Gjerde & Arntzen/Perspectives, 2. Changing Settlements, Shores and Boats through 5000 Years

Integrating rock art into local and regional archaeological records is a major problem as the evidence of direct cultural connections frequently is weak and even lacking. This paper focus on the creation of a chronological sequence based on altitudinal and temporal relationships between petroglyphs, radiocarbon dated occupation sites and the Holocene shoreline displacement within a confined coastal area in Alta, Northern Norway. The proposed shore displacement curve based on the maximum dates from different sites deviates slightly from that based on geological data and need to be challenged through multi-disciplinary research. The radiocarbon dates indicate that some localities were reoccupied multiple times. Even so, the focus of making petroglyphse. was mainly within the zone of mean tide to the above outwash area, which gradually was replaced by emerging rock surfaces due to postglacial rebound. As such, the time spans of the zones are gradually becoming younger, but one must be especially critical if “translating” minor altitudinal differences into temporal differences. A discussion of the spatial relationships of the boat figures and the shore-displacement indicate that the petroglyphs might be divided into more periods than earlier suggested.