Alta: Our Predecessors

Every morning so far, we have woken up to the howling of the dogs, and this last day in Alta was no different. I’ve actually found myself enjoying the sounds of the wilderness around us. It awakens our soul’s connection to the natural world, and reminds us that it or she must be given respect. 

Our ancient predecessors, and even the descendants of ancient indigenous tribes such as the Samí, have always respected the gifts that she gives us. While the daily lifestyles and survival tactics of the prehistoric man are not readily known, much information is often derived from the fragments that they have left behind. We explored some of these shadowy traces with a visit to the Alta Museum. 

Author Andreas Haldorsen

Credit: Andreas Haldorsen:

Alta is home to the largest concentration of Rock Art in Northern Europe. The first stone, dubbed the “Pippisteinen,” was found only 60 years ago. In the present day, over 6000 carvings and paintings have been registered. The art is dated to be from 7000 to 2000 years ago, and depicts a Hunter-Fisher Society. 

On the panels, there are many scenes depicting hunters stalking prey with spears or bows and arrows; Fishermen are seen fishing with lines in the water. Of particular interest or the boats, which start off small in earlier drawings but progressively show larger and more ornately carved boats in later drawings.  Since similar carvings were found in Southern Norway, one hypothesis is that long-distance voyages may have come into being. 

Credit: Petr Brož

 A creature that is featured prominently is the bear. It is believed that bear was not only hunted, but also worshipped. There are drawings showing tracks leading vertically through a carved image and crossing the horizontal tracks of other animals. Anthropologists have speculated that this indicates the bear’s connection to the afterlife, that the tracks indicate an ability for the bear to pass between the different layers of the world.  

Credit: KSENIA NOVIKOVA / NRK

 Before we visited the Alta Museum, we had gone to the Alta city center for a late brunch. We also got to catch some of the finishers of the Finnmarksløpet, the northernmost sled dog race in the world. The 1000 km (about 630 miles) race entrants had left on March 5 with a 14-dog team. This means that they spent a total of 6 days racing around Finnmark, Wow!

After the Museum, we went into town looking for a coffee shop and cinnamon rolls, but ended up settling for ice cream since Tom saw a shop and started craving it. We then returned to the hotel to pack for our travel day tomorrow and take a nap before our last day of Northern Lights hunting. The forcast wasn’t looking optimistic, but after driving south for about an hour we saw a few shimmers. The lights were more tranquil than the previous two nights, so it seemed as if they were sad to see us go.  

 

Travel: Goa

I had a generally unproductive day today. Nick went off to visit some family that he had in Mumbai and although I had time to go explore before meeting him at the airport, I decided to let myself have a lazy morning.

My original intent was to catch up on some blog posts but I found myself mesmerized by a new book I was reading on my kindle.

I caught a taxi to the airport after I checked out after noon. There, I waited for Nick to arrive after a lunchtime meeting with his uncle. When he hadn’t arrived by 1:30 pm, I had a brief panic moment that we had missed each other. This was compounded by my schizophrenic cell phone issues. Fortunately, he was just running late, and I didn’t have to deal with all his luggage on top of my own.

We arrived in Goa around 6 pm, however, it took us about 2 hrs to taxi to our hotel because of how large the state is and the New Year’s Eve traffic. After we settled in, we rented a moped and went in search of dinner, I was surprised by how many Russians were on holiday there!

Goa has a history dating back as far as 20,000 to 30,0000 years. There are still rock art carvings that demonstrate the earliest traces of human life when our ancestors first began to transition from four legs to two legs.

Modern day Goa however can be traced back to the year 1510. It is at this point in history that that the Portuguese defeated the reigning sultan and claimed the region as a settlement. Portuguese sovereignty in present-day India would last for four and a half centuries until 1987, when, in the advent of claiming their independence from the British in 1947, the Indian Army moved to reclaim the territory that was rightfully theirs.

Goa is now one of the richest states of India, with the highest GDP per capita (2.5x the entire country’s), and an average growth rate of 8.2%! It is famous for its beaches and nightlife, which is exactly why Nick and I chose to spend our New Years Eve here.