Jotunheimen has been the site of hunting since before recorded time. Remains of
Stone Age hunting camps have been found near the lakes
Gjende and
Russvatnet. These remains extend through the bronze and Iron Age, up to recorded times. The high pastures have been used as
seters for at least 1000 years. A "Royal Road" decree from the 15th century required that the residents of
Lom must keep the mountain crossing passable to the middle of the
Sognefjell, allowing folk from the north
Gudbrandsdal access to their trading town of the period,
Bergen. Caravans carried farm products down the mountains and returned with salt, iron, cloth and
lutefisk. The name Jotunheimen, or "Home of the Giants" is a relatively recent usage.
Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (1818–1879), a famous
Norwegian poet and
journalist who is remembered for his pioneering use of
nynorsk, as well as being an exponent of
Norwegian romantic nationalism, coined the term in 1862, adopting it from Keilhau's "Jotunfjellene" or the mountains of the giants. A memorial was raised in 1909 to Aa. O. Vinje at the western end of
Lake Bygdin at his dear Eidsbugarden at today's outskirts of the national park where he had a private hut. Old friends and followers wanted to commemorate his contribution to appreciation of Norwegian nature and strengthening of the Norwegian national identity. Today Eidsbugarden appears as a rather large mountain tourist centre, with a newly restored hotel from 1909 that reopened in the summer of 2007, a
Norwegian Mountain Touring Association (DNT) cabin and approximately 160 private huts. It can be reached by car or boat in summer and by snowmobile in winter. In 1869 the DNT built its first hut on the shores of Lake Tyin. Today the DNT's tourist huts make this area one of the best developed touring areas in Europe. There are also a restricted number of private cabins by the lakes. By Royal Decree in December 1980, a national park was initially established in the heart of Jotunheimen. It includes much of the best of the region, including the Galdhø plateau, the Glittertind massif,
Hurrungane, and the
Gjende area. The park links to the
Utladalen Nature Reserve, an area of .
Archaeological findings In February 2020, Secrets of the Ice Program researchers discovered a 1,500-year-old Viking arrowhead dating back to the Germanic Iron Age and locked in a glacier in southern
Norway caused by the climate change in the Jotunheimen Mountains. The arrowhead made of iron was revealed with its cracked wooden shaft and a feather, is 17 cm long and weighs just 28 grams. ==Literary references==