ABSTRACT
The origin of design patterns and ‘body fill’ in animal depictions has been a subject of debate among Nordic scholars of rock art. A prevailing question is whether graphic design patterns originate in a practice of depicting natural elements of the animal’s inside, such as skeletal parts and soft organs. This issue is best addressed by investigating the eastern Norwegian group of hunters’ rock art. By a closer examination of this material we will attempt to uncover to which degree transformations ‘from nature to culture’ can be directly observed.
