The overwhelming majority of Scandinavian rock art is found on open-air panels. These sites were often used for centuries, or even millennia, making it difficult to relate them to specific archaeological contexts. This is why those rare finds of rock art that are found in burials are so important; in such contexts, we glimpse rituals and practices that are otherwise impossible to detect. One well-known example is the Kivik cairn in southern Sweden that displays a number of expressive images on seven decorated slabs. Another example, equalling Kivik in its complexity, is the Sagaholm mound outside Jönköping in the South Swedish Highlands. When excavated in 1971, a partly destroyed mound was revealed, holding an inner kerb of decorated slabs with numerous and varied images including horses, ships and humans (due to the fragmentary state of the monument, no burial was identified). While the Kivik cairn has been widely known for more than 200 years, with this volume, the Sagaholm mound is now introduced to an international audience for the first time.

Sagaholm: north European Bronze Age rock art and burial ritual consists of nine chapters that collectively provide the reader with a clear understanding of the archaeological excavation, the research context and some possible lines of interpretation concerning the relationship between the carvings, the monument and the wider social and ritual setting.

Chapter 1 introduces the theme of the book and gives the reader a short and rather personal account of the background to the study. Chapter 2 provides a detailed survey of the excavation, and Goldhahn does a good job of integrating the diverse types of information into a single comprehensive account. Chapter 3 introduces the research history on the site and outlines how the monument and its carvings have been discussed by scholars such Göran Burenhult, Mats P. Malmer, Klavs Randsborg and Jarl Nordbladh. Chapter 4 is an account of the individual motifs on the slabs, with a discussion of their various characteristics and possible parallels. Chapter 5 is a detailed account of the monument, its construction and stratigraphy, and Chapter 6 presents the chronology of the site.

Chapter 7, ‘Narrative and metaphors’, focuses on the occurrence of the large number of horse images on the slabs. In the Scandinavian Bronze Age, the horse was often associated with solar symbolism, and in this specific case it is argued that the circular kerb might represent the sun. Chapter 8 provides some general remarks on how the death rituals at Sagaholm may be related to the new social and ritual organisation that appeared at the beginning of the Scandinavian Bronze Age. The final chapter is a solid and interesting interpretation of the different phases of the monument—including its carvings—which are related to Arnold van Gennep's ideas on rites de passages.

A key strength of this book is Goldhahn's ability to combine accurate plans, photographs and descriptions of the monument and its carvings with scholarly interpretations of a high standard. Thus, there are two ways of approaching this fascinating volume. You can go into the details and study the individual carvings according to shape, pecking technique and possible parallels, as illustrated in the numerous images provided. Or, alternatively, you can read the book as a discussion of how rock art and death rituals were interrelated in the construction of a single monument.

The author offers many different interpretations of how to understand the Sagaholm carvings. The most convincing are when he stays close to the material as, for example, when he relates the making of the images to a specific stage in the construction of the monument, or when he discusses them in relation to the death rituals that took place on the site. These conclusions are based on a combination of a stratigraphic analysis of the monument and a thorough reading of ritual theory. In these matters, Goldhahn's conclusions are a great step forward in our understanding of rock art in burial contexts.

One shortcoming of the book is that it was originally published, in Swedish, in 1999. Thus, the last 15–20 years of research on, for example, rock art chronology and ritual theory are not incorporated into this volume. A short note on the background of the decision to publish an unrevised translation of the original text is located at the back of the book in the epilogue; to avert any misunderstandings, it would have been better to have this information clearly stated at the very beginning. Generally, the images are good, but the colour photographs are a little fuzzy and do not reach the high quality of those in the original publication.

In summary, this book—although originally published more than 15 years ago—provides the Anglophone world with a welcome introduction to rock art in burial contexts, and offers detailed insight into the construction of one of the most fascinating Bronze Age monuments in northern Europe. It will be of value both for those researching rock art specifically and for those with a more general interest in the Bronze Age of northern Europe.