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Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology pp 1–10Cite as

Alta (Norway), Rock Art of

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Introduction

The Alta rock art area is the largest concentration of Stone Age rock art in Northern Europe. This paper is a brief presentation of the rock art of Alta, Northern Norway. An overview of the sites with rock art in the Alta Fjord region can be found in Fig. 1. The find history of the rock art sets the historical background. Then the chronological framework for the rock art is presented, followed by a presentation of the rock art including the fascinating narrative hunting and fishing scenes and compositions where the interaction between rock art and natural features will be discussed. Some of the panels with rock art stand out as representations of miniature landscapes including references to landscape features such as lakes, rivers, and valleys where the rock art is deliberately placed in relation to these features.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Map of the rock art in the Alta Fjord region. The sites with petroglyphs are marked in blue, while the paintings are marked in red. (Illustration by Jan...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. High North Department, Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU), Tromsø, Norway

    Jan Magne Gjerde

Authors
  1. Jan Magne Gjerde
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jan Magne Gjerde .

Section Editor information

  1. Departament de Prehistòria, Història Antiga i Arqueologia, ICREA/Universitat de Barcelona/SERP, Barcelona, Spain

    Inés Domingo Sanz

  2. "CONICET - AIA - UBA Asociación de Investigaciones Antropológicas", Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Danae Fiore

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Gjerde, J.M. (2019). Alta (Norway), Rock Art of. In: Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_2815-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_2815-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51726-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51726-1

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