Boat carvings found in Norway may be the oldest in Europe
Life-size examples of rock art could have served as signposts when early Scandinavians populated the Mesolithic seascape.
Carvings of boats found on rock surfaces in Valle, Norway, may be the oldest known examples in Europe, and are perhaps among the earliest in the world, according to a new study published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology.
The two images are thought to have been made around 10,000 to 11,000 years ago, 3,000 years before other boat carvings in northern Europe.
The Art Newspaper
April 27, 2021
© Jan Magne Gjerde
First identified in 2017, the boats appear as white outlines carved into the grey rock surface and can only be seen clearly under the right weather conditions. One boat originally measured around 4.3m in length, although only one end remains now because of erosion. It was probably a life-size representation, like nearby carvings of animals, which include seals, reindeer, a possible porpoise and perhaps a polar bear. A second boat image is less well preserved, with only around 3m still visible.
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