NORDLAND COUNTY, NORWAY—A faint 5,000-year-old carving depicting a figure on skis has been vandalized by a teenaged boy who used a sharp object to scratch over the original etching. The Local, Norway, reports that the perpetrator thought he was making the rock art easier for other visitors to see. Other images in the hunting scene, which is located on the island of Tro in northern Norway, were also defaced. “It’s a tragedy, because it’s one of the most famous Norwegian historical sites,” says Bård Anders Langø, mayor of the Alstahaug municipality. Archaeologists will study the damage to the site, but Langø says they suspect it is irreversible. For more, go to "Artifact: Norway Viking Sword."
Rock Art Damaged in Norway
News August 1, 2016
Recommended Articles
Digs & Discoveries November/December 2024
Monuments to Youth
Off the Grid November/December 2024
Selja Island, Norway
Digs & Discoveries September/October 2023
Royal Wharf
Digs & Discoveries May/June 2023
The Road to Runes
-
Features July/August 2016
Franklin’s Last Voyage
After 170 years and countless searches, archaeologists have discovered a famed wreck in the frigid Arctic
(Courtesy Parks Canada, Photo: Marc-André Bernier) -
Letter from England July/August 2016
Stronghold of the Kings in the North
Excavations at one of Britain’s most majestic castles help tell the story of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom
(Colin Carter Photography/Getty Images) -
Artifacts July/August 2016
Spanish Horseshoe
(Courtesy Peter Eeckhout) -
Digs & Discoveries July/August 2016
Is it Esmeralda?
(Courtesy David Mearns)