ABSTRACT
Woodlands comprise one of the dominant landscape types in the circumpolar North and forests occupy a central position in the life-worlds and symbolic worlds of northern culture, even if different groups in the Nordic world have related differently to forests. In addition to being an important material resource (of timber, game, fur, etc.), the various constituents of forest landscapes – animals in particular – have been subject to a wide range of symbolic and cosmological construction, which is reflected in the archaeological record of Fennoscandia, as exemplified by so-called elk-headed staffs. Particular animal species (such as the elk, reindeer and especially the bear) acquire special significance and show remarkable continuities that can be traced as far back as the Stone Age. For example, ritual bear feasts in which the killed animal was ‘returned’ to its owner spirit, were celebrated in parts of Fennoscandia still in the twentieth century – a tradition that some have suggested may go back to the Palaeolithic period. Likewise, a personal bond existed between humans and particular trees, such as the ‘bear-skull pines’ related to the ritual bear feasts.
