Rock Art

Abstract This chapter presents a review of the main bodies of Mesolithic rock art in Europe, from the earliest signs of post-Palaeolithic art to the lively scenes of Spanish Levantine art and the Late Mesolithic ‘rock art explosion’ in northern Europe. Outside the two main concentrations of Mesolithic rock art in the Iberian Peninsula and Fennoscandia, individual occurrences of rock art possibly dating to the Mesolithic can be found in the Alpine Region, central France, Italy, and the Urals. The precise dating of much of this art still presents challenges, but recent advances in dating methods have helped to anchor rock art more securely in general archaeological sequences. This is particularly true in northern Europe, where post-glacial isostatic land uplift has enabled the accurate geological dating of shore-bound rock art sites. The datings offer some credence to the old notion of gradual stylistic shift from depictions of large, naturalistic prey animals in the Early Mesolithic towards smaller, dynamic scenes of schematic human and animal figures in the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition. This shift may conceivably reflect changes in how the relationship between humans and animals was conceived. Later Mesolithic rock art in both southern and northern Europe also features images of communal hunting, large rituals, armed conflict, and other scenes that suggest increased sedentism and social complexity.