Symbolism of Bird and Ship Motifs in Negev Rock Art

The iconography of birds and ships in ancient rock art across diverse cultures reveals a sophisticated ideas of death, rebirth, and spiritual transcendence. This article examines the symbolic convergence of avian and maritime motifs in rock art from the Negev Desert, Scandinavia, and Egypt, demonstrating how these cultures conceptualized the soul's journey to heaven through different realms.

Birds, being capable of flight, served as psychopomps (soul-guides) in many traditions, and their presence in these scenes reinforces the idea of the soul’s ascent or spiritual elevation.

In rock art—especially in arid regions like the Negev—the ship takes on a spiritual role, sailing not physical waters but celestial or cosmic seas. These vessels acted as symbolic bridges between the world of the living and the realm of the dead, reflecting a deep belief in the soul’s journey and the need for divine guidance in crossing the boundary between life and death.

Egyptian: The Solar Barque

Egyptian afterlife beliefs provide the most extensively documented parallel to rock art symbolism. The Coffin Texts (c. 2055-1650 BCE) elaborate this theme with detailed descriptions of the night journey through the Duat. Spell 397 describes the deceased joining Ra's crew: "I am one of those gods who follow Ra... I sail in the night bark, I row in the day bark."

Archaeological evidence from Egyptian tombs supports textual descriptions. The boat pits at Giza, particularly those associated with Khufu's pyramid complex (c. 2580-2510 BCE), contained actual vessels intended for the pharaoh's afterlife journey. Scaled-down boat models from Middle Kingdom tombs show remarkable similarity to rock art ship depictions, suggesting shared symbolic traditions.

Scandinavian Evidence

Scandinavian Bronze Age rock art (c. 1800-500 BCE) provides remarkable parallels to Mediterranean traditions. The Tanum rock art complex in Sweden contains many ship images, many associated with cup marks, spirals, and human figures that suggest ritual contexts.

The Kivik grave in Scania (c. 1400 BCE) represents the most elaborate example of Nordic afterlife art. The stone cist contains carved panels showing processions of figures, ships, and birds arranged in apparent narrative sequence. Recent analysis suggests the scenes depict the deceased's journey to the afterlife, with ships providing transportation and birds serving as guides (Randsborg 1993).

Negev Rock Art evidence

The rock art engravings provide compelling evidence of the belief in the afterlife, which thrived in ancient Egypt and also permeated into the Negev desert. During that era, the belief offered a better existence than earthly life, supported by ample evidence such as Egyptian texts, architecture, religion, and burial monuments. Other civilizations in the Western world embraced this belief with emphasis on the underworld journey that the soul had to pass.

Ship Journey

The myth of the afterlife journey portrays the soul’s perilous voyage through the underworld as the most dangerous part—believed to lie beneath a world encircled by water. To navigate this treacherous realm of water and air, the soul relied on faithful guides like waterbirds, boats, and fish all common afterlife symbols. Failure to cross meant drifting into oblivion, an unacceptable fate. In Egyptian belief, a ferryman called “Who Sees Behind Him” helped souls cross the Nile to the “Beautiful West.” Similarly, in Greek myth, Charon ferried souls across the river Styx.

Fig.1    scene1- Sun Ship loaded with souls (Negev Desert rock art), scene2- Scandinavian Rock art showing a night/day ships with bird head carrying souls (Kristiansen, K., 2010). scene3 - Egyptian ship with  ‘arms raised’ figure considered to be a sun-bearing posture a symbol of resurrection and rebirth (Lankester F. 2012).  scene4– Bronze Age ship-shape grave, Southern Sweden (after Capelle 1986)

As depicted in Fig.1, the afterlife ship from the Negev Desert and Scandinavia, sails through both the upper world and underworld along the sun's path. The upside-down ship represents the journey through the underworld. The ships carry the souls, symbolized by the vertical lines drawn on the ship, which are referred to in the literature as the 'shade of the deceased' (Golan A. 1991). Zavaroni A. (2006) also confirmed this symbolism : In the middle of a boat loaded with souls which are, as usual, symbolized by a series of little lines'. The boat head in scene 2 is shaped like a bird, symbolizing the ability to move through both water and air. A boat-shaped grave in scene 4 allows the soul to begin its journey to the afterlife immediately upon burial.

Boat Journey

Some Negev Desert rock art scenes depict boats seemingly floating across the barren, rocky terrain—an astonishing image given the complete absence of rivers, lakes, or seas in the region. These vessels are not representations of physical navigation but rather symbolic craft that traverse celestial or spiritual waters. This concept, found across ancient cultures, interprets the sky and the underworld as vast, metaphysical oceans through which the soul must travel after death.

Compared to the elaborately carved funerary boats of Egypt—complete with oars, cabins, and symbolic ornamentation—or the large bird-headed vessels engraved in Scandinavian Bronze Age rock art, the Negev ships are starkly abstract. Rendered with a few carefully incised lines, their simplicity is deceiving. Many feature subtle bird-like characteristics—a tri-fingered prow or tail—suggesting a symbolic fusion between air and water travel.

Fig.2    Typical boat scenes from the Negev Desert. The boat's head and tail feature characteristics of a bird.

In several scenes, the boats are oriented horizontally and appear to follow the arc of the sun, possibly reflecting the daily solar cycle. Other boats are shown vertically flipped, a motif interpreted in Egyptian and Mesopotamian iconography as signifying descent into the underworld, the shadowy realm where the soul undergoes judgment, transformation, or purification before rebirth.

These boats do not carry goods or warriors; they carry souls, traveling through the skies by day and through the darkness by night, navigating the perilous transition between life and death. The boats sail in pairs, one being a night boat and the other a day boat, and they sail either in a convoy or parallel. The Egyptian text clarifies the pairing of the ships, in Book of the Dead Chapter 151 it states, 'Thy right eye is the Solar Night Barque, thy left eye is the Solar Day Barque' (Hartwig 2002).

Afterlife Journey: Bird and Ship Collaboration Negev Rock Art

The Negev Desert rock art in Figure 3 illustrates the voyage of the soul with both a ship and a bird. These symbols collaborate to traverse both the upper and lower realms. The bird with its outstretched wings, highlighted in blue, travels through the upper world, while the ship, highlighted in red, navigates the underworld. The souls attached to the ship are conveyed to the bird which will carry them toward the sun and facilitate their journey into the afterlife and rebirth.