Petroglyphs: cronicles of 9 000 years ago

Karelian geological history made this part of Russia exquisite. Karelia experienced 4 glaciations. The last Big Ice was 3 km thick, imagine how heavy it was! It polished all the mountains into smooth horizontal rocks. Then the glacier melted 12 000 years ago. Free territory was settled with animals, and for animals came prehistoric hunters. They live on the territory of modern Karelia and their main activities were fishing and hunting. But how do we know this? Petroglyphs, carved images on smooth rocks dating back to 9000 years ago tell us their story. There are more than 2000 images in different parts of Lake Onego shore and the White Sea shore. Not all of them are described by scientists. Some of them are really mysterious, like a figure of Devil. Most of them depict everyday life of prehistoric hunters. By the way thanks to these images we learned that a man knew skis 9 000 years ago. The picture of a skier on Karelian Petroglyphs is the oldest in the world. We will gladly show these artifacts to you either in our Museum of regional History, or directly on the shore! Welcome to Karelia! Enjoy RussiAn!