People have been farming and raising livestock here for 4500 years. Covering more than 2 square kilometres, the Gardberg site in Vestre Slidre in Valdres is of great archeological variety. It may well contain a thousand burial mounds. However, only 550 have been investigated. The more than 900 finds date back to a period stretching from the Roman Iron Age up towards the Viking Age (ca 800 AD). The area bears traces of the considerable iron production that took place in Valdres before, during and after the Viking Era. In one part of the site there is also a stone, wich may have been used for sacrifices, containing 70 saucer-like hollows, belived to date back to the Bronze Age. Close to the stone are sites of houses from the 17th century.
Einang Stone
Dating back to around 300 AD, the Einang Stone is the oldest runic stone in north-western Europe still standing on its original site. Runes came into use 2000 years ago. The youngest runes remained in use until around 1400 AD. The runes on the Einang Stone are from the oldest runic alphabeth. The inscription written from the right to the left reads:
I Godguest wrote the runes