Cultural monuments

Reinheimen is rich in cultural monuments from the ancient practice of wild reindeer hunting and trapping. Visitors can see pitfall traps, mass trapping systems, hunting hides and the remnants of ancient shelters used by the local hunters.
In a Scandinavian context, Reinheimen is one of the most important areas for cultural monuments related to hunting and trapping from the Iron Age and Middle Ages. Traces of hunting and trapping culture are visible in many places in the mountains, where visitors can study pitfall traps, hunting hides and kilometer-long reindeer trapping systems. In the eastern part of the national park along Slådalsvegen road, visitors can see one of the best-preserved mass trapping systems in the world. Here you can also see the remains of old guiding fences.
Finds of 11,000-year-old campsites with hunting characteristics and scattered artefacts on some mountain peaks indicate that the Romsdal mountains in the west were likely the primary pioneer areas for reindeer hunting. This corresponds well with Quaternary geology knowledge about early ice-free areas in the northern parts of Western Norway.

In addition, there are several falcon trapping sites and other cultural monuments associated with trapping and hunting. Hunting and fishing shelters from the past few centuries can also be found in close proximity to the prehistoric cultural monuments.

This makes it easier for us to understand the cultural monuments related to hunting and trapping. Hunting wild reindeer is a continuous tradition that has been maintained since the inland ice began to melt 10,000 years ago.
Today, reindeer hunting is important for regulating the size of the herd and for the local culinary and cultural traditions in the villages around Reinheimen.