Friday 6 March 2015

Great meeting @ Heureka today (again)

Putting the final pieces of the community archaeology dig at Jokiniemi in place. All is now set to go. After the meeting I just had to stop by the neolithic dwelling site again. It was raining sleet and I couldn´t help thinking about what the place looked like 5500 years ago.

Then (3500 BC) a seashore. Now 5500 years later an agricultural landscape.

I feel extremely grateful for all the support I´ve got from Heureka the University of Helsinki, the city of Vantaa and the lovely amateur archaeologists in Ango ry. I will be lecturing about the dig in libraries in the larger Helsinki region in march and april 2015. 

Indy(ish) poster for one of my upcoming lectures (Tikkurila library). 

I would also like to express my deepest thanks to the "lone digger" who reported his find of the incredible anthropomorphic clay figurine he found in in the area in 1989. Well done!! We will be excavating the site of this remarkable find in 2015! 

The anthropomorphic clay figurine "Tuima" was found in 1989. The finder wants to remain anonymous. 
Photo Tiede Magazine.

Don´t miss out on the upcoming dig 22.6 - 19.7.2015. It will be The experience of a lifetime!


Thursday 5 March 2015

"Finnish Idol"

March and April are hectic months for the field archaeologists in Finland. The writing of last years excavation reports and the planning of the upcoming short field season is in full swing and the money is as short as it always was ;).

Neolithic pottery "boxed".

As if all of this wasn´t enough I have indulged myself in writing about the neolithic anthropomorphic clay figurines from Jokiniemi S Finland for Tiede magazine. The article was published yesterday and I have to admit I feel a little bit proud about the whole thing.

The front cover of Tiede (Science) magazine 3/2015.

Despite the articles drawbacks or  faults (meaning You can´t always advertise the phrase "This is only a hypothesis") I still think the article is a lot better than nothing at all. Archaeology is and always will be not so much about definite proof as about new evidence tested with what could have been an what absolutely not. Enjoy and above all join the excavations at Jokiniemi in the summer of 2015! It looks kinda grey at the moment but believe me... summer is here soon :).

Jokiniemi neolithic dwelling site 2.3.2015.