Blast from the Past IV: Stone Age in Estonia

After my field season had had a good start at Tursiannotko, it seemed like a good point to continue a bit further with my newfound “field career” and I turned my attention towards our southern neighbors in Estonia, which, after two years of former university studies, felt like second home to me. However, I had never participated anything archaeology related there before, so it was finally time to break that barrier!

Excavation trench 1 in process.

This time I joined an excavation run by the University of Tartu in cooperation with Ango, an association of Finnish archaeology enthusiasts. The site in question was a Corded Ware dwelling site named as Kudruküla, which was located in the coastal town of Narva-Jõesuu. The area was rich in similar sites and had been researched multiple years by professor Aivar Kriiska from the University of Tartu and archaeologist Kerkko Nordqvist from the University of Oulu. They had been joined many years by volunteers from Ango, whose passion to archaeology still keeps bringing them back year after year – for many the excavations in Estonia was (and still is) one of the high points of each summer.

As I met the people from Ango near the harbor in Tallinn, I was warmly welcomed into the group and I knew immediately that I’d enjoy the following two weeks. And I was soon proved correct, as even on the first evening I sat in awe listening to the stories from the past excavations from people that had practiced archaeology decades before me. Hearing of the past discoveries made me even more eager to get back on the field!

When we reached the excavation site itself, I was given a short tour around the previously excavated areas and was immediately impressed with what the site had to offer. In the past, the excavations had revealed for example a grave and remains of a hut, more of which we were hoping to discover during these weeks.

And the weeks surely didn’t disappoint! The site was very rich in finds and by the end of it, we had collected 3000 small bags of finds from potsherd to flint tools. During the second week, we even dug into a burned wooden construction, which was possibly the corner to the hut that we were looking for.

After finishing the two bigger excavation trenches, we had to leave the site for now. However, it was not the end of the research, as the work continued the following year. While I was not there myself, I heard that the site was finished up for good and is now waiting to be published in a journal.

However, there are still a plenty of sites in the neighborhood and Ango is not planning on abandoning their Estonian excursions anytime soon! This year the excavation will be organized in turn at Riigiküla dwelling site 1.-27.7. If you’re interested in participating yourself, contact Maija Seppinen (maijaseppinen(at)gmail.com) as soon as possible and ask more! No previous experience is needed!
Location: Narva-Jõesuu, Itä-Virumaa, Viro

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