Rock carvings at Alta
Facts and practical information
The Rock carvings at Alta, nestled in the northern reaches of Norway, are an open-air testament to the artistic and cultural expressions of people from the prehistoric era. This UNESCO World Heritage Site, often considered an outdoor museum, showcases thousands of petroglyphs that date back to approximately 4200 to 500 BC.
The carvings were first discovered in the 1970s and have since revealed a rich tapestry of human activity over thousands of years, depicting scenes from daily life, religious beliefs, and practices. The images carved into the rock include animals, human figures, and abstract geometric patterns, providing invaluable insights into the lives and environment of the hunter-gatherer communities of the time.
Visitors to the site can walk along designated paths and view the carvings up close, with several panels being illuminated for better visibility. The carvings at Alta are remarkable not only for their quantity but also for their excellent state of preservation, attributed to the dry climate and the site's high latitude, which has protected them from the wear and tear of heavy weathering.
19 AltaveienFinnmark
Finnmark