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This work focuses on the Stone Age of north-eastern Europe between 5500 and 1800 calBC. Called the Neolithic in Finland and the Neolithic and Eneolithic in north-western Russia, the period and its research are characterized both by the encounters and separations between ‘the East’ and ‘the West’. Still, despite more than 100 years of archaeological...
Citations
... From the point of view of northeast Europe, the concept of an agricultural Neolithic is not really appropriate for the area, which is characterized by boreal forests hardly suitable for large-scale farming. Unlike western Europe, the Neolithic in Finland and north-west Russia is traditionally connected with the adoption of pottery technology in the second half of the sixth millennium BC (Nordqvist, 2018;Pesonen, 2021;Tarasov et al., 2017). In this paper, the term Neolithic is used as a chronological label to refer broadly to the period between ca 5000 and 2000 BC. ...
... Regional: CONISS R1-R4 Description recognizable and datable (see Nordqvist, 2018). More sites are found within a 3-km-radius from LI than BZL, which reflects their location in different environmental zones (generally, for a water-bound settlement, the availability of a suitable shoreline is a prerequisite for habitation). ...
... After the settlement documented in the seventh millennium BC (Halinen et al., 2008), human presence is again evidenced by finds of the so-called Sperrings 1 Ware at the western end of the lake (Figure 8). This pottery type is generally dated to 5200-4400 BC (Nordqvist, 2018;Pesonen, 2021;Tarasov et al., 2017) and connects well with the onset of anthropogenic impact on the area from 4900 to 4700 BC onwards. Finds that can be associated with the later part of the millennium, however, are very scarce and consist only of a few unclear fragments of Sperrings 2 and Pit Comb Ware from the area of the lake basin. ...
This research explores the vegetation compositional changes between the fifth and third millennium BC on the Karelian Isthmus (north-west Russia). Special emphasis is placed on studying the timing and magnitude of the impact of hunter-fisher-gatherers on the vegetation. First, we reconstruct the local vegetation around Lake Bolshoye Zavetnoye by using the Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm modelling. The application of different scenarios to the relevant source area of pollen is used to assess the local vegetation around Lake Bolshoye Zavetnoye (BZL) at specific distances from 500 to 3000 m. The regional vegetation reconstruction is assessed by using the REVEALS model. Second, we present new pollen and charcoal data from adjacent Lake Ikmenlampi (LI). Third, we calculate indices of vegetation change for BZL, LI and the region. We further explore the potential causes for these differences between the spatial scales and compare all these outcomes with local and regional archaeological data. The results show that foragers actively manipulated their environment. A shift towards more heliophilous conditions is shown by ca 4800 BC. Between 4000 and 3000 BC, an increase in archaeological material suggests intensive resource procurement and landscape management activities, particularly near settlements. Around the BZL site a local decrease in birch is observed from 4100 BC, coinciding with an increase in the rate of vegetation changes. Additionally, a decline in tree species (spruce, hazel, Alder) from 3500 to 3300 BC suggests human activities. The high fire frequency recorded between 4090 and 3150 BC further supports the presence of local human disturbances by the deliberate use of fire to create favourable living conditions. The results from the LI site go in the same direction with fluctuating abundances of spruce and the presence of pollen from Cannabis, Hordeum, Urtica and Plantago lanceolata from ca 4000 to 3600 BC, indicating the use of spruce-dominated forests and an early, incipient cultivation.
... The chosen approach is similar to a chronicle and aims at a detailed account of past activities ( Figure 1); given the recent events and turmoil on the international scene, an indepth synthesis will have to await the future. The paper also paints a partial picture as it distinctly highlights UH-related actions, even though many of its representatives and activities intersect with other actors and organisations (for recent overviews of the broader ties between Finnish and Russian archaeological research, see Salminen 2014;Kirpichnikov et al. 2016;Nordqvist 2018). ...
... Guest lectures were arranged in connection with the study and other visits to both Finland and Russia. These events took place irregularly, but for example the lecture series Winter Dialogues with Russian Archaeology (2018Nordqvist, Volker Heyd) aimed to increase knowledge about current Russian research through a series of invited talks. Not to be forgotten is the special course on Russian archaeology, which was repeatedly organised by Uino and Carpelan at the Archaeology/UH. ...
... With their support, field research could continue and led to truly considerable outcomes -the materials obtained were used in a number of publications and manuscripts. However, there was another side of the coin, already discussed by K. Nordqvist (2018): the cooperation was onesided, i.e., works initiated and funded by the western side were carried out in the east and no field projects with Karelian participation were organized in Finland. ...
‘East archaeology’, research cooperation in the areas of present-day Russia, has been one part of the research activities of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Helsinki in the post-war era. The first steps were taken as part of the state-controlled Finnish-Soviet scientific cooperation between the 1950s and 1970s, but Glasnost and Perestroika opened up a whole new range of opportunities in the 1980s and 1990s. Initially, the collaboration focused primarily on the Karelian Iron Age, but soon expanded to the other periods of prehistory, the Stone Age and the Early Metal Period. A significant part of the research has been conducted in areas near Finland – the Karelian Isthmus and Ingria, the Karelian Republic, and the Kola Peninsula – but several other parts of Russia have also attracted attention over the years. The purpose of this article is to present the history of these ‘eastern’ studies from the beginning to the early 2020s; cooperation has currently been stopped as a consequence of Russian poli- tics, which culminated in the war in Ukraine in 2022.
... The introduction of farming has been considered one of the key elements of ancient subsistence changes and human-animal interactions. Recent research has disputed the notion of universal and linear economic change [1][2][3][4][5][6], highlighting the importance of deeply contextualized regional studies for revealing the diversity by which people 'transitioned' or adopted their subsistence strategies. ...
The transition from foraging to farming was a key turning point in ancient socio-economies. Yet, the complexities and regional variations of this transformation are still poorly understood. This multi-proxy study provides a new understanding of the introduction and spread of early farming, challenging the notions of hierarchical economies. The most extensive biological and biomolecular dietary overview, combining zooarchaeological, archaeobotanical, dietary stable isotope and pottery lipid residue analyses is presented, to unravel the nature and extent of early farming in the 3rd millennium cal BCE in the northeast Baltic. Farming was introduced by incoming Corded Ware cultural groups (CWC), but some dietary segregation existed within these communities, with some having more access to domesticates, others incorporating more wild resources into their diet. The CWC groups coexisted in parallel with local hunter–fisher–gatherers (HFG) without any indication of the adoption of domesticates. There was no transition from foraging to farming in the 3rd millennium cal BCE in the NE Baltic. Instead, we see a complex system of parallel worlds with local HFGs continuing forager lifeways, and incoming farmers practising mixed economies, with the continuation of these subsistence strategies for at least a millennium after the first encounter with domesticated animals.
... However, this tradition manifested itself most clearly in the graveyards of Mykilske II, Yasynovate I, II, Vilnianka, Vovnihy I, II, III, Vasylivka V, and Nenasytets, where the local pottery-using foragers buried the dead in the 6th-5th millennium BC. In the current article, sites of this population are defined sub-Neolithic, according to the term, borrowed from Marija Gimbutas (1956, p. 11), and along with its synonym "para-Neolithic," used mainly by scholars from Poland, Finland, and the Baltic States (for detail, see, e.g., Nordqvist, 2018;Nowak, 2007). The appearance and development of the tradition of collective burying are explained by its importance for consolidating ancient groups and securing for them the rights to the exclusive use of certain territories in conditions of intense competition for food resources. ...
In contrast to large-scale prehistoric migrations, associated with massive population shifts and changes in material culture, movements of small human groups or single individuals are barely visible but no less important. In publications of the 1960s–2000s, specificity of craniological, odontological, and metrical characteristics as well as stable isotope values of some individuals distinguishing the Late Mesolithic cemetery of Vasylivka II among other Mesolithic and Neolithic burial sites in the Dnipro River basin was explained by some gene flows. However, archaeologists could not develop these views since the original excavation report of 1953 and all grave goods from Vasylivka II were considered lost. Another old field document, where pendants of the pharyngeal teeth of fish, and the shells of spiral, probably Mediterranean, molluscs found there were mentioned, allowed the recent suggestion of the author of the current article that several individuals from the Danube Iron Gates region were interred in the cemetery. Previous arguments along with new evidence are presented here to develop this hypothesis. Re-found personal ornaments from one burial, the only available grave goods from Vasylivka II, are published here for the first time. The established regularity that most relatively young men and women from the graveyard have conditional “Danubian” δ ¹³ C values in the range from −20 to −21‰ assumes the mutual exchange of marriage partners born in the Iron Gates and the Dnipro Rapids. A waterborne route is discussed as a more probable mode of communication between these regions.
... Hence, northern Fennoscandia as a border zone between western and eastern cultural spheres is a strong notion in Fennoscandian literature (e.g. Nordqvist 2018;Sørensen et al. 2013), along with the division of the coastal and inland communities of northern Fennoscandia into two different cultural and economic systems (based typically on the distribution of ceramics and metals), with inland societies considered proto-Sámi and coastal societies protofarmers, antecedents of the Scandinavian/Germanic population (Ojala & Ojala 2020). Lately, since the archaeological material nevertheless show great diversity even within small regions (Kuusela 2020), archaeologists have divided Arctic Fennoscandia into even smaller systems (Ramqvist 2007;, and further contributed to interpretations of the appearance of hybridity cultures in the form of, e.g., 'Sámi practising cultivation' (Bergman & Hörnberg 2015). ...
The article critically examines interpretations of Old World ferrous metallurgical developments with reference to their consequences for Arctic Fennoscandian iron research. The traditional paradigm of technological innovations recurrently links the emergence of iron technology to increasing social complexity and a sedentary agricultural lifestyle, typically downplaying ‘peripheral’ areas such as Arctic Fennoscandia and its hunter-gatherer communities. Even in postcolonial research of recent years, the archaeometallurgical record of Arctic Fennoscandia is interpreted and organized within the traditional frameworks on the time, course, and cultural context of the introduction of iron technology in Europe, where Arctic Fennoscandia is not considered to have any noteworthy role. However, current archaeological research with new data in Arctic Fennoscandia disputes prevailing ideas in European iron research and shows substantial evidence that iron technology was an integrated part of hunter-gatherer subsistence already during the Early Iron Age (c. 200 bc ). Archaeometallurgical analyses reveal advanced knowledge in all the operational sequences of iron technology, including bloomery steel production and the mastering of advanced smithing techniques. Therefore, we urge dispensing with traditional ideas and call for an increased interest in the underlying mechanisms for the transfer of iron.
... The relevant 6,000-year prehistory of the region is too vast to outline in detail (for an overview, see Halinen 2015;Lavento 2015;Price 2015;Raninen and Wessman 2015;Welinder 2009), and thus the approximated frontier of the northern and southern contexts is illustrated at different periods in Figure 2 (for details, see Kuusela 2013;Nordqvist 2018;Sørensen 2014;Vanhanen 2019). The maps show the shifting of the frontier zone, with northern expansion, southern retreat, and a renewed expansion within several millennia (see also Solantie 2005). ...
... A stark contrast to the previous dynamic can be seen in the Finnish Corded Ware Culture's (ca. 2800-2300 BC) (Nordqvist 2018) signature symbols: the boat ax ( Fig. 3:C), also known as battleaxes. The earliest were made from different materials, but diabase and olivine diabase from Satakunta on the eastern shore of the Bothnian Sea quickly gained preference (Huurre 1991:202-203;Laitakari 1930:16). ...
The prehistory of Fennoscandia is characterized by a split of the north and south into what is commonly interpreted as forager and agricultural subsistence contexts. The cultural divergence between the two took place in the region over the span of 4,000 years. This article focuses on analyzing products indicative of extrasubsistence labor, which signify distinct-yet-comparable activities in the divergent regional contexts. The activities are studied by interpreting the production processes of the most common types of pertinent archaeological remnants and interpreted through two attributes: labor intensity and expertise. The combined analysis reflects the differences between the two regional material records while also indicating different logic related to the persistence of labor activities. This difference in logic is interpreted with a framework pertaining to worldview differences between subsistence production and subsistence procurement. Beginning from the 4th and 3rd millennium BC, communities in the southern context are argued to have adopted aspects of an ideology of production. These communities maintained and strengthened their labor efforts in the long term. Contrastingly, in the northern zone, several phases of the decline of labor-related activities can be discerned in the long-term prehistory when labor roles were completely reorganized or abolished. The difference may be due to an ideological separation between the two contexts concerning nonsubsistence-related work and the associated issue of social organization.
... Archaeologically, the Eastern Hunter-Gatherer ancestry in the eastern Baltic, including Lithuania, is the Comb Ware culture. Its pottery spread widely throughout the region from ca. 3900-3500 cal BC (Nordqvist 2018;Piličiauskas et al. 2019). Furthermore, at the same time, amber, Carboniferous flint and slate tools started to be transported routinely in large quantities throughout the southeastern Baltic, northwestern Russia and southern Finland regions (Núñez and Franzén 2011;Piličiauskas et al. 2019;Tarasov and Nordqvist 2021;Zhulnikov 2008). ...
... Therefore, southern Finland and Karelia appear to be the most plausible candidates of origin for the Mesolithic and Subneolithic people as well as the Gyvakarai individual. Thus, Gyvakarai may represent a case of long-distance trade or a return migration by CWC individual(s) who entered southern Finland at ca. 2800 cal BC (Nordqvist 2018). Finally, it might be possible to suggest the origin of humans with 87 Sr/ 86 Sr lower than the local baselines. ...
We measured 87 Sr/ 86 Sr for all available human remains (n = 40) dating from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age (ca. 6400–800 cal BC) in Lithuania. In addition, local baselines of archaeological fauna from the same area were constructed. We identified significant and systematic offsets between 87 Sr/86 Sr values of modern soils and animals and archaeological animals due to currently unknown reasons. By comparing 87 Sr/ 86 Sr human intra-tooth variation with the local baselines, we identified 13 non-local individuals, accounting for 25–50% of the analysed population. We found no differences in the frequency of local vs. nonlocals between male and female hunter-gatherers. Six Mesolithic-Subneolithic individuals with 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values > 0.7200 may have come from southern Finland and/or Karelia. Two Mesolithic-Subneolithic individuals from the Donkalnis cemetery with 87 Sr/ 86 Sr values < 0.7120 likely came from the Lithuanian Baltic coast. These data demonstrate coastal-inland mobility of up to 85 km, which is also supported by archaeological evidence. The standard deviation in the intra-tooth 87 Sr/ 86 Sr indicates that mobility did not decrease with the adoption of pottery technology at ca. 5000 cal BC but rather slowly decreased during the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. We interpret this as a result of the introduction and subsequent intensification of farming. The least mobile way of life was practised by Subneolithic coastal communities during the 4th millennium cal BC, although 87 Sr/ 86 Sr do not exclude that they migrated along the coastline.
... The typology of asbestos ceramics developed for the Karelian region differs from the typology of Finland, although there are some similarities and a chronological correlation between some pottery types (Zhulnikov et al. 2012;Nordqvist 2018). The typology of pottery from the Kola Peninsula was based on the typology developed for Karelia, Finland, and Northern Norway. ...
... Several of the sites have also yielded pottery: e.g. Typical and Late Comb Ware (c 3950-3250 calBC), Corded Ware (c 2900-2200 calBC), Kiukainen Ware (c 2300-1500 calBC) and Textile Ware (c 1900-500 calBC) (chronologies according to Nordqvist 2018;Mökkönen & Nordqvist 2019;Pesonen et al. 2019). In sum, the prehistoric utilisation of Rautajärvi was long-lasting and intensive, and it spanned for more than 5000 years. ...
... Based on current pottery studies, these are not completely unusual characteristics for some Late Comb Ware variants from the interior of Finland; however, comprehensive research on them is still lacking (e.g. Pesonen & Leskinen 2009;Nordqvist 2018). For example, some similar features are known within the Late Neolithic asbestos-and organic-tempered ceramics, such as Pöljä Ware (c 3400-2600 calBC) and Oravnavolok Ware (c 3300-2700 calBC) (Mökkönen & Nordqvist 2017 and references therein). ...
... The Häme region may be seen as an especially blank page in pottery research. So-called Middle Zone ceramics is often referred to in literature, but it is still a very hypothetical term applied to express an assumed pottery group that has not yet been described or characterised at all (Carpelan 1979;Nordqvist 2018;Pesonen 2021). However, sparse decoration with short comb stamps and shallow pits in some of the Järvensuo sherds are also known features in the asbestos-and organic-tempered ceramics from the Finnish interior, which are dated to the second half of the 4 th millennium calBC (Mökkönen & Nordqvist 2017), which is also in accordance with the suggested dating of the site. ...
The wetland site of Järvensuo 1 is located by the southern shore of the overgrown and drained Lake Rautajärvi in Humppila, south-west Finland. The peatland drainage and small-scale wetland excavations have revealed a rare corpus of organic archaeological and palaeoenvironmental remains from prehistory, which have been preserved in moist anoxic conditions on the lake shore. The reporting and publishing of the preliminary excavations in 1985 were left unfinished and, therefore, the character and context of this extraordinary lake site have remained largely undetermined. After 35 years, the available data associated with Järvensuo 1 has finally been compiled and will now be presented in this paper as a whole for the first time. Even though the contexts and circumstances of recovery have been challenging to reconstruct after more than three decades, and the organic artefacts are badly degraded today, the study will offer a long-awaited update about the site and its investigations. The results will also serve as valuable baseline data for the purposes of new multidisciplinary research underway at Järvensuo 1, potentially revealing more elaborate information concerning the site and its prehistoric inhabitants in a dynamic lake environment.
... Why the later stages of this divergence took place could be partly explained by outside influence. The Corded Ware Culture (see e.g., Beckerman, 2015;Nordqvist & Häkälä, 2014;von Hackwitz, 2009) spread to the eastern coast of the Bothnian Gulf around 2900-2800 BCE (Mökkönen, 2011;Nordqvist 2016Nordqvist , 2018Pesonen, Larsson, & Holmqvist, 2019). The connection with giant's churches and Corded Ware expansion has been noted in many instances, with interpretations leaning toward some form of cultural conflict (see e.g., Mökkönen, 2011;Sipilä & Lahelma, 2007). ...
This article presents a comparison of material records of two nearby regions on the coast of the Bothnian Bay. The timeframe is 5300–2000 BCE. The focus is on regional differences, which indicate a schizmogenesis of communal identities. The study calls for a reorientation of research concerning Fennoscandian prehistory. More attention should be paid to localized prehistories. It is argued that when prehistoric society is used as a fundamental group category, especially in the context of forager communities, the modern concept of state society distorts the underlying framework. Focusing on the regional level by constructing local prehistoric narratives limits the anachronistic effect and allows the proliferation of local communal identities. Such local prehistories, when collated and compared, offer a pathway to understanding prehistoric stateless societies, which are misrepresented by simplistic material cultural zones and the inherent homogeny ingrained within the concept of society. In this paper, the analysis is focused on practices representing local traditions. Two divergent themes that arise from the local prehistoric narratives are the Late Mesolithic use of local stone materials and regional changes in Neolithic dwelling forms.
