Finnish rock art

Finnish rock art pictographs created during the Stone Age have been found at 127 sites around Finland.

The survival of the art in adverse climatic conditions is due to their protection by a naturally forming thin layer of silicon dioxide on the rock surface.

The paints used included a mix of iron oxide, blood, and animal fat or egg, although traces of the organic materials are no longer detectable.

Similar sites can be found in parts of Northern Sweden, Norway and Russia – mainly, it seems, in areas once populated by the Saami or other Finno-Ugric peoples.

[1] The first paintings to be recognised as Stone Age were reported in 1911 by Jean Sibelius, whose eye was caught by strange patterns on a lakeside cliff near Hvitträsk, the home of his friend, architect Eliel Saarinen.