Knut Helskog’s specific interest in rock art began in 1973 with the discovery of the large rock art panels in Alta, Arctic Norway. Through his employment at Tromsø Museum (now the Arctic University Museum of Norway at UiT - The Artic University of Norway), responsible for the management of the Law of Culture Heritage in northernmost Norway, he became deeply engaged in the management of the rock art. He launched the investigation, documentation, and presentation of this discovery that same year and wrote the academic basis for the World Heritage application in 1985. Helskog developed an extensive approach to visitor management for the site and was instrumental in the planning and development of the new Alta Museum, which opened in 1991. He has been a member of numerous committees involved in the protection and presentation of rock art, including the governing board of the Alta Museum. He served as an adviser on rock art management projects in Russian Karelia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan on behalf of the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage that included protection, documentation, conservation, and sustainable presentation. In addition, he directed numerous salvage and research excavations in Northern Norway, and research excavations in Russian Karelia and on the Kola Peninsula in northwest Russia in cooperation with other Scandinavian universities and the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was one of the organizers of a research project with the Rock Art Research Institute at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. He has served as director of the Department of Archaeology at Tromsø Museum, and as Dean of the museum. Currently he is Professor Emeritus at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway.

→ Discover more about the Rock Art Network
→ Members and affiliated institutions of the Rock Art Network