Resumen de Travellers' tales and science-based archaeology: ex oriente lux revisited
Ling and Stos-Gale (above, p. 206) end their study on a safe, if rather vague, note: �[w]e could, perhaps, consider the maritime-themed rock art depictions [of ships and copper oxide ingots] as records of travellers� tales, where representations of reality mingle with myths, magic and sailors' stories�. Yes, perhaps we could, since at least two of the ingot depictions (Kville 156:1 at Torsbo, Norrköping) look strikingly similar�as the authors note�to the �pillow ingots� (Kissenbarren) known from the Mediterranean world. Or, perhaps, we could remain more cautious before even broaching the idea of interconnectedness between Late Bronze Age Scandinavia and the eastern Mediterranean. Such a suggestion requires a lot more faith in the basic arguments of Kristiansen and Larsson (2005)�namely, that Europe and the Mediterranean formed a massive, open network through which warrior elites and others travelled at will�than I am able to muster. For Kristiansen and Larsson, cultural contact and cultural change ultimately still flow ex oriente�thus, they return whence Childe began. Yet whereas their work is an attempt at synthesis, not analysis, Ling and Stos-Gale have a stab at analysis, of the lead isotope variety. The question is how well they succeed.
