Multiple expressions of the wheel cross motif in South Scandinavian rock carvings : case studies of Tanum and Enköping in Sweden

Abstract: Scandinavian rock carvings can be described as the special rock art languages that were written by prehistoric humans to express their ideas, beliefs and thoughts. Each piece of figurative motif language might tell a prehistoric story about for instance domestic life, social practice, ritual or cosmology. Among different motifs such as ship, human and animal, the wheel cross has received comparatively less attention. The wheel cross has many different variations, where the motif’s ambiguity and possible changing relations to other motifs as well as its relation to the rock itself and landscape over time, have not been studied in greater detail. To fill this gap, this work is aimed at investigating the multiple expressions and possible meanings of the wheel cross motif over time in South Scandinavian rock carvings. Two case study areas with rich rock carvings, Tanum and Enköping, located in the southwest and southeast of Sweden, respectively, are selected. The rock carving materials where the wheel cross motif is present are processed by chorological and chronological studies. A simple and general method is proposed to reconstruct the prehistoric shoreline of Scandinavia. The chronology of the wheel cross motif is analysed with stylistic and shoreline dating methods. The results of the chronological study are then analysed in a cultural-historical-geographical context using an intercontextual interpretation and comparative analysis method. It is suggested that the various visual expressions of the wheel cross, such as the wheel of a wagon or as the shield covering a human torso, have unique symbolic meanings beyond their practical and physical counterparts. With a cosmological meaning as the sun, and a religious meaning as a god, the wheel cross becomes the symbol of moving, fertility, power and life, which has been integrated into not only the rituals but also the domestic life of South Scandinavian society. Although the wheel cross motif is limited in number, its various forms, relating to other motifs, are argued to reflect how the Bronze Age society of Scandinavia imported and developed ideas, artefacts, stories, etc., from foreign cultures in Continental Europe and the Mediterranean area. Like the spoke physically supporting the cart, the wheel cross acts as the lifeline that closely links the landscape, ritual, artefact, human, and other materialities, to mentally support the South Scandinavian society.