This ancient scene painted on a rock wall at Astuvansalmi in the Finnish Lake District features a female archer (left).

Rock paintings dating back several thousand years can be found in more than 100 locations throughout the country, typically on waterside cliff faces near striking rock formations. Some consist of indistinct reddish-brown shapes, but others clearly feature people, boats, animals, fish or mysterious, partly human figures that may be linked to shamanic rituals.

Finland’s best known rock paintings, on the rocky shores of Lake Saimaa at Astuvansalmi, near Ristiina, can be reached along a 3-km nature trail. The paintings feature a female archer, a human figure with antlers as well as elk or reindeer marked with spots showing the location of the animals’ hearts. Another popular site, at Värikallio cliffs in the Hossa Hiking Area near Kuusamo, is renowned for its otherworldly figures with triangular heads.

Two set of rock paintings in Kirkkonummi, just 25 km west of Helsinki, are harder to find. Abstract designs on a lakeside cliff at Hvitträsk were first reported to the national antiquities authorities by their discoverer Jean Sibelius. The composer found the paintings while exploring the surroundings of his architect friend Eliel Saarinen’s Hvitträsk home, which today is a museum.

	The handprint signature of an unknown artist from around 5,000 years ago is still clearly visible on the cliffs at Astuvansalmi.

Striking scenes

A few miles to the west, a rock face by the shores of Lake Juusjärvi features a lively tableau of ancient images including dancing figures, a large fish approaching a falling man, a curious character with a bird-like head, a line of elk climbing up the cliff and, most strikingly, the handprints of the artist, reaching out through the millennia.

Finland’s other impressive prehistoric relics include many Bronze Age burial cairns. Such cairns consist of hundreds of large stones piled up over open graves on rocky hilltops, often near the shores of the Baltic Sea. Finland’s best known burial cairns can be seen at the extensive Sammallahdenmäki Bronze Age site near Rauma, on the west coast. This archaeological treasure is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Similar remains of a smaller scale can be seen in the Helsinki district of Meilahti, overlooking the sea at the beginning of Seurasaarentie. An archaeological survey of this cairn revealed charred human bones that had been buried under the stones for some 3000 years. Visiting relics such as these and wondering what they meant to the people at the time is always a thought-provoking experience.

Fran Weaver - HT