About the archive
The purpose of the Alta Rock Art Archive is to serve as an epicenter for the documentation of the world heritage the Rock Art of Alta. In the archive, a majority of the documentation of the rock art itself is to be secured and updated, thus making it easily available for national, regional and local managers of cultural heritage, as well as researchers and others who work to preserve, convey, or create new knowledge about the world heritage.
Our reason for establishing a rock art archive is that it is a necessary tool for fulfilling the responsibilities of managing our world heritage. To hold a complete record of the Rock Art of Alta, what it consists of, its history and cultural significance, and not least what has happened to it in modern times, is invaluable to managing, researching and dissimenating the world heritage. By collecting this knowledge, we lay the foundation for preserving the Rock Art of Alta and its values in the best possible way.
Knowledge and information about the world heritage and how it is managed is of great public interest on an international level. It is our opinion that it is in the interest of the rock art itself that the world heritage management practices a high degree of openness. Therefore, the majority of the Alta Rock Art Archive contents is made publically available at altarockart.no.
An important fact about the Alta Rock Art Archive is that it consists of more material than that which is available online. Documents and other sources of knowledge about the world heritage is safely stored in the museums archives. The Alta Rock Art Archive can be seen as one of the functions which constitutes Alta Museums activities and solutions concerning the collecting and mangement of documents related to the Rock Art of Alta.