The "Deutsches Lager" Exhibition in Helsinki NOW 18.8-10.9.2017

Poetic Archaeology is a group that brings together the expertise of an artist (Jan Kaila), a photographer (Japo Knuutila) and an archaeologist (Jan Fast).

The research project is coordinated by the doctoral programme of the Academy of Fine Arts, and in this exhibition we get to see the results of their project Deutsches Lager – Inside and Beside the Camp. Using an innovative combination of artistic and scientific methodologies, the three researchers have studied a transit camp of the German army that used to be located in Tulliniemi, Hanko, in 1942–1944, both in collaboration and individually.

The camp was used by soldiers in transit to Lapland and back to Germany, and traces of the life in the camp can be found along a hiking trail that was recently opened in Tulliniemi. There are, for example, three barracks, which provide a still picture into the life during the Second World War. 

Numerous artefacts have also been uncovered in the archaeological digs in the area.

https://www.uniarts.fi/en/events/fri-19052017-1209/deutsches-lager-and-other-post-doc-stuff

Tule mukaan kivikautisen asuinpaikan kaivauksille!

Vielä mahtuu mukaan Kemiönsaaren myöhäiskivikautisen asuinpaikan kaivauksille (Ölmosviken 21-27.8.2017). Mukaan voi tulla päiväksi tai useammaksikin, aiempaa kokemusta arkeologiasta ei tarvita!

Tervetuloa mukaan kaivauksille Kemiönsaareen.

Ilmoittautumiset "Kimitoöns Vuxeninstitut" ennen 14.8.2017. 

https://vuxeninstitutet.kimitoon.fi/kurser/visa/919-130105-faltkurs-i-arkeologi

Tiedustelut

jfarchaeology@gmail.com

Well preserved stone age grave unearthed near Lake Burtnieks, Latvia!

The remains of a prehistoric fisherman have been unearthed at the source of the Salaca river by Lake Burtnieks.

Photo from the University of Latvia FB page.

"The deceased had been given a fish meal to accompany him, as testified to by a fish bone layer around the skull. It's known that this place was very suitable for fishing and gathering freshwater mussels as the settlement has food remains from its former inhabitants, mostly fish bones and the shells of freshwater mussels," says archaeologist Valdis Bērziņš. He says that the very fact that the meal was placed in the grave suggests that fishing played an important role in the rituals and beliefs of the ancient people.

 

Photo from the University of Latvia FB page.

The remains were found at the Riņņukalns site, a unique North European Stone Age settlement that may help to shed light on the way people lived around 4,000 years before the common era.

 

Photo from the University of Latvia FB page.

Bērziņš says that currently archaeologists are digging up the deepest layers of the settlement to find out when people first started living at this site and how their lifestyle changed over time. There's a bonfire site located just by the grave and it could be related to funerary rituals as it contains red ocher, often used for funerary purposes, as well as shards of earthenware dishes.

Archaeologist Valdis Bērziņš (Photo LETA).

http://eng.lsm.lv/article/culture/history/stone-age-grave-unearthed-near-lake-burtnieks.a245960/

http://www.lu.lv/zinas/t/47672/

We have started building the Poetic Archaeology exhibition "Deutsches Lager"

Tomorrow we will start work on the border crossing, scientific "Poetic Archaeology" exhibition (Jan Kaila-Japo Knuutila-Jan Fast: Deutsches Lager). The exhibition will open up for the general public in central Helsinki on August 18th 2017.

The project also documents the different historical layers of the German WW2 transition camp. 

Photo Jan Kaila/Japo Knuutila.

I´m feeling both motivated and exited at the moment. Stay tuned for regular posts on our work on this exhibition here.

Archaeological, hygiene related German WW2 finds from Hanko. Photo Japo Knuutila.