27 May 2024

ICOMOS, together with its Norwegian National Committee and the International Scientific Committee on Rock Art (ISC-CAR), is issuing a Heritage Alert, to stop the planned stone quarry on Aksla mountain, close to the Vingen rock art area, that will damage this remarkable site and its pristine surrounding landscape, unchanged for over 6000 years. Thousands of petroglyphs from the Stone Age can be found in the area, providing unique insights into past narratives.

The stone quarry, which the Municipal Council of Bremanger and the Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development recently approved, is planning on extracting 360 million tons of Devonian sandstone for European export, operating approximately five kilometers westwards from the Vingen landscape protection area. The Dutch company behind the planned stone quarry, Beheersmij Fr. Bontrup BD, is already running another quarry on the adjacent Sætrefjellet mountain, with a shipping port located on the southern side of the Dyrstad peninsula.

The Vingen rock art area is one of the largest and best-preserved rock art concentrations in Northern Europe. It encompasses approximately 2km², and is situated within a larger landscape protection area totalling 5km². The new development will significantly alter the Vingen area and visually scar the surrounding landscape, with dust and noise pollution additionallly affecting the site.

The focus of the Heritage Alert is on the Vingen Rock Art landscape area [yellow caption]. Rock art has been found in other places west of the area [purple captions]. It is likely that Stone Age activity extended all the way to the planned shipping port [red captions]. Several runic stones and a large Bronze Age cairn are located at the Hennøya island, close to the planned shipping port.

The Vingen area can only reached by boat, and the surrounding area remains one of the largest on the outer coast of Western Norway still maintaining a road-free gradient from fjord to mountains. A protected landscape area surrounding the rock art was established in 1980 through the Nature Diversity act, and the Cultural Heritage Act automatically protects the area, archaeological sites included.

The rock art was produced at the end of the Late Mesolithic period, a subclassification of the Stone Age. Archaeological excavations in the vicinity of rock art panels and independent scientific investigations have dated the rock art production to between 6900-9200 Cal BP. The rock art, dwelling depressions, production tools for making rock art and archeaological sites with remains from numerous other tasks and activity - are all set in a landscape that has remained unchanged since the rock art was produced, thus beyond estimation in terms of value.

→ Read the press release
→ Read the letter sent to Norwegian government officials
→ Read the background document

It is important to lodge your opposition to this development, raise awareness, disseminate knowledge about the threat to cultural heritage and the environment, and encourage collective efforts to halt the quarry project.

Please consider signing the petition to halt this develpment, which can be found here:
Click here for the signature campaign

Rock art sites do not sit in isolation. Rather, they are integral parts of landscapes with both cultural and natural values. Vingen’s surrounding natural landscape is also very important as it is integral to Vingen’s context and one of the reasons ancient peoples marked the area with rock art thousands of years ago. Vingen is of World Heritage value and one of the largest and best ancient petroglyph sites in Europe. The rock art imagery of Vingen is diverse, numerous and unique and the site is one of the jewels in the crown of Norway’s rock art heritage.

→ Discover more about the Rock Art Network
→ Members and affiliated institutions of the Rock Art Network