Environmental monitoring of rock carvings in Scandinavia

In the Scandinavian countries, Norway and Sweden, increased weathering rate of cultural property such as rock carvings, mostly dated between 4200 - 50 0 BC, has become a serious problem. Observations during the last decades ha ve shown severe deterioration due to a combination of natural and anthropog enic influences. In order to study the rate of weathering of the rock carvi ngs an interdisciplinary group from Norway and Sweden was formed to carry o ut environmental monitoring on one site in each country, one of them belong ing to the UNESCO World Heritage List. The results from this investigation have elucidated the problems concerning weathering of silicate rock surface s and the different parameters causing the deterioration. Based on the obta ined results some counter measures in order to preserve the rock carvings h ave been tested.