Surveying Cape Tulliniemi

Soviet dugout on Tulliniemi beach in August 1942.
While the preparations for this summer's excavations are currently ongoing, there is still time for other projects and now that the snow has mostly disappeared, it's time to get the field surveys going! This year we started with the southern coast of Cape Tulliniemi - an area that has previously staid closed from us due to the regulations of the Freeport of Finland. This time the gates were kindly opened for us and we got to walk on the beaches that had not seen visitors for decades.

As you might have read from my previous posts, Tulliniemi is an area that has seen a plenty of history. There has been lively maritime activities around the nearby waters for centuries and while Tulliniemi coast has sometimes provided cover for boats, it has also seen a plenty of corpses washing to the grounds from shipwrecks. There has been a plenty of stories about bones of unfortunate sailors being found on the beaches!

While we kept our eyes open for any man-made constructions and other material remains, our focus for the weekend was on the World War II. As Tulliniemi had been under the influence of both Soviet Union and Germany during the war, we knew that there were a plenty of defensive structures waiting for us. However, even if we had an idea of what to look for based on hillshade models and old aerial pictures, we were soon surprised with over 60 war-time structures waiting to be documented.

Trenches, dugouts, machine gun posts - there were a plenty of structures to measure, photograph and take coordinates of. As no one had conducted an archaeological survey in the area before, it was vital that we were well organized and precise. However it was still just a brief start into documenting all of many such sites around the whole Hanko Peninsula. But now that the first steps have been taken, a plenty of more will follow - some even already this spring!

You can read more about the research project in Hanko on Jan Fast's blog. 

One of many trenches in Tulliniemi.

Location: Hanko, Suomi

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Around Satakunta: The Big Three of Eura

Image
In Finland, there are certain sites that every archaeology student hears about during the very first lectures at the university – and surprisingly enough, many of them lie quite close to each other within the borders of Eura. While Eura has put a lot of effort into showcasing their ancient history and there's a plenty of information online to plan a day-trip, I still wanted to share a few prominent sites to get started with. In case you have time only for a few sites, you might want to go with these "big three"! The Kings's Grave – largest burial cairn in Finland. Kuninkaanhauta Kuninkaanhauta, literally the King’s Grave, is the largest burial cairn in Finland. It’s located right along the road, so everyone passing by is sure to notice this pile of stones rising up to 4,5 meters in height. It has never been researched from the inside but based on the location it has been dated to the early half of the Bronze Age 3500 years ago. If you have never seen cair...
Read more

Tracing the First Humans of Lapland

Image
Last week I once again joined the payroll of the Finnish Heritage Agency, but this time the work was something entirely different. Instead of traveling around the country like last year, I'm stationed in the municipality of Savukoski for two months. By opening twelve excavation trenches around the far eastern parts of the Finnish Lapland, we're hoping to get a glimpse into the life of the first humans who set their foot in Lapland more than 10,000 years ago. Preparing an excavation area with a total station. Savukoski is one of the cradles of early human habitation in Finland and one would think that any archaeologist would be eager to be the one to research it. However, due to the relatively isolated location of the potential sites and lack of funding for archaeological research, the sites have seen very little research and all finds from the area are from field surveys. Thus, our excavation has a plenty of potential to shed light into the distant past of the whol...
Read more

Around Satakunta: Many Periods of Karvia

Image
While Satakunta has many famous archaeological sites to offer, sometimes it's fun to diverge from the paved path and seek something entirely different. For me, one of the most memorable trips from this summer was a long drive through the northern parts of the province, where I was met by sites from various periods from the early Mesolithic to the Swedish era and even up to the World War II. As the distances in the north are as great as the gaps between the periods of various sites, I will only concentrate on Karvia, which alone has much to offer to any curious soul. Kyrönkankaan tie - a road that was first mentioned in 1556 and has seen many uses ever since. Pantti The impossible task of taking photos of dwelling sites. A great place to start your Karvia tour is from the very beginning of human habitation in the area. Pantti is a Stone Age dwelling site, which has not yet seen much research and the finds from the first survey include only quartz flakes and bone. Ho...
Read more