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The Norwegian population in the stone age was in all
probability not very numerous; the Scandinavian cultural centre of the
stone age lay farther to the south, and it is therefore only by
inferences from Sweden and Denmark, that any idea can be formed
of the life in Norway during the stone age. It is probable that
up to the end of the stone age, the population of Norway continued
to be a hunting and fishing people, while in the neighbouring
countries it can be proved that cattle-rearing was carried on.
The stone age here in the north continued longer, and was
therefore able to develop more than elsewhere in Europe. The
antiquities — in Norway also — bear witness of a far-advanced
culture, and are remarkable for their beautiful, often elegant shapes
and careful workmanship.
The most populous parts at this time were the coast districts
round the Kristiania Fjord, Jæderen, and the districts round the
Trondhjem Fjord. Antiquities from the stone age that have been
buried with their owners are very rarely found in Norway. They
are almost exclusively found in fields, that is to say, have found
their way into the earth quite unconnected with any burial; as a
rule, they have been lost, or hidden away during war or danger,
or from religious motives. It cannot be said with certainty when
the stone age ended, but a knowledge of metals certainly came here
between 1500 and 1000 years before the birth of Christ.
The so-called arctic stone implements form a characteristic
group. They are remarkable both for their peculiar shapes and
for the kind of stone of which they are made. The ordinary
stone-age implements are of flint, sandstone, or some kind of eruptive
rock, while the arctic stone implements are almost exclusively of
slate. They are chiefly found in the most northerly districts of
the country, where the ordinary stone implements are never, or
hardly ever found. In Sweden, it is the same. It is therefore
believed that the so-called artic [[** sic = arc-]] stone implements did not belong to
the same race of people, and the same culture, as those which have
left their evidences elsewhere in Scandinavia. It is believed that
this stone-age culture belonged to the forefathers of the Lapps,
who inhabited those northern regions even in prehistoric times.
As it is historically certain that the Lapps long continued to use
stone implements, several of the so-called arctic stone articles may
be from fairly recent times. The only kitchen-midden from the stone
age, hitherto found in Norway, contained only arctic stone implements.
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