• index

• home
• editors
• articles
• for authors
• sale

Fennoscandia archaeologica XX (2003)

Articles

• Kristiina Mannermaa, Birds in Finnish Prehistory

• Andre Costopoulos, Prehistoric flint provenance in Finland: reanalysis of southern data and initial results for the north

• Hannu Takala and Tommi Sirviö, Telkkälä, Muolaa – a multi-period dwelling site on the Karelian isthmus

• Colin Amundsen, Jørn Henriksen, Elin Myrvoll, Bjørnar Olsen and Przemyslaw Urbanczyk, Crossing borders: Multi-room houses and inter-ethnic contacts in Europe’s extreme north

• Timo Salminen, National and international influences in the Finnish archaeological research in Russia and Siberia

Notes and news

• Eija Ojanlatva, A Late Iron Age silver deposit found at Nanguniemi, Inari, Finland

Book review

• Tapani Tuovinen, The Burial Cairns and the Landscape in the Archipelago of Åboland, SW Finland, in the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Acta Universitatis Ouluensis, B Humaniora 46 (2002), 315 p. Reviewed by Mika Lavento.

Abstracts:

Kristiina Mannermaa
BIRDS IN FINNISH PREHISTORY
Abstract
In this article I present bird bones found from Finnish sites connected to the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Early Metal Period and Bronze Age. For the first time information on the Finnish prehistoric bird fauna and fowling have been gathered together and discussed in its entity. I discuss the possibilities of interpreting bones from Finnish sites, and point out the major problems in the methods used. I have classified the sites according to their dating and location in order to see differences in the representation of bird taxa among sites. Ducks and gallinaceous dominate in all prehistoric periods included in this study, but there is a clear difference among sites depending on their location inland or on a coast. The osteological materials from some coastal sites indicate that fowling was a notable part of the economy.
Keywords: Finland, Åland, fowling, bird bones, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Early Metal Period, Bronze Age.

Andre Costopoulos
PREHISTORIC FLINT PROVENANCE IN FINLAND: REANALYSIS OF
SOUTHERN DATA AND INITIAL RESULTS FOR THE NORTH
Abstract
I attempt to determine whether archaeological flint samples from southern and northern Finland can statistically be divided into eastern and western groups, based on their chemical composition. Pre-existing chemical composition data for southern Finnish flint are re-analysed and new data for northern Finnish samples are incorporated. They are compared to geological samples from Russia, Sweden, and Denmark. I conclude that despite differences in the analytical methods used to derive southern and northern data, the samples can reliably be grouped into eastern and western groups. Finally, I suggest that we must now test the hypothesis that there is a continuum of flint composition variation in northern Europe, and I outline a project which will accomplish that goal.
Keywords: flint, geological sources, geochemistry, statistical methods, Principal Component Analysis, discriminant analysis, Finland.

Hannu Takala and Tommi Sirviö
TELKKÄLÄ, MUOLAA – A MULTI-PERIOD DWELLING SITE ON THE KARELIAN ISTHMUS
Abstract
The Telkkälä site in the former municipality of Muolaa on the Karelian Isthmus was discovered in 1999 in connection with an inspection of formerly known find locations and sites. Joint Finnish-Russian archaeological excavations were carried out in two field seasons at the site, in which connection local shore displacement was also investigated. The site revealed three Stone Age cultural layers of different date. Together with natural strata and deposits, the layers were almost 250 cm thick. It was possible to establish known events in the history of the Baltic and shoreline elevations in the excavated sections.
Keywords: lithostratigraphy, artefacts, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Iron Age, Karelian Isthmus.

Colin Amundsen, Jørn Henriksen, Elin Myrvoll, Bjørnar Olsen and
Przemyslaw Urbanczyk
CROSSING BORDERS: MULTI-ROOM HOUSES AND INTER-ETHNIC
CONTACTS IN EUROPE’S EXTREME NORTH
Abstract
Multi-room houses (No. mangeromstufter) are complex buildings containing several rooms connected by a corridor and / or by doorways. Their main distribution area is the coast of Finnmark. Available radiocarbon dates suggest a period of use from 1300 -1500/1550 A.D. The article discusses possible Norse, Novgorodian/Karelian and Saami connections to these remains. The hitherto mono-cultural explanations of origin and function seem to be insufficient.
Keywords: building remains, cultural connections, Middle Ages, Finnmark.

Timo Salminen
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCES IN THE FINNISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN RUSSIA AND SIBERIA
Abstract
The main question of the article is how national and international factors have influenced the archaeological research made by Finns in Russia and Siberia especially from 1870s to 1930s. The development can be divided into four periods.
In the first period dominated by M. A. Castrén in the 1840s the initiatives came from the Russian institutions but the Finnish interests were already playing a part in the whole. The independent Finnish studies in the east and with them the second period of Finnish archaeology of Russia were started by J. R. Aspelin in the 1870s. It was period of national unity when the essential question concerned the origin of the Finnic tribes and their spreading to the west. When archaeology could show that Finns have had a history and culture it could establish them a position among other nations. The international task was subordinated to the national one.
The period of national unity was followed by the third period when the eastern studies were divided into two parts. The national-archaeological and international-linguistic directions were set against each other. The national-archaeological approach had its background in the Fennoman ideology but it had to admit that the great lines strived for during the previous decades possibly could not be discovered. Therefore the Ural-Altaic archaeology should set more reduced goals. The internationally oriented research was based on Turkology and used archaeology mainly to illustrate the linguistic studies.
The archaeological basics were revived in 1908 when A. M. Tallgren started his studies in the east. It was typical of Tallgren’s work that he attempted to find a synthesis of national and international approaches in the eastern archaeology. Emphasis was mostly on the international side, because it was already visible that majority of the Finnish archaeologists had concentrated to the prehistory of Finland and there was no such national demand for Finno-Ugric prehistory as there had been 20–30 years earlier. This era of synthesis was the fourth and last period of pre-war Finnish archaeological research in Russia.
The independence of Finland did not immediately prevent Finnish scholars from travelling to Russia and continue their work there. Only when Iosif Stalin closed the western connections of Soviet Union in the middle of the 1930s the tradition came to end.
Keywords: history of archaeology, Russia, Siberia, interaction between national and international demands, Ural-Altaic Bronze Age, Early Iron Age.

Eija Ojanlatva
A LATE IRON AGE SILVER DEPOSIT FOUND AT NANGUNIEMI, INARI, FINLAND
Abstract
A silver deposit consisting of four neck-rings made of braided silver wires was found in September 2003 in the northernmost part of Nanguniemi cape in the municipality of Inari, Northern Finland. Nanguniemi is situated on the southern shore of Lake Inari, about 20 km north-east of Ivalo, and about 30 km east - south-east of Inari. All four silver neck-rings differ from each other. The study of the deposit has just begun and interpretations are still very much open.
Keywords: silver deposits, late Iron Age, Lapland.