Tjøtta (island)

Tjøtta
	View of Tjøtta in the foreground (Vega is in the background)
	Tjøtta Location of the island Tjøtta Tjøtta (Norway)
Geography
Location	Nordland, Norway
Coordinates	65°50′19″N12°27′15″E / 65.8386°N 12.4542°E Coordinates: 65°50′19″N12°27′15″E / 65.8386°N 12.4542°E
Area	11.3 km2 (4.4 sq mi)
Length	7 km (4.3 mi)
Width	4 km (2.5 mi)
Highest elevation	77 m (253 ft)
Highest point	Kalvberghaugen
Administration
	Norway
County	Nordland
Municipality	Alstahaug Municipality

Last updated March 07, 2019

Tjøtta is an island in Alstahaug Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The 11.3-square-kilometre (4.4 sq mi) island lies at the entrance to the Vefsnfjorden, just south of the island of Alsta. The U-shaped island is relatively flat, and the highest point is the 77-metre (253 ft) tall Kalvberghaugen, just east of the village of Tjøtta. The island has two main villages on it: Tjøtta and Svinnes. The Norwegian County Road 17 crosses the island and it connects it to the neighboring islands of Offersøya and Alsta by two causeways.^[1]

Island Any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands is called an archipelago, such as the Philippines.

Nordland is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is in Bodø. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen has been administered from Nordland since 1995.

Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northwestern Europe whose territory comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula; the remote island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard are also part of the Kingdom of Norway. The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land.

History

Tjøtta has one of the largest and oldest Iron Age farms in Northern Norway, and hardly any places in the region have this many historical relics preserved in one limited area. The chief Hårek of Tjøtta was from here. He was known in the stories of Snorre Sturlason as the governor of Hålogaland.^[1]

The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age system, preceded by the Stone Age (Neolithic) and the Bronze Age. It is an archaeological era in the prehistory and protohistory of Europe and the Ancient Near East, and by analogy also used of other parts of the Old World. The three-age system was introduced in the first half of the 19th century for the archaeology of Europe in particular, and by the later 19th century expanded to the archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Its name harks back to the mythological "Ages of Man" of Hesiod. As an archaeological era it was first introduced for Scandinavia by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen in the 1830s. By the 1860s, it was embraced as a useful division of the "earliest history of mankind" in general and began to be applied in Assyriology. The development of the now-conventional periodization in the archaeology of the Ancient Near East was developed in the 1920s to 1930s. As its name suggests, Iron Age technology is characterized by the production of tools and weaponry by ferrous metallurgy (ironworking), more specifically from carbon steel.

Northern Norway is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway are Mo i Rana, Bodø, Narvik, Harstad, Tromsø and Alta. Northern Norway is often described as the land of the midnight sun and the land of the northern lights. Further north, halfway to the North Pole, is the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, traditionally not regarded as part of Northern Norway.

Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norwegian provinces in the medieval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a kingdom extending between the Namdalen valley in Trøndelag county and the Lyngen fjord in Troms county.

Gullhaugen

Gullhaugen is located on Tjøtta. The name comes from the Old Norse word haugr meaning hill or mound. Gullhaugen is the site of a large burial mound consisting of over 30 mounds, 5 large round mounds, several elongated mounds, 2 large burial cairns, several stone rings, and a large number of smaller round mounds. The largest mound is about 25 metres (82 ft) across and about 2 to 3 metres (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft 10 in) high. All the mounds in this part of the cemetery has been dated back to the Iron Age.^[2]

Old Norse was a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements from about the 9th to the 13th century.

A cairn is a human-made pile of stones. The word cairn comes from the Scottish Gaelic: càrn[ˈkʰaːrˠn̪ˠ].

War Cemetries

There are two war cemeteries: Tjøtta Russian War Cemetery from 1953 and Tjøtta International War Cemetery from 1970 with the remains of the victims of Rigel sunk in 1944.

Tjøtta Russian War Cemetery on Tjøtta has more than 7,500 war graves, mostly Russians who were taken prisoners by Nazi Germany. The Soviet prisoners of war who died in North Norway during World War II were buried in ordinary cemeteries. After the war, however, the Norwegian authorities decided that they should be moved and brought together in a common cemetery on state ground at Tjøtta. The cemetery was consecrated in 1953 and comprises an enclosed common grave to the north with 6,725 dead, and 826 individual graves to the south.

Tjøtta International War Cemetery is a war cemetery on Tjøtta founded in 1970.

MS Rigel was a Norwegian vessel built in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1924. The ship was used as a German prisoner of war (POW) transport during World War II, and was sunk by British Fleet Air Arm aircraft off Norway on 27 November 1944 with more than 2,500 dead, mostly POWs.

Related Research Articles

A ship burial or boat grave is a burial in which a ship or boat is used either as a container for the dead and the grave goods, or as a part of the grave goods itself. If the ship is very small, it is called a boat grave. This style of burial was used among the Germanic peoples, particularly by Viking Age Norsemen. According to the Boxer Codex, ship burials were also practiced by the indigenous peoples of the Philippines.

Møn is an island in south-eastern Denmark. Until 1 January 2007, it was a municipality in its own right but it is now part of the municipality of Vordingborg, after merging with the former municipalities of Langebæk, Præstø, and Vordingborg. This has created a municipality with an area of 615 km² (237 sq mi) and a total population of 46,307 (2005). It belongs to the Region Sjælland. Møn is one of Denmark's most popular destinations for tourists with its white chalk cliffs, countryside, sandy beaches and the market town of Stege. In June 2017, UNESCO designated Møn as Denmark's first biosphere reserve, consisting of "a series of islands and islets in the southern Baltic Sea, over approximately 45,118 hectares. Its landscapes include woodlands, grasslands, meadows, wetlands, coastal areas, ponds and steep hills."

Vestfold[²vɛstfɔl](listen) is a county in Norway, on the western shore of the Oslofjord. It borders Buskerud and Telemark. The county administration is in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the largest city is Sandefjord. With the exception of the city-county of Oslo, Vestfold is the smallest county in Norway by area.

Loppa is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Øksfjord. Other villages in Loppa include Andsnes, Bergsfjord, Langfjordhamn, Loppa, Nuvsvåg, Øksfjordbotn, Sandland, and Sør-Tverrfjord.

Levanger is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the district of Innherred. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Levanger. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Alstadhaug, Ekne, Hokstad, Markabygd, Momarka, Frol, Mule, Nesset, Okkenhaug, Ronglan, Skogn, and Åsen.

Alstahaug Municipality in Nordland, Norway

Alstahaug is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sandnessjøen. Some of the villages in Alstahaug include Søvika and Tjøtta.

Leirfjord is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Leland. Other villages in Leirfjord include Bardalssjøen and Sundøy. The large Helgeland Bridge is partly located in the municipality, connecting it to Alstahaug Municipality and the town of Sandnessjøen.

A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or kurgans, and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built for various purposes, may also originally have been a tumulus.

Alsta is an island in the municipalities of Alstahaug and Leirfjord in Nordland county, Norway. The island is surrounded by the Vefsnfjorden to the east, the Leirfjorden to the north, and the Alstenfjorden to the south and west. The eastern part of the island is dominated by the Seven Sisters mountain range which has five mountains that are more than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) tall, while the western part of the island is relatively flat and it is the location of the town of Sandnessjøen and the village of Søvika in the south.

The Oseberg ship is a well-preserved Viking ship discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway. This ship is commonly acknowledged to be among the finer artifacts to have survived from the Viking Era. The ship and some of its contents are displayed at the Viking Ship Museum at Bygdøy on the western side of Oslo, Norway.

Lake Jackson Mounds Archaeological State Park (8LE1) is one of the most important archaeological sites in Florida, the capital of chiefdom and ceremonial center of the Fort Walton Culture inhabited from 1050–1500. The complex originally included seven earthwork mounds, a public plaza and numerous individual village residences.

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Avaldsnes Village in Western Norway, Norway

Avaldsnes is a village in Karmøy municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located on the northeastern part of the island of Karmøy, along the Karmsundet strait, just south of the town of Haugesund. The village was an ancient centre of power on the west coast of Norway and is the site of one of Norway’s more important areas of cultural history. The trading port of Notow and the Avaldsnes Church are two notable historic sites in Avaldsnes.

Stord (island) island in Hordaland county, Norway

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Battlegore Burial Chamber is a Bronze Age burial chamber located in Williton, Somerset. It is composed of three round barrows and possibly a long, chambered barrow. The site was excavated in 1931 by George Gray. The name "Battlegore" comes from this site being attributed to the location of a Danish raid in 918 AD or 988 AD. At least as early as the 14th century, the site was referred to as "Bytelgore", a predecessor of the word "Battlegore". Along with three nearby round barrows it has been scheduled as an ancient monument.

Loppa, is an island in Loppa Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The 12-square-kilometre (4.6 sq mi) island lies in the Lopphavet Sea in the western part of the municipality, west of the island of Silda. The small island has one village area on the southeastern coast. This village used to be the administrative centre of Loppa and an important fishing village for the municipality, but all of the administration of the village was moved to Øksfjord on the mainland. Today, Loppa Church is still located in this village, but there are only a few residents remaining on the island. In 1983, a seabird reserve was established along the western cliffs.

Vega is an island in Vega Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The 108-square-kilometre (42 sq mi) island is the largest island in the 6,500 islands in the Vegaøyan archipelago, all of which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The island lies in the Norwegian Sea, about 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of the mainland of Norway. The islands of Igerøya and Ylvingen lie between Vega and the mainland. The main villages on the island are Gladstad, the administrative centre of the municipality, and Holand.

Offersøya or Offersøy is an island in Alstahaug Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The 6.7-square-kilometre (2.6 sq mi) island lies directly between the large island of Alsta and the smaller island of Tjøtta at the mouth of the Vefsnfjorden. The Norwegian County Road 17 runs across the island connecting Alsta and Tjøtta. The island is relatively flat, with the highest point only reaching 43 metres (141 ft) above sea level. In 2016, there were 61 residents living on the island.

Altra is an island in Alstahaug Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The 0.24-square-kilometre (59-acre) island lies between the large island of Alsta and the small island of Tenna. The flat island is rather unique in the area because it is about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) long and at most about 2 kilometres (6,600 ft) wide at the northern end. Most of the island is very narrow, and in some places, it is only about 60 metres (200 ft) wide.

References

1 2 Thorsnæs, Geir, ed. (2016-02-29). "Tjøtta – øy". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget . Retrieved 2018-09-20.
↑ The Megalithic Portal. "Gullhaugen".

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[snl-1] 1 2 Thorsnæs, Geir, ed. (2016-02-29). "Tjøtta – øy". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget . Retrieved 2018-09-20.

[2] The Megalithic Portal. "Gullhaugen".