JFA... has gone fishing.

"It´s not the years, it´s the mileage."

It´s time for my annual summer holiday in the wonderful Finnish archipelago! I´ll be back again in mid August with regular updates on a forthcoming very interesting stone-age dig (you are all invited!), WW2 Conflict Archaeology in Hanko, the EEA meeting in Vilnius and much much more... The adventure continues!

Thank You Jasmin, Anni and Jordan! Thank you Hangö Sommaruni!

It was a true pleasure and a great experience for me to work together with the three of you for three weeks in Hanko, S. Finland. You are all very talented and above all great company!

Jordan Paddison from the University f Aberdeen (left).

I hope that we will be able to continue our work in Hanko in 2017, after all this summers excavation was only a trial excavation before the big one next year :). Allthough feeling a bit tired after three weeks of hard work I´m actually already looking forward to the next season!

German soldiers shaving on the beach.

Me guiding people from Hanko and Germany on the beach.

I would also like to take this opportunity and thank Jan Martti Kaila and  Japo Knuutila for their valuable work in documenting the whle thing and especially the "Baracke". Thank you Yrsa Grüne for lending us your home.

Nature taking it´s revenge on the barracks.

Last but not least thank You Leica Finland and Mika Ikonen.The Leica Zeno 20 worked like a dream!

The dig is almost over... but we will be continuing in September 2016.

The last two days have been sunny and warm here in Hanko. I´m sure all of us will cherish these moments next autumn and winter.

Hanko at it´s best. Blue skies, sun and sea. 

We have have been focusing on the beach area. As the nature path to Uddskatan is extreamely crowded this time of year we have been doing a lot of explaining for the passers by, telling them about WW2 conflict archaeology and the German transition camp.

Archaeology student Jasmin Jyrä (University of Aberdeen) telling passers by about our work.

Today we added a few Norwegian WW2 finds to our list of finds from different parts of Europe.

Norwegian WW2 tram token (Oslo Sporveijer).

Norwegian coin (1 öre).

Below are a few of our finds from today (and yesterday). The french military uniform button AM Paris) might be a souvenir from France were many of the troops passing through Hanko were stationed before beeing sent to the "Nordfront".

French button.

 Finnish/German "Nordfront" memorial pin (part of a watch fob).

Another "Kriegsmarine" uniform button.

The weather report says tomorrow will be a rainy day but no worries, we are already planning the continuation of the excavations in September. Before that though we will have a couple of meetings with the police and the Finnish Defence Forces regarding security issues when excavting the deeper layers (which sofar, we have left untouched).

On the beach

Today we concentrated on documenting the beach area of "Deutsches Lager Hanko" thanks to our co-operation with Leica Geosystems/Mika Jussi Ikonen we have the priviledge of using very high tech in our work the marvelous Leica Zeno 20! The accuracy of the device makes it possible for us to pinpoint every single find from the WW2 conflict archaeology excavation with an accuracy of 1 cm!

Leica Zeno 20 at work Archaeology student Jasmin Jyrä (univerity of Aberdeen) mapping the finds in the beach area of "Deutsches Lager Hanko".

The excavation areas one and two continued to produce large amounts of finds highighting the different aspects of life in the camp 1942-1944.

Pipes.

Razors.

Mauser cartridges.

 German Nivea sunoil "Hautöl" bottle.

Tomorrow we will be checking out the rest of the beach area and continue with excavating layer 6 of the large German dump (excavation area 2.). Until then bye from sunny Hanko :)

A small piece of Berlin in Hanko, Finland.

Sad to say but the 2016 dig of Deutsches Lager Hanko is almost over :( we have  only four days left of this years excavation..

Berlin made tube of "Körperschutssalbe".

This 11th excavation day was a rainy one and we had to quit early. Still some very nice finds again. Back "home" Anni and Jordan cleaned a few of the finds from Friday while Jasmin worked in the garage, sorting through all the finds from the past two weeks!

Some German soldier squeezed the last drop of his Solidox toothpaste before he discarded the tube.

Christmas decorations were found during last years excavations and again today when we recovered this small brass bell. The item could also be a "Schnapps bell".

 Jingle bell or "Schnapps bell"?

Tomorrow we will be extending excavation area two and digging into layer six so be prepared for many more find in tomorrows update.

New week with a new team of ten :)!

"Deutsches Lager Hanko 1942-1944" and "Poetic Archaeology" in Helsinki

I´m very happy and proud to announce that from next week on the two projects will be working in the same workspace @ Kaapelitehdas in Helsinki!! Exhibitions as well as a doctoral dissertation coming up :)

http://www.kaapelitehdas.fi/

I´m of course very grateful for the support of Jan Martti Kaila, Taideyliopisto and Vetenskapsrådet (Sweden)  for their support!

Yle news (in Finnish) about the excavation of "Deutsches Lager Hanko"

http://yle.fi/uutiset/hangon_massiivinen_saksalaisleiri_toimi_ihmiskohtaloiden_suppilona_sodan_aikana__nyt_salat_paljastuvat_maan_alta/9010321

Genever and Beer.

Just a quick update with a few of todays finds from the conflict archaeology excavation of "Deutsches Lager Hanko". Sunny Hanko I love you, seems like the finds get better with the weather ;).

Excavation area one, again gave us an amzing array of different well preserved WW2 finds.

 Ceramic Genever bottle.

Beer bottle.

Medical bottle.

A tag of some sort with the number 79.

"Luftwaffe gull wing".

Pocket knife.

Shaving brush.

Mauser Cartridge (P 151), year 1934..

I will be updating more of todays extraordinary finds here on Monday. Now it´s time to take the train back to Helsinki again. Have a nice weekend everyone, cheers and prost! <3 Jan

A windy and rainy day excavating Deutsches Lager Hanko

Lucky for us the rain started in the aftenoon. Today we continued the excavations of the "Entlausungsdorf " and the "Ukrainerlager" areas. We also mapped the area with Leica Zeno 20. What an amazingly accurate instrument!!

Excavation area one continued to produce a lot of interesting finds. Below are just a few of them.

 German razor handle.

                                                   Cobolt blue French perfume bottle!

A nice makers marked part of a ccomb (Hercule Sägemann, Hamburg 1937).

 Gasmask attire from 1936!!

Excavation area 2 is now over 60 cm:s deep and the food ration cans keep on coming. A few of them have nice markings like this Wehrmacht aluminium ration can from 1942.

From Petsamo (Petchenga) to Hanko

One German "Gebirgsjäger" lost his "Petsamo 1941-1942" ring in Hanko S. Finland. The attack on Murmansk over Petsamo was the main objective of the German attack on the "Eismeerfront 1941-1942".

The German attack on the "Eismeerfront" 1941-1942.

Looking at the archives and the findspot the "Gebirgsjaeger" probably lost the ring while travelling on "Heimaturlaub" in 1943. The ring was found along with several other items in the "Entlausungsdorf" area of the German camp.

Here are a few other finds from today.

 A Wehrmacht medical tube containing "Salisylsalbe 2%"

 Bakelite drinking cup from a  German "Feldflasche".

 German makers mark on the cup.

Mystery item with thread inside the green cover...  could it be part of an ornate fountain pen?

 German cigarette lighter.

Makers mark DRGM for  "Deutsches Reichsgebrauhsmuster".