Made by History

After six weeks in Pori, it was time to move on and relocate myself to a bit more familiar area - Hanko, the southernmost city of Finland. There I was to spend the following three weeks excavating the remains of a German transition camp from the WWII. It was a site that had seen a considerable amount of research for the past four field seasons, and now it was time to wrap up the excavations for the time being. The expectations and hopes were high and the first week truly didn't disappoint! The German camp in Hanko served as a transition camp during the Continuation War, receiving and sending off German soldiers on their way to Lapland and back. It was a massive complex with thousands of soldiers flowing through every day, and while most of the buildings have since been demolished, a few barracks still remain. However, even if the area has since been mostly overtaken by nature, lots of remains of the activities are still hidden underneath the topsoil and the stories that these ...

My work in Satakunta has come to an end, but I'm taking one more quick look into field surveys and what is there to learn from the case studies that I've shared here previously. While my writings were meant to simply give a brief look into one side of archaeological research, I also purposely included sites that highlight different aspects of field surveys. However, there is still much more when it comes to the topic and if you're interested in making discoveries yourself, then you might want to get your hands into the mud! Here's a few of my thoughts that might help you to get started. The best way to learn about different kinds of archaeological heritage, is by visiting the sites yourself and it's often good to start from the sites that have already been discovered. So, browse through the database and pick different types of sites that are close to your home. Don't only list them, but read the descriptions in advance and pay attention to the observations...

As the last type of archaeological heritage, I decided to jump a bit further towards the present and concentrate on something a bit closer to our time - archaeology of modern conflicts. As the sites older than one hundred years are protected by the Antiquities Act, the conflicts preceding and following the Finnish independence already fall under it. While there has been a lot of interest towards the Civil War recently, I'm now concentrating on remains just a bit older than it. Karhumaantie trench in Ruosniemi. During the World War I, Finland was still under the Russian Empire. At the time, Russia was afraid of a German landing in Finland, so a formidable operation was launched to prepare fortifications around the major cities and roads within the Grand Duchy of Finland. In Satakunta, these were concentrated mainly around the cities of Rauma and Pori. While many trenches were already known around the region at the start of my work, I took it as my task to pinpoi...

While tar kilns and charcoal piles might not appear that often in the archaeological database of the Finnish Heritage Agency, there is a type of heritage that seems almost overly common within Satakunta - that is cairns. It was also cairns that I first got to visit when arriving to the region and they have been a common part of my weekly visitation schedule ever since. Cairns are fairly easy to spot for anyone moving in the nature, but a lot harder to determine without prior knowledge. The first cairn I visited in Satakunta - Rihtmäenperkko II in Rauma. Cairns are typically described as human-made piles of stones, that have been built for a variety of purposes and this variety makes them a bit harder to further determine. While the archaeologists mostly focus on cairns that were used for burials, humans have also piled rocks for example as landmarks, oven-bases and ritual sites, but also just to simply remove rocks from a field. Besides, some rock-formations are naturally bor...

Earlier this year I visited some potential research sites in Porvoo with archaeologists Jan Fast and Janne Soisalo. With the assistance of a helpful landowner, we managed to pinpoint an ideal spot for excavations on the edge of a gravel pit - and now it was time to see what the site had to offer! Even though my work in Pori was still ongoing, I decided to take a day off in order to join the second weekend of excavations. The first excavation day ongoing. Photo: Jan Fast The excavations were conducted as community archaeology excavations with around 15 daily participants excavating the area. While many of the participants were first-timers with archaeology, the work went smoothly and people's excitement showed through the warm atmosphere that filled the weekend with friendly chatter and laughter. Our goal was to open a new area next to the excavated trench from the previous weekend, in order to continue the systematic excavation of the site and pinpoint the highest concen...

After tar kilns, it seems suitable to continue to other rarely researched archaeological remains - charcoal piles. Besides the limited research history, the two also share some similarities through the construction style, basic idea and historical context. However, the remains that are left for today are very different in appearance and charcoal piles are not as easy to spot as the doughnut-like tar kilns. However, thanks to the help of a certain landowner, I managed to visit one in Ulvila. Charcoal piles were basically constructions to produce charcoal during the historical time - in some extent even during the Iron Age. The idea of the construction is very similar to tar kilns and some charcoal piles were actually built into a dug hole. However, constructions above ground were more dominant in style. In those, wood is piled against each other, covered by turf and a fire is lit inside. The use of charcoal piles is usually connected to metallurgy, as furnaces required great am...

Out of all the archaeological remains around Satakunta region, there’s a certain type of archaeological heritage that's probably the easiest to find, but still often overlooked and rarely researched – that of course is tar kiln. While I rarely hear much enthusiasm among archaeologists towards these remains of historical tar production, their appearance and presence has always strangely fascinated me. So, it’s no surprise, that I’ve found time to visit a few during my weeks in Satakunta! Tar kilns (‘tervahauta’) are basically dry distillation ovens, that were used to produce tar from wood. While there are a few distinct styles of tar kilns, they most commonly appear as primitive holes in the ground with sloped walls towards an outlet hole, which allowed the tar to pour straight into a container. These kilns used to be filled with wood, which was in turn covered with a tight layer of dirt and moss. Burning the kiln with a low level of oxygen caused tar and pitch to drip away fr...

For these past five weeks I've been working for the Satakunta Museum, which is one of the central regional museums in Finland. Besides running the exhibitions, including the recently recreated permanent exhibition, the museum has an important role in surveying and preserving the archaeological heritage in the region of Satakunta. The museum has a permanent position for an archaeologist and they employ annually one "summer archaeologist" to help out with the running errands. This year that person happened to me. While most of the archaeological work in provincial museums is centered around administrative affairs, such as land use permits, my tasks have been more varying and mostly very practical. And they all quite fittingly started from the basement! Iron Age weaponry from the depths of the  archaeological collection. In Finland, all archaeological finds are delivered straight to the storage of the Finnish Heritage Agency after excavations. However, the case ...

Excavation in Kimitoön. Photo: Jan Fast This blog is a brainchild of a soon-to-be third-year archaeology student from the University of Helsinki. While founding a blog is strongly encouraged by our faculty, the thought of it had crossed my mind several times even before the possibility of study credits. However, while I’ve always enjoyed writing, I’ve never had enough patience to write publicly in an organized manner. On the other hand, I’ve never had a solid reason to write publicly either. This time there might even be a point to it – let’s see if you agree! During these two years, my curious soul has led me into a fair share of activities related to archaeology. I’ve always been the kind of person who gets absorbed by whatever he is doing, so it’s no surprise that the world of archaeology felt like Narnia from the very beginning. As soon as I could, I joined excavations on the field, sat through countless seminars, traveled abroad for new skills and am currently spendi...