In the Hjemmeluft area on the southern shore of the Altafjord in northern Norway, just west of the town of Alta, Neolithic and Bronze Age petroglyphs were found in the autumn of 1972, ranging in age from 2000 to 6500 years.
Petroglyphs (from Greek πέτρος petros "stone" and γλύφειν glýphein "to carve") are representations worked into stone, which often show hunting and religious scenes from prehistoric times. Unlike rock art, a petroglyph is engraved, scraped, or pecked, and sunk into the ground.
The E69, which joins the E6 to Alta, is a dream road with spectacular views. At the end of May the roads are clear but the snow-capped hills and mountains give a wintry impression.
Occasionally reindeer appear who have already scraped small patches of grass under the snow to graze. It goes a long way along the Porsangerfjord. Small islands with few houses suddenly appear behind the curves and tunnels of the country road.
You can often go 80 km/h here and we make good progress until the road gets busier when we arrive in Alta and we are happy about the many cyclists.
The rock formation of Kirkeporten is a highlight that is easy to hike from Skarsvåg. Once you have reached this stretch of coast, Kirkeporten offers a very special view: through it you can see over the Mefjord to the North Cape plateau, about six kilometers away, with its famous North Cape Horn.
Via the European Route 6 (E6) we drive along the border river between Finland and Norway, the Kárášjohka, to the main settlement areas of the Sami people in Norway. Ice floes are still drifting on the raging river and mountains of ice and snow are piling up meters high on its banks.
We stay overnight in the town of Karasjok, the seat of the Sami Parliament Sameting. Here the Kárášjohka flows leisurely through the small town before it becomes the sometimes raging border river in the narrower passages between Norway and Finland.
One of the highest concentrations of archaeological sites in the Nordic countries is at Ceavccageađge (Mortensnes in Norwegian) in Varanger. Ten thousand years as a meeting place for hunters, fishermen and traders have left traces of settlements in the landscape, some monumental but many often small and easily overlooked. A cairn is not always just a cairn.
