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The Hard Rock Trip - a journey through a Stone Age landscape

A mini-exhibition that takes you on a journey through the Stone Age landscape of Vestfold and Telemark.

Image may contain: Geological phenomenon, Road, Freeway, Highway, Thoroughfare.

Photos: Anja Mansrud/Per Ståle Bugjerdet/Stine Melvold

In recent years, archaeologists from the Museum of Cultural History have been digging all over Vestfold and Telemark, along new routes for the railway and four-lane motorway. The road and railway cross a former coastal landscape where people have lived since the end of the Ice Age and throughout the Stone Age. Here we present a small selection of the thousands of finds that we have collected and analysed from 2010 to 2012.

The Vestfold Railway Project (2010-2012)

  • Was set up in connection with the new railway line through Vestfold and Telemark. Funded by the Norwegian National Rail Administration.
  • 30 Stone Age settlement sites were studied
  • The traces of Stone Age life span 7500 years, covering almost the entire Stone Age (9000-1500 BC)
  • The long time span of the settlements provides us with a broad picture of the lines of development of Stone Age life in Vestfold and Telemark.
  • The project gives us new information about the period when agriculture began in Norway.

The E18 road from Bommestad to Sky (2011-2012)

  • A project initiated in connection with the new four-lane motorway in Vestfold. Funded by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.
  • Nine Stone Age settlement sites were studied
  • The traces of Stone Age life span 500 years in the middle of the Early Stone Age in Norway (7900-7400 BC). There were previously very few excavations from this period.
  • At that time the sea level was much higher than today, and the settlements were on islands in an archipelago. People lived by hunting, trapping and fishing.
  • We have found traces of both short stays on the islands and larger, more permanent settlements with remains of homes. 
Published Nov. 24, 2014 1:59 PM - Last modified Apr. 26, 2022 4:02 PM