The oldest traces of habitation in the Flåm Mountains date back far back in time. Permanent habitation in the valley probably goes back a couple of thousand years. In addition to producing food for themselves and their families, the farmers had to sell their produce so they could pay taxes. Butter was the most important sales product. For this reason, there were a lot of animals in all of the farms. This has led to a varied agricultural landscape with pruned trees, outland arable fields, grazing land, earth banks, walls, stone clearance piles, outland meadows, pasture roads and stone hedges.