Kvalvågstraumen whaling site
The Kvalvågstraumen whaling site is located between the Kvalvågen and Ulvøyni farms on the Fensfjord near Mongstad in Fylke Vestland in Norway , where a long, arched sound stretches out.
The northern entrance to Kvalvågstraumen is so flat that only small, flat boats can pass it. However, access to the south is deep. Whales could get in here , but not out at the northern end through the Kvalvågstraumen. When the whale swam in, the sound was blocked with a net.
At the southern entrance, stones lay on the rocks to drive the whale deeper into the sound so that there was enough time to close the entrance. The hunting tool was a harpoon that was hand thrown from boats. When whaling started in this way is unknown, but whaling took place in this sound throughout the 19th century. The last whale was shot here in 1928.
context
Rock paintings in Scandinavia give evidence of ancient whaling in Northern Europe. Drawings and bone finds in the south of the Korean peninsula Bangu-Dae show that whales were hunted 5000 years ago. Russian and American archaeologists discovered the oldest evidence of whaling during an excavation on the Chukchi Peninsula . They found a 3000 year old piece of walrus ivory with a scene of a whale hunt carved into it. At the excavation site, they discovered the remains of several whales and heavy stone blades that may have been used to kill the animals.
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Coordinates: 60 ° 48 ′ 34.8 " N , 4 ° 55 ′ 10" E