Vistehålå Cave

At Viste you will find Vistehola (Svarthola), one of the oldest Stone Age settlements in the region. Vistehola was likely formed during the last Ice Age and is about 9 metres deep, 5 metres wide, and 3 metres high. Today, the cave is located a considerable distance from the sea (16 metres above sea level). However, in the Stone Age, the sea reached all the way up to the cave.

The first people settled here around 6000 BC. With intervals, the site was inhabited until the Migration Period, around 500 AD. Rich archaeological finds have been made in the thick soil layers inside and around Vistehola, including bones, antlers, and flint tools. The bone remains show what people lived on, and remains of around 50 different animal and bird species have been discovered.

During an excavation in 1907, the skeleton of a boy of about 15 years old (the “Viste Boy”) was found. This is one of the best-preserved Stone Age skeletons ever discovered, and it is believed to be around 8,200 years old. The Viste Boy is now on display at the Archaeological Museum in Stavanger.