Comparative Guts

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Drawing of rock carving of an elk with numerous anatomical parts depicted.

Åskollen in southern Norway.

From: Rock Art and the Wild Mind. Visual Imagery in Mesolithic Northern Europe. Ingrid Fuglestvedt, Copyright © 2018, London, Routledge. Figure 5.2, page 192. Reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Group.

A few rock carvings in southern Norway, including this of an elk bull with large antlers, display extensive internal patterning that may represent organs. The part most often seen is the line going to what is interpreted as the heart. Here also the trachea and the lungs appear to be marked. In addition to the roll of intestines also several of the four stomachs found in all ruminants, including cervids, are indicated.