6,000-year-old carvings found by archaeologist taking a shortcut to work, photos show
An archaeologist decided to take a shortcut on his way to work at a remote excavation site in Norway. Along the way, he noticed markings on a rock — and stumbled on dozens of 6,000-year-old carvings.
Erik Kjellmann was helping excavate the ruins of a Stone Age settlement at Sør-Varanger in 2016 when he took a shortcut, the Arctic University of Norway said in a May 22 news release. Walking through a rock-strewn field, he spotted some lines on a stone.
At first, Kjellmann thought the lines were just scratches from bear claws, he told the university. Still, he returned with a colleague.
As they studied the rock, figures suddenly seemed to emerge, Kjellmann said. He spotted a reindeer, then an elk. Immediately, he realized this was something sensational.
Archaeologists returned to the site in summer 2023 to study it in depth, the university said.
Scattered across a roughly 50-foot-long and 10-foot-tall rock surface, archaeologists found about 30 ancient carvings, the university said. The artworks, also known as petroglyphs, mainly included reindeer and elk.
Based on the style of the carvings and their location, archaeologists dated the find to between 5200 B.C. and 4200 B.C., making it at least 6,000 years old, the university said.
A video from the university, shared on YouTube by Science in Norway, shows the ancient rock art. Archaeologists described the animal carvings as very realistic and ranging from about 4 inches to almost 16 inches in size.
Depending on the sunlight, archaeologists said the carvings can be very hard to see.
The 6,000-year-old rock art field is the first one of its kind in the region, the university said.
Sør-Varanger is one of the easternmost regions in Norway and borders Finland, Russia and the Arctic Ocean.
Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the Arctic University of Norway and YouTube video shared by Science in Norway (forskning.no).
This story was originally published June 3, 2024 at 10:50 AM with the headline "6,000-year-old carvings found by archaeologist taking a shortcut to work, photos show."
