Johan Ling
Johan Ling is Professor in Archeology at the Department of historical studies and Director for
the Swedish Rock Art Research Archives , SHFA. Ling has worked with topics on rock art and landscape, 3D documentation but also on aspects of provenancing Scandinavian Bronze Age artefacts by
lead isotope and elemental analyses.
the Swedish Rock Art Research Archives , SHFA. Ling has worked with topics on rock art and landscape, 3D documentation but also on aspects of provenancing Scandinavian Bronze Age artefacts by
lead isotope and elemental analyses.
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Books by Johan Ling
discoveries, which have revealed a production-distribution-consumption system for metal, between
1400/1300 and 900 BC, in which Iberia was the producer and the Atlantic North was the consumer. In this
article we develop a testable hypothesis, to be used to model and explain the rise and fall of this network,
by exploring research questions. What was the volume of this trade? When and why did it begin and
end? Where were the commercial exchange points linked to copper mines in Iberia (subsequent mining
having obliterated the ancient mines themselves)? Was this exchange mostly long-distance or staged
with trans-shipment hubs (in e.g. Galicia, Brittany, Ireland, Britain)? How were societies in Atlantic
Europe and metal production organized for this international market? Who were the primary agents in
the system? Does the geographical distribution of finds of Baltic amber in the ore bearing regions in SW
Iberia confirm a system of
copper-for-amber exchange? What was the role of rock art—as both cause and effect—in the formation
of warrior-led maritime trading systems? And how might this have been reflected in the form of both
shared iconography and a common linguistic vocabulary?
Northern Bohuslän, on Sweden’s west
coast, has Europe’s largest concentration of
prehistoric rock art and has been included since
1994 on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
In this PhD thesis, Johan Ling, a researcher
working at Gothenburg University, aims to
perceive the Bronze Age rock art in northern
Bohuslän from a new empirical and theoretical
perspective, arguing that it refl ects a social and
maritime praxis in the landscape
Papers by Johan Ling
improved the quality of tools and weapons. This development, we argue, initiated a framework for a
new political economy. We explore how a political economy approach may help understand the European
Bronze Age by focussing on regional comparative advantages in long-distance trade and resulting bottlenecks
in commodity flows. Links existed in commodity chains, where obligated labour and ownership
of resources helped mobilize surpluses, thus creating potential for social segments to control the production
and flows of critical goods. The political economy of Bronze Age Europe would thus represent a transformation
in how would-be leaders mobilized resources to support their political ends. The long-distance
trade in metals and other commodities created a shift from local group ownership towards increasingly
individual strategies to obtain wealth from macro-regional trade. We construct our argument to make
sense of available data, but recognize that our model’s primary purpose is to structure future research to
test the model.
Age rock art was influenced by certain
European regions and networks, which supplied
metal to Scandinavia, and that the
local figurative rock at repertoire in Scandinavia replied to changingmetal sources and networks in a distinct
manner
to Sweden during the Bronze Age or if both of these practices could have coexisted. For this purpose, we
have carried out lead isotope and chemical analyses of 33 bronze items, dated between 1600BC and
700BC.It is obvious from a comparison that the element and lead isotope compositions of the studied bronze
items diverge greatly from those of spatially associated copper ores. Nor is there any good resemblance
with other ores from Scandinavia, and it is concluded that the copper in these items must have been
imported from elsewhere. The results furthermore indicate that there are variations in metal supply that
are related to chronology, in agreement with other artefacts from Scandinavia as well as from other parts
of Europe. Altogether these circumstances open up for a discussion regarding Scandinavia’s role in the
maritime networks during the Bronze Age.
and the Mediterranean are well documented
Images identified as oxhide ingots have been discovered in Swedenand suggest that people from Scandinavia
were familiar with this characteristically
Mediterranean trading commodity. Using
trace element and lead isotope analysis,
the authors argue that some bronze tools
excavated in Sweden could have been made of Cypriot copper
at understanding some of the main features
of the maritime system that emerged
in Scandinavia during the Bronze Age,
such as the social organization behind
the building and crewing of boats along
with the making of rock art boats in the
landscape, would greatly benefit from
the incorporation of cross-cultural and
interdisciplinary approaches. Thus, this
article seeks to understand the role that
watercraft technology, rock art and long
distance maritime exchange played in the
development of social complexity in Scan-
dinavia during the Bronze Age by way of
cross-cultural comparison with the Haida
of North America. While occupying different
chronological and ecological settings,
both culture areas shared numerous similarities.
The Haida of the Northwest Coast
and Scandinavian Bronze Age societies
were ranked, engaged in long distance
maritime exchange, waged war, possessed
seaworthy watercraft technology capable
of transporting large numbers of people
along with heavy cargoes over long distances,
and created rock art (Jenness 1934;
Anrnold 1995; Johnson 2007; Kroeber
1976; Ling et al. 2018a). Moreover, the
carving of rock art was part of the ritual
activity required for admission into certain
secret societies among Northwest Coast
peoples (Drucker 1940:221). Furthermore,
slavery constituted a major component
of the Haida political economy (Arnold
1995) and some scholars argue that this
also could have been the case in Bronze
Age Scandinavia (Mikkelsen 2013, Ling et
al. 2018a-b). Before we proceed with this
topic, however, we must emphasize some
theoretical aspects of comparative approaches.
discoveries, which have revealed a production-distribution-consumption system for metal, between
1400/1300 and 900 BC, in which Iberia was the producer and the Atlantic North was the consumer. In this
article we develop a testable hypothesis, to be used to model and explain the rise and fall of this network,
by exploring research questions. What was the volume of this trade? When and why did it begin and
end? Where were the commercial exchange points linked to copper mines in Iberia (subsequent mining
having obliterated the ancient mines themselves)? Was this exchange mostly long-distance or staged
with trans-shipment hubs (in e.g. Galicia, Brittany, Ireland, Britain)? How were societies in Atlantic
Europe and metal production organized for this international market? Who were the primary agents in
the system? Does the geographical distribution of finds of Baltic amber in the ore bearing regions in SW
Iberia confirm a system of
copper-for-amber exchange? What was the role of rock art—as both cause and effect—in the formation
of warrior-led maritime trading systems? And how might this have been reflected in the form of both
shared iconography and a common linguistic vocabulary?
Northern Bohuslän, on Sweden’s west
coast, has Europe’s largest concentration of
prehistoric rock art and has been included since
1994 on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
In this PhD thesis, Johan Ling, a researcher
working at Gothenburg University, aims to
perceive the Bronze Age rock art in northern
Bohuslän from a new empirical and theoretical
perspective, arguing that it refl ects a social and
maritime praxis in the landscape
improved the quality of tools and weapons. This development, we argue, initiated a framework for a
new political economy. We explore how a political economy approach may help understand the European
Bronze Age by focussing on regional comparative advantages in long-distance trade and resulting bottlenecks
in commodity flows. Links existed in commodity chains, where obligated labour and ownership
of resources helped mobilize surpluses, thus creating potential for social segments to control the production
and flows of critical goods. The political economy of Bronze Age Europe would thus represent a transformation
in how would-be leaders mobilized resources to support their political ends. The long-distance
trade in metals and other commodities created a shift from local group ownership towards increasingly
individual strategies to obtain wealth from macro-regional trade. We construct our argument to make
sense of available data, but recognize that our model’s primary purpose is to structure future research to
test the model.
Age rock art was influenced by certain
European regions and networks, which supplied
metal to Scandinavia, and that the
local figurative rock at repertoire in Scandinavia replied to changingmetal sources and networks in a distinct
manner
to Sweden during the Bronze Age or if both of these practices could have coexisted. For this purpose, we
have carried out lead isotope and chemical analyses of 33 bronze items, dated between 1600BC and
700BC.It is obvious from a comparison that the element and lead isotope compositions of the studied bronze
items diverge greatly from those of spatially associated copper ores. Nor is there any good resemblance
with other ores from Scandinavia, and it is concluded that the copper in these items must have been
imported from elsewhere. The results furthermore indicate that there are variations in metal supply that
are related to chronology, in agreement with other artefacts from Scandinavia as well as from other parts
of Europe. Altogether these circumstances open up for a discussion regarding Scandinavia’s role in the
maritime networks during the Bronze Age.
and the Mediterranean are well documented
Images identified as oxhide ingots have been discovered in Swedenand suggest that people from Scandinavia
were familiar with this characteristically
Mediterranean trading commodity. Using
trace element and lead isotope analysis,
the authors argue that some bronze tools
excavated in Sweden could have been made of Cypriot copper
at understanding some of the main features
of the maritime system that emerged
in Scandinavia during the Bronze Age,
such as the social organization behind
the building and crewing of boats along
with the making of rock art boats in the
landscape, would greatly benefit from
the incorporation of cross-cultural and
interdisciplinary approaches. Thus, this
article seeks to understand the role that
watercraft technology, rock art and long
distance maritime exchange played in the
development of social complexity in Scan-
dinavia during the Bronze Age by way of
cross-cultural comparison with the Haida
of North America. While occupying different
chronological and ecological settings,
both culture areas shared numerous similarities.
The Haida of the Northwest Coast
and Scandinavian Bronze Age societies
were ranked, engaged in long distance
maritime exchange, waged war, possessed
seaworthy watercraft technology capable
of transporting large numbers of people
along with heavy cargoes over long distances,
and created rock art (Jenness 1934;
Anrnold 1995; Johnson 2007; Kroeber
1976; Ling et al. 2018a). Moreover, the
carving of rock art was part of the ritual
activity required for admission into certain
secret societies among Northwest Coast
peoples (Drucker 1940:221). Furthermore,
slavery constituted a major component
of the Haida political economy (Arnold
1995) and some scholars argue that this
also could have been the case in Bronze
Age Scandinavia (Mikkelsen 2013, Ling et
al. 2018a-b). Before we proceed with this
topic, however, we must emphasize some
theoretical aspects of comparative approaches.
(1700–500 BC) rock art includes many depictions of violence, fighting, and warriors.
There are staged fights in boats, combat scenes on the ground, but also somescenes depict the act of killing. The war-related figurative rock art seems to correspond to theatre/performance and showing-off, but is also, thus, related to actual violence and war. Advertising is an important strategy in warfare.
approach to explore the possibility
that Scandinavian Bronze Age rock art was
created by warrior-trader secret societies
as part of the ritual practices associated
with long distance exchange activities. Additionally,
we suggest that secret societies
may have been responsible for the creation
and maintenance of a Supra Regional
Network that linked the Limfjord/Jutland
and Tanum/Bohuslän areas together in
Western Scandinavia. (Fig 1). In short, we
propose that rock art depictions of warriors
represent individuals engaging in
activities and rituals conducted by secret
societies. Interestingly, these warrior images
are often accompanied by depictions
of supernatural beings, large ships, the
wearing of ritual gear especially with birdlike
attributes, bi-horned helmets, masks,
and other exotic items characteristic of
secret societies
as manifested in the regional appearance of distinctive patterns of metalwork, housing, and burial rites (Figure 9.1), features that altogether broadly can be associated with certain modes of productions.
metal trade networks. We will also argue for the hypothesis that certain social relations, interactions environments and social values
created regional boundaries and comparative advantage to stimulate direction and velocity in the mobility of people, things and materials.
Thus Bronze Age materials, boundaries, connectivities suggest ‘worlds in creolization’ and the hybridity of practice
Keywords: Boundaries, flows, connectivities, metal, amber, comparative advantage, lead isotopes