Årbakka- The prehistoric site

The prehistoric site at Årbakkasanden with menhirs and burial mounds has been visited, described and illustrated by many learned researchers through the last 350 years. All the same, we still know very little of this unique cultural monument.

Byrkjehaugen

On the farm Bø, close to the highway between Bulken and Voss lies Byrkjehaugen, one of the largest burial mounds in West Norway. Originally it was around 50m across and 5m high, but following the excavation in 1908 and chipping off by both railway and road construction, the cross-section has shrunk to 37m and the height to 4m. All the same, it is an impressive burial monument for the passing traveller to see.

Vikingnes

Husedalen

Døso

Raudlia

Ulven

In the region of Ulven phyllite occurs with Hordaland's youngest fossils, and a beautiful quartz conglomerate. The phyllite and conglomerate got squeezed into the bottom of an ancient oceanic crust, made of gabbro and greenstone, in the heart of the Caledonide mountain chain.

Sandviksfjellet

On Sandviksfjellet there are old boulders that have been made into mountains. The stones have been stretched out or squeezed together between huge slabs of rock, during slow, but powerfulprocesses of transport. This conglomerate shows, in quite a special way, the enormous powers that were active during the collision between Norway and Greenland over 400 million years ago.

Rådalen

"...it would not be of any particular economical interest to support the planting of forest as the forest that can be cultivated will leave much to be desired in the way of growth potential." These words stem from the economist that at the end of the 1800s was sent to Stend to inspect the planned reforestation in person. The pioneer G.A.Wilson put the economist's words to shame. The spruce that was planted in Rådalen in the period 1867–1869 became a landmark. No other stand of forest in Scandinavia can boast more trees per unit area.

Buadalsbrotet