following on from the first volume, The Materiality of Stone (Tilley 2004). In this volume I attempt to explore the relationship between images and bodily experience, developing a kinaesthetic approach to the interpretation of images on rocks in landscapes. The general theoretical and conceptual approach is outlined in Chapter 1. Chapters 2–4 consist of three extended case studies chosen because they represent contrasting periods, societies, economies, and landscapes in prehistoric Europe. Chapter 2 considers Mesolithic imagery from Vingen, western Norway, imagery dominated by the depiction of animals in a foraging society. Chapter 3 discusses the relationship between megalithic architecture and imagery in the context of the middle Neolithic landscape of eastern Ireland. Chapter 4 examines Bronze Age rock imagery from the Norrköping area of eastern middle Sweden (see p. 12 and Figure 3.1 for the location of the study areas in Scandinavia and Ireland). In the concluding chapter some comparative observations are made in relation to the different case studies, together with a series of reflections on what it means to interpret the landscape through phenomenologically walking in it.
This book, like any other, has its own particular biography and trajectory. My interest in Vingen was first stimulated by reading Hallström’s (1938) account during the preparation of my book on the Nämforsen rock art locality in Northern Sweden (Tilley 1991). I had to wait for fifteen years before I had the opportunity to visit it and experience the drama of the place. About the same time, an interest in Irish megalithic art was stimulated by taking a field trip of students to Loughcrew and the bend of the Boyne, together with Julian Thomas. The idea of conducting fieldwork in the Norrköping area of middle eastern Sweden was by comparison recent, an interest generated by visiting some of the localities during the summer of 2001 when I was conducting ethnographic research on domestic gardens in Sweden. The study of the Norrköping landscape was the first to be undertaken, during the summer of 2003. This was subsequently written up as a draft chapter in the winter of 2003–04. Fieldwork in Ireland was conducted during the spring of 2004 following exploratory visits during the summer of 2003, but only finally written up during the summer of 2006. Fieldwork was undertaken at Vingen during June 2005 and subsequently written up that summer. The final versions of Chapters 1 and 5 were written during the summer and autumn of 2006 and the spring of 2007 while at the same time revising the drafts of Chapters 2–4.
A small part of Chapter 1 was initially presented at a conference on ‘cognition and signification in northern landscapes’ organized by Lars Forsberg and Eva Walderhaug, held at the University of Bergen in November 2004. Chapter 4 was first presented as part of a series of lectures on the topic of phenomenology and landscape held at the University of Kalmar, Sweden, in March 2005. A few of the observations made at Newgrange in Chapter 3 were presented at a conference, ‘Cult in Context’, held at Magdalen College, Cambridge, organized by David Barrow-clough, Caroline Malone, and Simon Stoddart in December 2006. Part of the concluding Chapter 5 was presented at a research seminar in the College de France, Paris, ‘The ecology of perception and the aesthetics of landscape’, organized by Nicolas Ellison in March 2007. I am grateful for the comments I received on all these occasions.
All the periods of fieldwork were extremely intensive. The summer light at Vingen was such that it was even possible to work long after midnight. Time not dedicated to studying the images themselves in the field was often spent reflecting on, writing down, and analysing fieldwork experiences, providing new ideas and further impetus for the next day’s work. A book inevitably changes and develops in focus as it goes along. The idea for a comparative analysis of visual imagery in the landscape developed out of the fieldwork conducted during 2001 in the Simrishamn area of southeast Sweden, published in The Materiality of Stone, as discussed in Chapter 1; but it was only during the last period of fieldwork on which the book is based, at Vingen, that I ‘discovered’ (it rather forced itself on me!) the significance of the weather—hence the absence of much substantive discussions of this in relation to the Swedish and Irish images. The experience of the Vingen rock carving area was particularly powerful, not only because of the drama of the place, but as a result of actually living and sleeping among the carvings, completely cut off from the outside world. As usual, I am indebted to Wayne Bennett, who provided enormous help, support, enthusiasm, critical, and interpretive comment throughout the fieldwork periods and then also prepared all the illustrations.
I am most grateful to Gro Mandt and Trond Lødøen for inviting us to Vingen and sharing their knowledge of it. On the visit to study the rock carvings, Trond and Sigrid Gunderson provided much needed shelter and hospitality. They introduced us to the different parts of the rock carving area over a period of several days. They also helped locate individual panels on Vingeneset, Urane, and Bak Vehammaren which would otherwise have proved quite impossible to find. Gro and Trond have also kindly provided me with copies of the unpublished documentation, to appear in their forthcoming book, of the rocks at Hardbakken, Teigen, and Leitet, which has been of great help in writing this account. They also generously provided useful comments on a draft of Chapter 2 for which I am most grateful. Clare Tuffy, manager of the Newgrange Visitor Centre, was kind enough to facilitate unrestricted access to the interiors of Newgrange, Dowth, and Knowth. Mike Rowlands provided useful criticism of a draft of Chapter 1, and Muiris O’Sullivan was kind enough to read through and comment on a draft of Chapter 3. I also want to acknowledge the useful comments of two referees who chose not to remain anonymous: Cornelius Holtorf and Andrew Jones. I have not followed all their advice, but I am most most grateful for it. The inadequacies, of course, remain my own. I also want to thank the publisher, Mitch Allen, for his enthusiastic support for the book and the wider project of which it forms a part.
Christopher Tilley
London, 2008
