Thursday 27 November 2014

Today I visited Kannelmäen peruskoulu



The school is situated in northwestern Helsinki. Today all the students were 7th graders but I will be lecturing to the younger kids next spring. Especially the first group asked some very good questions . We talked a lot about stone age grave rituals and human bones in general. Here´s a very good new documentary on this topic that I would like to share with all you students fom the school. Thanks for making me feel so welcome :)



heres a link about the find in english!

Wednesday 26 November 2014

3D rotating images of the neolithic clay figurines from Jokiniemi, S Finland

For all of You to "rotate and enjoy"  :). These images were made for HEUREKA for Archaeology Night (4.12.2014) by Versoteq Oy http://versoteq.com/ Thanks guys!


3D scanning makes the world go round :)

Tuesday 25 November 2014

The Neolithic meets WW2

Sry for not updating my blog for a while but believe me :)  I have been very busy doing archaeology. I hope that´s a good excuse... ;)

Yesterday we visited the archives of the Finnish Defense Forces and managed to look up some interesting and  apparently "previously unknown" flight recon pics of Hanko in july of 1942. The pictures (very crisp and clear in every detail) showed the first signs of German military presence in Tulliniemi 1942. Building materials stacked on the beach and some interesting track marks in the soil near the "Ukrainer Lager" among lots of other stuff. We will be combining these with up to date LiDar pictures in the near future thanks to funding for the project from "Sparbanksstiftelsen i Hangö".


Hanko Tulliniemi "Entlausungsdorf area" july 1942. 
Picture by courtesy of the Finnish Defence Forces.

Today photoshoot at Sanoma OY Tiede Magazine in connection to my upcoming publication of the three anthropomorphic neolithic clay figurines from Jokiniemi (1989-2002). Over two hours of intense professional work payed off, the results of which can be seen in TIEDE magazine in the spring of 2015 (february or april). The picture below is from an earlier session which was done for  the upcoming "Archaeology Night @ HEUREKA".

Photoshoot of the neolithic anthropomorphic clay figurine "Tuima". 
Picture by Riku Koskelo (TIEDE magazine) 


Tuesday 18 November 2014

Monday 10 November 2014

WW2 "Deutsches Lager Hanko 1942-1944" project news

Snow was slowly falling but I just had to take one more drive to Hanko and have a last look at the site before winter. Maybe the reason for this was that we managed to get funding for excavations here in 2015 maybe it was just "the Rocker in me" looking for inspiration before the long cold winter sets in here in S. Finland.

Map of the German transition camp area in Hanko after I did some archive research and pulled all threads together Thanks Niinu for the patience <3


The visit was of course about surveying the site once more. We looked for possible WW2 dump areas and  located a huge one at the westernmost limit of the camp grounds. 

Hanko Tulliniemin in the spring of 1943, Finnish officer A. Breithotz adressing a Wehrmacht Unteroffizier..

As  small scale community archaeology excavations of the site are planned for may/june we looked a bit closer at two special areas. namely the area of the "Offiziersspeisesaal" and the "Ukrainerlager" area. We weren´t going for finds but merely surveying to be able to address the right excavation methods here in 2015.

Canned food makes the world go around.

Despite the finds not being exactly over the expected the site holds what must be regarded as great promise when it comes to documenting the daily life of a WW2 German camp situated between the Vaterland and the Eismeerfront.


Broken glass and porcelain from a dump near the "Offiziersspeisesaal" area of the camp.

Letter home from Hanko "Hier traf ich fünf Urlauber meiner Einheit...Hier sind sehr viele Wanzen...

I´hope to be able to research the forgotten  histories of the tens of thousands of German soldiers who stayed here from 1942-1944. Historical documents such as letters, personal photos  and archaeological finds will be combined to tell the stories of the young soldiers  who passed here on the way to the Eismeer front or back home to their loved ones.

View towards the Baltic Sea from the "Offiziersspeisesaal" area.

Wish me Luck :)

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Community Archaeology in Hanko WW2 conflict archaeology project dig in 2015

Thanks to funding from Sparbanksstiftelsen in Hanko the plans for trial excavations of the German WW2 transition and Ukrainian prisoner of war camp in Hanko S Finland will come true next year. The excavations will take place in may/june 2015 and will involve local schools (Hankoniemen Lukio and Hangö Gymnasium) as well as up to 20 enthusiasts in the field of WW2 conflict archaeology.

I will be looking for additional funding for the project this month but it feels good to have this part of the project to look forward to already :). Letters of interest are most welcome if you would like to participate in the project! Send an email to joneij@gmail.com 

Soldiers on the march through the camp area (1943?).

 Now and then...

A few of the barracks are still standing the test of time (barrack of Wehrmaht Betriebstoff Kolonne)