Maritime Encounters in the Neolithic. A Study of Pitted Ware Maritime Technology using Rock Art

Abstract

This thesis studies the maritime technology potentially used by the Pitted Ware Complex which constituted societies and groups that practiced a mixed economy with a particular focus on maritime subsistence, a stark contrast to the rest of Scandinavia that underwent a Neolithization. The PWC lasted between 3400 – 2400 BC and mainly settled along coastal sites. This settlement pattern and mode of subsistence would constitute a maritime dimension involving boats capable of long-distance travel on open sea such as The Baltic Sea and Kattegat. This thesis argues that this was achieved using of skin boats similar to the umiaks used by the Inuit in the Artic. Surviving Scandinavian boats from the Neolithic are either small logboats or fragments of potentially larger vessels which leads to the use of alternative sources. The main source used in this thesis is rock art which depict boats and maritime activity. The focus has been on the Alta rock art area, with comparisons to similarly dated panels with a wide geographic distribution. The chosen panels depict boats that were contemporary to or predated the PWC. Through the use of calculated length to height ratio, ethnographic comparisons, and analysis of the attributes of the depicted vessels and the activities in which they partake, this thesis concludes that the PWC had access to a maritime technology that included skin boats of various sizes alongside logboats. The details of this boat may remain uncertain until the archaeological record provide direct physical evidence. The larger skin boats are analogous to umiaks which facilitated long-distance travel and the transportation of heavy cargo, as well as hunting seals. Through the combination of indirect evidence such as the remains of seal oil from PWC sites and the boats depicted on rock art this thesis argues that individuals travelled between sites in skin boats that were constructed and maintained analogous to umiaks. This maritime dimension also contained a social complexity which the rock art and the ethnographic comparisons allude to. By using this maritime technology, the PWC would have been able to spread across the Baltic Sea, resulting in many maritime encounters with other Neolithic societies as well as potentially new areas to settle.