FREQUENCY, PHASES AND CHRONOLOGY OF ROCK ART: SPATIOTEMPORAL STUDIES OF THE ALTA ROCK CARVINGS, NORTHERNMOST EUROPE

• Published in: Oxford Journal of Archaeology
• Main Author: Gjerde, Jan Magne
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2024
• Subjects: Alta
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ojoa.12293; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/ojoa.12293

Summary The rock art of Alta, comprising more than 7000 rock carvings, is dated by shoreline chronology. It is unparalleled in Europe. The well‐dated rock carvings make the material suitable for a temporal study of the rock art and the frequency of rock art production over c .5500 years. Based on new detailed elevation measurements performed by Alta Museum of the 92 panels with rock art and individual measurements of a total of 442 individual figures it is possible to discuss the temporal and spatial distribution of the rock art in Alta in detail. This up‐to‐date study shows that the rock art in Alta was made between c .5300 BC and AD 100 (6300–1900 BP). This raises the question whether the rock art record represents an even production of figures, accumulated gradually over more than five millennia, or whether there were more intensive phases of activity in the Alta area. Further, were all main areas used throughout the five millennia or did activities shift in the landscape? Based on the current record, the frequency of the rock art argues for a clear division of the material into four chronological phases. The material record shows an intense production in the earliest period from c .5300–4000 BC, with about 60% of the rock art being made then. The results from this study indicate that the rock carvings in Alta support a framework for the Alta rock art into four phases.