- Home
- About
- Find staff
- Johan Ling
Johan Ling
Director
Department of Historical StudiesAbout Johan Ling
Johan Ling is a professor, director and lecturer at the Department of Historical studies, at the University of Gothenburg. Professor Ling is a specialist in the Bronze Age archaeology with experience in leading large international research teams. His interdisciplinary publication profile includes provenancing of ancient metal, dating and interpreting Scandinavian Rock art, and Bronze Age maritime trade.
Ling’s main internationally-recognized contribution is in the field of provenance studies of ancient metals, with a second established record of expertise in the dating and interpreting Scandinavian Rock Art. Ling has built up the first major platform and a team of researchers for provenancing ancient copper alloys in Scandinavia. Hitherto, 400 artefacts have been analyzed (Ling et. al 2013; 2014; Melheim et al. 2018, Ling et. al 2019).
Ling’s contributions to our understanding of the sources and trade of copper during the Bronze Age has set a new research agenda, through his research focusing on the maritime dimensions of Bronze Age trade (Ling et al. 2017, Ling et al. 2018). His contributions in this field of research move significantly beyond the state of the art.
Prof Ling is project leader for the new program “Maritime Encounters” financed by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. This programs central aim is to fill persistent gaps, opened by recent studies based on archaeology and aDNA, to understand maritime dimensions of migration, mobility and exchange along the Atlantic façade from Norway to Iberia
Ling is also director of the Rock Art Research Archives (SHFA)(www.shfa.se) connected to the Dep of Historical studies, university of Gothenburg. SHFA's activities span several different areas and can be summarized according to the following layout:
- SHFA is the only national research infrastructure that is responsible for research, documentation and training of rock carvings in Sweden.
- SHFA aims to digitize, present and archive the rock carvings for researchers and the general public. At present there are about 120,000 files with images and documents scanned in SHFA's image and archive databases on rock carvings from all over Sweden but also Denmark, Italy and Norway. (see also www.shfa.se).
In collaboration with the Center for Digital Humanities and Chalmers, SHFA has a rather advanced project that focuses on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning of rock carving documentation.
SHFA collaborates with a number of national and international infrastructures, research groups and non-academic organizations. In summary, Professor Lings profile is exemplary in combining methodological mastery of the most recent and advanced techniques in both rock art 3D documentation and cutting-edge metallurgical analyses of bronzes and through years of collaborative research on metals provenance and rock art, he has assembled an outstanding international team of specialists and consultants.
- "Maritime Encounters”
- The Rock Art Research Archives (SHFA)
- Tracing carvers on the rocks
- RAW- Rock art, Atlantic Europe, Words & Warriors (RAW)
Johan Ling is also involved in the following projects:
- Rock art in 3 dimensions (Christian Horn)
- Modeling Bronze Age Societes (Christian Horn)
- The missing link? Sardinia and the Bronze Age Metal Trade between Scandinavia, Atlantic Europe and the Mediterranean. (Serena Sabatini)
ResearchGate and Academia
-
Nordic Bronze Age
Economies
Christian Horn, Knut Ivar Austvoll, Magnus Artursson, Johan Ling
2024 -
Art and Awe in Secret Societies: A Case Study of the Petroglyph Site at Thorsen Creek, British
Columbia
Brian Hayden , Brenda Gould , Richard Chacon , Johan Ling, Yamilette Chacon , Cecilia Lindhé
Adoranten - 2024 -
Accessing centuries of documentation - Resources to improve access to Swedish rock art documentation and
metadata
Ashely Green, Tristan Bridge, Christian Horn, Siska Humlesjö, Aram Karimi, Johan Ling, Jonathan Westin
Proceedings of the Huminfra Conference (HiC 2024), 10-11 January, 2024, Gothenburg, Sweden - 2024 -
Where are the missing boatyards? Steaming pits as boat building sites in the Nordic Bronze
Age
Johan Ling, Mikael Fauvelle, Knut Ivar Austvoll, Boel Bengtsson, Linn Nordvall, Christian Horn
PRAEHISTORISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT - 2024 -
Tracing the Carvers on the
Rocks
Carina Liebl, Mark Peternell, Johan Ling, Cecilia Lindhé , Christian Horn, Ellen Meijer, Julian Moyano Di Carlo
Adoranten - 2024 -
Rock Art in Three Dimensions: Comments on the Use and Possibilities of 3D Rock Art
Documentation.
Christian Horn, Mark Peternell, Johan Ling, Ashely Green, Richard Potter
Hostettler, M., Buhlke, A., Drummer, C., Emmenegger, L., Reich, J., Stäheli, C. (eds) The 3 Dimensions of Digitalised Archaeology. Springer, Cham. - 2024 -
Moving metals V: The question of shared copper sources between Scandinavia and Hungary 1700-1500
BC
Johan Ling, L. Grandin, E. Hjärthner-Holdar, L. Melheim, Zofia Stos-Gale, M. Vicze, J. G. Tarbay
Journal of Archaeological Science-Reports - 2023 -
A Boat Is a Boat Is a Boat…Unless It Is a Horse – Rethinking the Role of
Typology
Christian Horn, Ashely Green, Victor Wåhlstrand Skärström, Cecilia Lindhé , Mark Peternell, Johan Ling
Open Archaeology - 2022 -
Artificial Intelligence, 3D Documentation, and Rock Art—Approaching and Reflecting on the Automation of Identification and Classification of Rock Art
Images
Christian Horn, Oscar Ivarsson, Cecilia Lindhé , Richard Potter, Ashely Green, Johan Ling
Journal of archaeological method and theory - 2022 -
Trade before civilization: Long-Distance Exchange and the Rise of Social
Complexity
Johan Ling, Richard J. Chacon, Kristian Kristiansen
2022 -
Bronze Age Long-Distance Exchange, Secret Societies, Rock Art, and the Supra Regional Interaction
Hypothesis
Johan Ling, Richard Chacon , Yamilette Chacon
Trade before Civilization : Long Distance Exchange and the Rise of Social Complexity / edited by Johan Ling, Richard Chacon, Kristian Kristiansen - 2022 -
New Perspectives on Long-Distance Exchange and Social
Complexity
Johan Ling, Richard Chacon , Kristian Kristiansen
Trade before Civilization : long distance exchange and the rise of social complexity / edited by Johan Ling, Richard Chacon, Kristian Kristiansen - 2022 -
The local appropriation of warrior ideals in Late Bronze Age Europe: a review of the rock art site of Arroyo Tamujoso 8 and the ‘warrior’ stela of Cancho Roano (Badajoz,
Spain)
Marta Diaz-Guardamino, Johan Ling, John Koch, Bettina Schulz Paulsson, Christian Horn, Jonas Paulsson
Trabajos de prehistoria - 2022 -
Bohuslän Rock
Art
Christian Horn, Johan Ling, Mark Peternell
Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology - 2022 -
Understanding Bronze Age Scandinavian Rock Art:
The Value of Interdisciplinary
Approaches
Richard Chacon, Johan Ling, Hayden Brian, Yamilette Chacon
Adoranten - 2021 -
Rock Art and Nautical Routes to Social Complexity
Comparing Haida and
Scandinavian Bronze Age
Societies
Johan Ling, Richard Chacon, Yamilette Chacon
Adoranten - 2021 -
Scandinavia and Northern Europe
(2015–2019)
Ulf Bertilsson, Christian Horn, Johan Ling
Rock Art Studies: News of the World VI / edited by Paul Bahn, Natalie Franklin & Matthias Strecker - 2021 -
Brian Hayden. The Power of Ritual in Prehistory: Secret Societies and Origins of Social Complexity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018, 410pp., 64 illustr., hbk, ISBN
978-1-10-857207-1)
Johan Ling
European Journal of Archaeology - 2019 -
The role of pre-Norsemen in trade and exchange of commodities in Bronze Age
Europe
Anne Lene Melheim, Johan Ling, Zofia Stos-Gale, Eva Hjärthner-Holdar, Lena Grandin
Metals, minds and mobility : integrating scientific data with archaeological theory / edited by Xosé-Lois Armada, Mercedes Murillo-Barroso, Mike Charlton. - 2019 -
The Provenance, Use, and Circulation of Metals in the European Bronze Age: The State of
Debate
Miljana Radivojević, Benjamin W. Roberts, Ernst Pernicka, Zofia Stos-Gale, Marcos Martinón-Torres, Thilo Rehren, Peter Bray, Dirk Brandherm, Johan Ling, Jianjun Mei, Helle Vandkilde, Kristian Kristiansen, Stephen J. Shennan, Cyprian Broodbank
Journal of Archaeological Research - 2019 -
Moving metals IV: Swords, metal sources and trade networks in Bronze
Age
Europe
Johan Ling, Eva Hjärthner-Holdar, Lena Grandin, Zofia Stos-Gale, Kristian Kristiansen, Anne Lene Melheim, Gilberto Artioli, Ivana Angelini, Rüdiger Krause, Caterina Canovaro
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports - 2019 -
By All Means Necessary – 2.5D and 3D Recording of Surfaces in the Study of Southern Scandinavian Rock
Art
Christian Horn, Johan Ling, Ulf Bertilsson, Richard Potter
Open Archaeology - 2018 -
Maritime Mode of Production Raiding and Trading in Seafaring
Chiefdoms
Johan Ling, T. Earle, Kristian Kristiansen
Current Anthropology - 2018 -
Moving metals III: Possible origins for copper in Bronze Age Denmark based on lead isotopes and
geochemistry
L. Melheim, L. Grandin, P. O. Persson, K. Billström, Zofia Stos-Gale, Johan Ling, A. Williams, I. Angelini, C. Canovaro, E. Hjärthner-Holdar, Kristian Kristiansen
Journal of Archaeological Science - 2018 -
A sea beyond Europe to the north and
west.
Johan Ling, John Koch
Giving the past a future : essays in archaeology and rock art ; studies in honour of Dr. Phil. h.c. Gerhard Milstreu / edited by James Dodd and Ellen Meijer. - 2018 -
Rock Art, Secret Societies, Long-Distance Exchange and Warfare in Bronze Age
Scandinavia
Johan Ling, Richard Chacon , Yamilette Chacon
Prehistoric warfare and violence : quantitative and qualitative approaches / Andrea Dolfini, Rachel J. Crellin, Christian Horn, Marion Uckelmann, editors. - 2018 -
A triangular Middle Bronze Age trade system of amber, copper and tin 1500‑1300
BC
Kristian Kristiansen, Johan Ling
In Bakels, C.C., Q.P.J. Bourgeois, D.R. Fontijn and R. Jansen (eds) 2018. Local Communities in the Big World of Prehistoric Northwest Europe - 2018 -
Violence, Warriors, and Rock Art in Bronze Age
Scandinavia.
Johan Ling, Per Cornell
Feast, famine or fighting? : multiple pathways to social complexity / Richard J. Chacon and Rubén G. Mendoza, editors. - 2017 -
Bronze Economy and Mode of Production. The role of Comparative Advantages in Temperate Europe During the Bronze
Age
Johan Ling, Per Cornell, Kristian Kristiansen
Modes of Production in Archaeology / edited by Robert M. Rosenswig and Jerimy J. Cunningham. - 2017 -
North Meets South : theoretical aspects on the northern and southern rock art traditions in
Scandinavia
Peter Skoglund, Johan Ling, Ulf Bertilsson
2017 -
Maritime warfare in Scandinavian rock
art.
Johan Ling, Andreas Toreld
Warfare in Bronze Age society / edited by Christian Horn, Kristian Kristiansen - 2017 -
The Kivik tomb: Bredarör enters into the digital arena - documented with OLS, SfM and
RTI
Ulf Bertilsson, Johan Ling, Catarina Bertilsson, Richard Potter, Christian Horn
New Perspectives on the Bronze Age : proceedings of the 13th Nordic Bronze Age Symposium held in Gothenburg 9th to 13th June 2015 / edited by Sophie Bergerbrant and Anna Wessman - 2017 -
Rock Art Studies in the Nordic Countries
2010-2014
Ulf Bertilsson, Johan Ling
Rock Art Studies: News of the World V / edited by Paul Bahn, Natalie Franklin, Matthias Strecker and Ekaterina Devlet - 2016 -
Long-term Cosmological Interconnectedness and Long-distance Trade: Cosmology and Comparative Advantage in the Bronze Age and
Beyond.
Rowlands Michael, Johan Ling
Perspectives on Past Colonisation, Maritime Interaction and Cultural Integration / edited by Lene Melheim, Hakon Glorstad, Zanette Tsigaridas Glorstad - 2016 -
Biography of the Fossum
Panel.
Johan Ling, Ulf Bertilsson
Adoranten - 2016 -
Rock art and metal
trade
Johan Ling, Claes Uhnér
Adoranten - 2015 -
Representations of oxhide ingots in Scandinavian rock art: the sketchbook of a Bronze Age
traveller?
Johan Ling, Z. Stos-Gale
Antiquity - 2015 -
The Political Economy and Metal Trade in Bronze Age Europe: Understanding Regional Variability in Terms of Comparative Advantages and
Articulations
Timothy K. Earle, Johan Ling, Claes Uhnér, Zofia Stos-Gale, Anne Lene Melheim
European Journal of Archaeology - 2015 -
The Stranger King & Rock
Art
Johan Ling, Rowlands Michael
Picturing the Bronze Age / edited by Peter Skoglund, Johan Ling and Ulf Bertilsson - 2015 -
Picturing the Bronze Age – an
introduction
Johan Ling, Peter Skoglund, Ulf Bertilsson
Picturing the Bronze Age / edited by Peter Skoglund, Johan Ling and Ulf Bertilsson - 2015 -
Krieger und Felskunst im bronzezeitlichen
Skandinavien
Johan Ling, Per Cornell
Krieg. Eine Archäologische Spurensuche. Harald Meller; Michael Schefzik (red.) - 2015 -
Moving metals II: Provenancing Scandinavian Bronze Age artefacts by lead isotope and elemental
analyses
Johan Ling, Z. Stos-Gale, L. Grandin, K. Billström, E. Hjärthner-Holdar, P. O. Persson
Journal of Archaeological Science - 2014 -
Moving metals or indigenous
mining?
Johan Ling, Eva Hjärthner-Holdar, Lena Grandin, Kjell Billström, Per-Olof Persson
Journal of Archaeological Science - 2013 -
Rock Art and Seascapes in
Uppland
Johan Ling
2013 -
Structure from the North and content from the
South.
Johan Ling, Michael John Rowlands
Art as a source of history - L'arte come sorgente di storia. Ed. Anati, Emmanuel. XXV VALCAMONICA SYMPOSIUM 2013. Capo di Ponte (Bs) ITALY. September 20 to 26, 2013:187-196. EDIZIONE DEL CENTRO. - 2013 -
Boundaries, Flows and Connectivities: Mobility and Stasis in the Bronze
Age
Michael John Rowlands, Johan Ling
Counterpoint: Essays in Archaeology and Heritage Studies in Honour of Professor Kristian Kristiansen - 2013 -
En lokal hällristningskronologi för bronsåldern som bygger på
strandförskjutningsmetoden
Johan Ling
En Maritim Värld från stenåldern till idag / Katarina Streiffert Eikeland, Madelaine Miller, redaktörer. - 2013 -
Rock art , Agency and
Society
Per Cornell, Johan Ling
Counterpoint: Essays in Archaeology and Heritage Studies in Honour of Professor Kristian Kristiansen / edited by Sophie Bergerbrant, Serena Sabatini - 2013 -
Scandinavian Bronze Age Rock Art – contexts and
interpretation
Joakim Goldhahn, Johan Ling
The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Europe / edited by Harry Fokkens and Anthony Harding - 2013 -
Piloting Time-Tours: Experiences from the Development and Implementation of a Computer Based Exhibition in West
Sweden
Per Stenborg, Jonas Tornberg, Johan Ling, Mats Söderström, Chris Sevara, Liane Thuvander
CAA2010 Fusion of Cultures: Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, edited by F. Contreras, F. Farjas and F. J. Melero - 2013 -
Jordbruksristningar eller maritima ristningar? En idéhistorisk reflexion över hällristningsforskningen under 1800- och
1900-talen
Johan Ling
En maritim värld - från stenåldern till idag - 2013 -
War Canoes or Social Units? Human Representation in Rock-Art
Ships
Johan Ling
European Journal of Archaeology - 2012 -
On the line between Fact and Fiction: Tools and procedures for digital mediation in Cultural Heritage
Management
Per Stenborg, Chris Sevara, Jonas Tornberg, Johan Ling, Mats Söderström, Liane Thuvander
COMMUNICATE THE PAST: Ways to present archaeology to the public. Proceedings from the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) 14th Annual Meeting, Valletta, Malta 16th to 21th September 2008, edited by Anna Arnberg & Tove Stjärna - 2010 -
Piloting Time-Tours: Experiences from the Development and Implementation of a Computer Based Exhibition in West
Sweden
Per Stenborg, Jonas Tornberg, Johan Ling, Mats Söderström, Chris Sevara, Liane Thuvander
Fusion of Cultures: Abstracts from the XXXVIII Annual Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology, CAA2010, edited by F. Javier Melero, Pedro Cano, Jorge Revelles - 2010 -
Rock Art as Secondary Agent? Society and Agency in Bronze Age
Bohuslän
Johan Ling, Per Cornell
Norwegian Archaeological Review - 2010 -
Rock art as Social
Format
Johan Ling, Per Cornell
Changing pictures: rock art traditions and visions in Northern Europe. Oxford: Oxbow Books - 2010 -
The Palaeoenviroments of Bronze Age
Europe
Johan Ling
Organizing Bronze age societies: the Mediterranean, Central Europe, and Scandinavia compared. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press - 2010 -
Settlement Structure and
Organisation
Johan Ling
Organizing Bronze age societies: the Mediterranean, Central Europe, and Scandinavia compared. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press - 2010 -
Elevated Rock Art. Maritime images and
situations
Johan Ling
Representations and communications: creating an archaeological matrix of late prehistoric rock art. Oxford, UK: Oxbow Books - 2010 -
Digital Time-Travels: Communicating Historical GIS and TGIS-Information in Museum
Environments
Per Stenborg, Jonas Tornberg, Johan Ling, Mats Söderström, Liane Thuvander, Chris Sevara
GIS in the Humanities and Social Sciences International Conference — Innovating — Collaborating — Sharing, October 7-9 2009, Academica Sinica, Taipei. Proceedings - 2009 -
Warriors and Weapons in Bronze Age
Europe
Johan Ling
Norwegian Archaeological Review - 2009 -
Tanumprojektet: Arkeologiska undersökningar vid hällristningar i Tossene socken, 2005-2008 -
Rapport
Johan Ling
2009 -
From the ice age to the present – an audiovisual and tactile model of the Göta River Valley in Western
Sweden
Liane Thuvander, Per Stenborg, Johan Ling, Chris Sevara, Mats Söderström, Jonas Tornberg
Digital Heritage: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia, red. M .Ioannides, A. Addisin, A. Georgopoulos, L. Kalisperis, Archaeolingua, Limassol, Cyprus - 2008 -
GIS och 3D-teknik som redskap för visuellt och taktilt tillgängliggörande av kulturarv: Lägesrapport från projektet Digitala Tidsresor: Nya strategier för arkeologin och
kulturmiljövården?
Per Stenborg, Johan Ling, Liane Thuvander
2008 -
Elevated rock art : towards a maritime understanding of Bronze Age rock art in northern Bohuslän,
Sweden
Johan Ling
2008 -
Scandinavia's most finds associated rock art
sites
Johan Ling, Lars Bengtsson
Adoranten - 2008 -
Sverige riskerar förlora världsarvet i
Tanum
Håkan Karlsson, Elisabeth Arwill-Nordbladh, Evert Baudou, Richard Bradley, H.J. Coles, Joakim Goldhahn, Anders Gustafsson, Bo Gräslund, Knut Helskog, Anders Kaliff, Flemming Kaul, Kristian Kristiansen, Thomas Larsson, Johan Ling, Jarl Nordbladh, Ulf Näsman, Karl Sognnes, Henrik Thrane, Helle Vandkilde, Erik Östmo
Göteborgs Posten - 2008 -
Maritime representations in vertical
space
Johan Ling, Lasse Bengtsson
Samfunn, symboler og identitet - Festskrift til Gro Mandt på 70-årsdagen (UBAS Nordisk, 3) - 2006 -
Elevated rock art : maritime images and
situations
Johan Ling
Adoranten : årsskrift för Scandinavian Society for Prehistoric Art, Tanums hällristningsmuseum, Underslös - 2006 -
The fluidity of rock
art
Johan Ling
Mellan sten och järn : rapport från det 9:e nordiska bronsålderssymposiet, Göteborg 2003-10-09/12. D. 2. Red. Joakim Goldhahn (GOTARC. Serie C. Arkeologiska skrifter, 59) - 2005 -
Från hav till
grav
Johan Ling
Fångstfolk och bönder : om forntiden i Göteborg. Red. Stina Andersson och Ulf Ragnesten - 2005 -
Trialectic Archaeology. Monuments and space in Southwest Norway 1700–500
BC
Johan Ling
Primitive tider - 2005 -
Beyond transgressive lands and forgotten seas : towards a maritime understanding of rock art in
Bohuslän
Johan Ling
Current Swedish archaeology - 2004 -
Hällristningsmiljöer i Göteborgsområdet : spår efter förhistorisk kommunikation i
landskapet
Johan Ling
2004 -
Tolkning och kommunikation : en analys av det dialektiska förhållandet mellan institutionell forskning, amatörforskning samt
allmänheten
Johan Ling
Arkeologen : nyhetsbrev från Institutionen för arkeologi, Göteborgs universitet - 2001 -
Amatörforskarna blev erkända
proffs
Johan Ling
Populär arkeologi - 2000