Karelia – land of lake and forest
Karelia is a land of lake and forest, mist and rain. It has 40,000 lakes, among them Ladoga and Onega, the two largest in Europe. There is pine, spruce and the famous Karelian birch here. Fog often blankets the forests and lakes.
In Karelia, archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of Neolithic (3000-2000 B.C.) settlements, and many rock drawings – masterpieces of primitive art—have been found. About 600 drawings have been discovered on the eastern shores of Lake Onega. The primitive artists hewed human figures, animals, birds, fish, reptiles, symbols of the moon and the sun with tools made of rough stone. The site for the pictures is on the edge of a cliff by the water. Rock drawings are best seen in the slanting rays of the setting sun.
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