Alta Rock Carvings

In Northern Norway in Finnmark County are the, Alta Rock Carvings. These unique ancient paintings can be seen close to the town of Alta, which is the largest city in this part of the country. From the Norwegian capital Oslo, Alta is located 1280 kilometers north, and the rock paintings can be examined only five kilometers southwest of the center of Alta.

Prehistoric scenes are depicted on the inside of the Altafjord, because of the enormous value for human history, the drawings are included in the List of World Heritage by UNESCO.

Inherently, the complex of the Alta petroglyphs are composed of an enormous amount of petroglyphs which were discovered in 1972. The historic find is dated from 4200-4500 BC.

However, most of the images are probably deep around 500 BC, but experts believe that there are forms of around 500 AD. According to the organization UNESCO the Alta rock petroglyphs are the most important evidence of human activity and life in the Great North in prehistoric times.

There is a main display of four stages which are found in the rocks. All were at one time sculpted ice in the Ice Age melt. That is why at the top of the fjord are located the oldest petroglyphs and the lower layers that are close to sea level you will find the more newer drawings.

The difference between the highest and the lowest prehistoric engravings is around 26 meters. The whole rock complex incorporates over 5000 different designs, spread around 45 sites.

A museum is located inside the rock with an exhibition that tells the story of prehistoric art. The museum has an organized route down the Alta, visitors can stop at a total of 13 places to see the pictures more closely.

All depict various themes, including geometric symbols, animals such as bears, elk, deer and others including absent and not human characters and scenes, transforming moments during hunting, fishing, navigation and other ancient rites. According to specialists, the drawings that imitate scenes of agricultural domestic animals injected behind fences are among the latest of petroglyphs of Alta.

The museum paintings were on exhibit from June 1991 and in 1993 the museum was named European Museum of the Year. To get to Alta you must leave the highway E 6 For Hjemmeluft, which starts from the west end of the town, Alta, which is two and a half kilometers from Bossekop, if you enter the village from the southwest.

There are special bus lines, which lead visitors directly to the Museum Alta region of rock carvings and petroglyphs. The distance between them and the city airport is about 8 km.