A Multisensory Approach to Rock Art: Exploring Tactile and Visual Dimensions in the Southern Scandinavian Rock Art Tradition

A multisensory approach to Scandinavian rock art, particularly at UNESCO World Heritage Site Rock Carvings in Tanum, reveals that tactile and visual elements interact dynamically to convey meaning. This study challenges the traditional view of rock art as purely visual by demonstrating how its structure, including features like orthographic perspective, 'tactile markers,' and incomplete images, facilitates multisensory comprehension. The research argues that the physical creation process—hands interacting with tools and rock surfaces—and human tendencies to explore through touch play pivotal roles in interpreting these ancient carvings. By analyzing key design choices from a semiotic perspective, the study proposes that incomplete images may serve as iconic indices, representing whole imagined pictures. This innovative approach offers new insights into how Scandinavian rock art relays meaning to perceivers.

Skoglund, P., Persson, T., & Rédei, A. C. (2020). A Multisensory Approach to Rock Art: Exploring Tactile and Visual Dimensions in the Southern Scandinavian Rock Art Tradition. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 86, 95–110. https://doi.org/10.1017/ppr.2020.1