Following the Ochre
While the weather gets colder and ground is covered by frost, most archaeological work is moved into the laboratories and offices. However, we still had time for one more gig - this time in Outokumpu, where we staid three whole weeks excavating a site that would be one of the most memorable ones over my short career. Our task was to finish the excavation of an ochre grave that had already been opened up earlier in summer. Ochre is a natural clay earth pigment, that has had various uses since the Stone Age. Besides being used as a pigment for rock paintings and small objects, it was also once used on graves. Around 60 such graves, dated to the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, have been discovered in Finland. 1 Besides ochre, the graves typically contain stone tools and flakes, and especially the Comb Ware graves have contained a plenty of amber, flint and slate objects. However, human teeth or bone has been found only from nine sites. 2 Our site was discovered already in th...