Fennoscandia archaeologica XXXII (2015) Trond Klungseth Lødøen TREATMENT OF CORPSES, CONSUMPTION OF THE SOUL AND PRODUCTION OF ROCK ART: APPROACHING LATE MESOLITHIC MORTUARY PRACTISES RE- FLECTED IN THE ROCK ART OF WESTERN NORWAY Abstract The paper argues that the so-called ‘hunters’ rock art’ of Scandinavia is closely connected to mortuary processes, and that its iconographic narratives are all associated with death beliefs. This will be demonstrated by a closer scrutiny of the imagery at the rock art sites Vingen and Ausevik in Western Norway including the background for their dating to the Late Mesolithic period. It will also be argued that other sites of this type elsewhere in Scandinavia should be understood as mortuary sites. To some extent the rock art sites will be studied in relation to their contemporary context and contemporary funerary remains and traditions in both Western Norway and southern Scandinavia. Through these approaches it will be suggested that rock art, death rituals and burials are complementary to each other, and that glimpses of a Late Mesolithic religion can be found where the iconography and funerary remains are merged. The approach also addresses the importance of certain animals in both religion and religious activity during the Late Mesolithic period. Keywords: rock art, mortuary practises, secondary burials, regeneration, soul animals, horizontal cosmology, Late Mesolithic period Trond Klungseth Lødøen, University Museum of Bergen, P.O. Box 7800, N-5020 Bergen, Norway:
[email protected]. Received: 22 Sep 2014; Accepted: 01 Dec 2014; Revised: 23 Oct 2015 INTRODUCTION marks and certain types of domesticated animals, and often dated to between the Late Neolithic and The paper focuses on the role and function of the Bronze Age (Mandt 1991; Lindqvist 1994).