In its analysis of the archaeologies and histories of the northern fringe of Europe, this book provides a focus on animistic–shamanistic cosmologies and the associated human–environment relations from the Neolithic to modern times. The North has fascinated Europeans throughout history, as an enchanted world of natural and supernatural marvels: a land of light and dark, of northern lights and the midnight sun, of witches and magic and of riches ranging from amber to oil. Northern lands conflate fantasies and realities.
Rich archaeological, historical, ethnographic and folkloric materials combine in this book with cutting-edge theoretical perspectives drawn from relational ontologies and epistemologies, producing a fresh approach to the prehistory and history of a region that is pivotal to understanding Europe-wide processes, such as Neolithization and modernization. This book examines the mythical and actual northern worlds, with northern relational modes of perceiving and engaging with the world on the one hand and the 'place' of the North in European culture on the other.
This book is an indispensable read for scholars of archaeology, anthropology, cultural studies and folklore in northern Europe, as well as researchers interested in how the North is intertwined with developments in the broader European and Eurasian world. It provides a deep-time understanding of globally topical issues and conflicting interests, as expressed by debates and controversies around Arctic resources, nature preservation and indigenous rights.
Author(s): Vesa-Pekka Herva, Antti Lahelma
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: X+202
Acknowledgements viii
1. Introduction: Northern Exposure 1
The North and the world 3
Relationality, spirituality and the richness of reality 5
Spirituality and magic in the northern world 7
Knowing the world 9
Relationality and the northern world 10
Time, temporality and the longue durée 13
Defining the North 15
A brief outline of the Fennoscandian past 17
The structure of the book 20
PART I. Land 23
2. Stone-worlds 25
A race to the Arctic 25
The world inside the rock 26
Crystal cavities and other marvels of the Underworld 30
Cavities and recent folklore in the North 32
Early modern northern mining as dreamwork 35
Disciplining and ordering of the North 37
Mining and magic 38
Dreams of Lapland’s gold 40
The enduring allure of minerals and the Underworld 42
3. Houses, land and soil 46
Dwellings, people and the cosmos in the North 46
The introduction of the house 48
Pottery, semi- subterranean houses and cultural transformation 50
Early pottery, cultivation and place making 51
Houses and the changing relationship with the underworld 53
Clay work as a means of restructuring human–environment relations 54
Living in an inspirited world 57
The inspirited house 58
4. Forests and hunting 63
The forest in northern landscapes and mindscapes 63
Engaging with trees 66
Humans and animals in the North 70
Seducing the prey 73
Elk-headed staffs – symbols of Stone Age clans? 75
Sceptres of the shaman? 77
The Bear – the 'Golden King of the Forest' 80
PART II. Sea 85
5. Coastal landscapes and the sea 87
Living with the sea 87
The two Mediterraneans 89
Engaging with changing coastal environments 92
The temporality of Baltic coastal landscapes 95
Cairns in northern coastal landscapes 99
Otherworldly islands 102
Coastal mazes in the North 104
6. Boats and waterways 108
The mystery object from a Lapland bog 108
Water and the Otherworld in a northern context 110
Travelling as a spirit fish 111
Blue elks and flying boats 114
Solar boats in razors and rock art 118
Boats for the dead 119
7. River mouths and central places 123
The real and mythical rivers 123
River mouths as liminal spaces and central places 127
Mythical kingdoms in later prehistory 130
The 'trader kingdom' of the birkarls 133
Marketplaces 135
PART III. Sky 139
8. Birds and cosmology 141
Migratory birds and changing seasons 141
Birds as persons 144
Birds as guides and soul-birds 145
Cranes and dwarfs 148
Devil’s swans 151
Solar swans? 152
9. The sun, light and fire 154
People of the Sun 154
Amber and Apollo 156
Worshipping the northern sun 159
The marriage of fire and earth 162
Fire and the hearth in northern cultures 166
Fire and transformation 168
Strange lights in the northern sky 169
10. Epilogue 171
A world full of life 171
The North and the South 173
Bibliography 176
Index 198
