The Snake and Zig-Zag Motifs in Finnish Rock Paintings and Saami Drums

In articles about Finnish rock paintings particular attention has been paid to the significance of shamanism (e g Siikala 1980; Miettinen 1982) The emphasis on shamanism leads in practice to the conclusion that a composition in which there is a man and a snake, or a snake like zig-zag figure, depicts a shaman and his helping animal The explanation follows the traditional concept of arctic shamanism and gains support from Skanke-Jessen's statement about this motif on Saami drums In many cases I have found, however, that the use of shamanism as the most significant basis for interpretation does not lead to plausible results in the study of pictographs (rock paintings) and petroglyphs (rock carvings) The location of the figures of a snake or zig-zag on the surfaces of the Asele-type drums is also puzzling I am not convinced that this can be co-ordinated with the Scandina-vian Nidhöggr as Bo Sommarström (Sommarström 1987, 223) has suggested In the Finnish pictographs the figures of a snake or zig-zag can only be found in the rock paintings of Sarakallio in Laukaa (in Central Finland), Juusjärvi in Kirkkonummi (near Helsinki), Kolmiköytinen in Ruokolahti (on the eastern shore of lake Saimaa), Mertakallio in Iitti (in Southern Finland) and Haukkavuori (in eastern Finland) One of the snake figures on the rock at Sarakallio is situated very near another figure which has been supposed to represent some kind of lizard, (Fig la) An almost similar drawing can be traced in the Karelian petroglyphs (Fig lb) Both figures seem to belong to the cult of the phallus, which was popular, especially in the bronze age If the snake and the phallistic painting at Sarakallio can be linked together, then the composition has a counterpart in the old Celtic world (Fig lc) The man in the picture has been thought to represent some god, most likely Cernunnos, because that god was depicted with a snake in the petroglyphs of Val Camonica (MacCana 1983, 39, 42) Another zig zag motif from Sarakallio can be seen in fig 1d Below the zig zag there are two boats and on the right human figures standin