Колпаков, Е. М. Петроглифы Канозера = Rock carvings of Kanozero / Е. М. Колпаков, В. Я. Шумкин ; Рос. акад. наук, Ин-т истории матер. культуры, Кол. археол. экспедиция. - Санкт-Петербург : Искусство России, 2012.

Foreword Since their discovery in 1997 the members of the Kola Archaeo logical Expedition at the Russian Academy of Sciences have worked persistently summer after summer documenting the rock art (petroglyphs) at lake Kanozero. The result is a detailed presentation by a very dedicated group of archaeologists of every figure, com position, panel and the localities where they are found. All figures were traced, drawn, photographed and mapped and this book contains a catalogue with an illustration of every single figure. A discussion of the techniques by which the figures were made together with a detailed presentation of their typology gives a clear visual and verbal presentation of each panel as a unit as well as all individual figures and compositions, all to scale. The numerical and percent relationships between the different classes and types of figures sum up major trends and give a detailed impression of the variety of the figures. The documentation is impressive and an excellent source of information for researchers who desire to use the material as a part of their research. The Kanozero sites are one of the largest congregations of petroglyphs in northernmost Europe with its own characteristic profile and identity. There is no other congregation of sites/panels like it, even though individual figures are recognized to be morphologically similar and topics overlap. No doubt there were contacts and exchange of ideas with populations to the south, east and west, but the signature of Kan ozero is different from any of the other major groups of sites in northernmost Europe, such as in the area of the river Vyg and Lake Onega in the republic of Karelia in Russia, Namforsen waterfall in northern Sweden and Alta in northern Norway. The Kanozero petroglyphs are an important addition to our knowledge not only about the distribution of rock art among the fisher, hunter, gather populations in northernmost Europe, but also about rock art assigns and symbols in profane and sacred rituals and in daily life when communicating with other people and “other than humans”. As such the art is important to understand beliefs and rituals of the people who lived on the Kola Peninsula 4000-6000/7000 years ago. The researchers of the Kola Archaeo logical Expedition have presented their data in a most detailed and generous way and this book will be the major reference on the petroglyphs at Kanozero for all future. Professor Knut Helskog, University ofTromso (Norway)