Filming our detecting and research of "Durchgangslager Hangö" for the You Tube channel "Terra Germania"

Two weeks ago we ventured on the last field trip of the 2017 excavation season. The main goal of the three days of hard work was to locate new potential areas for scientific archaeological excavations in 2018.

Hans filming our work.

The work was filmed for the You Tube channel "Terra Germania" by the skilled German metal detectorist Hans v. M. Hans and Lasse found two separate very interesting find areas for us to excavate in 2018. Please click on the link below to see Hans video from Hanko.

Two German "Erkennungsmarke"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC8FoqgXiEk

We will be back on researching those spots as soon as the snow melts again here in Finland. Please check in here for regular updates if you wish to be part of our scientific research team in the spring and summer of 2018!

Hans and Lasse in Hanko.

JFArchaeology planned community archaeology excavations in 2018

The plans for our community archaeology excavations in 2018 are advancing rapidly.

It now seems possible that next year (May-July) me and MA Janne Soisalo will be leading community archaeology excavations at least in the towns of Helsinki, Porvoo, Raseborg, Hanko (with Jasmin Gray and Teemu Väisänen), Kimitoön (with Teemu Väisänen) and Vaasa.

I will publish more details in my blog as things progress so check out this blog at least once a week to be ahead of things and secure your spot at the upcoming excavations.

Back home from Hanko after a great weekend documenting a couple of WW2 war graves and exploring "Durchgangslager Hangö".

I guess the 2017 field season is soon over here in Finland. Last weekend it was time for the last leg of fieldwork in Hanko S. Finland were this time we documented a WW2 Soviet war grave and filmed the excavations and detecting of "Durchgangslager Hangö" prior to the large scale excavations of the site in the summer of 2018.

Last view of "Durchgangslager Hangö" in 2017.

There still are forgotten WW2 war graves in Hanko and on Saturday we visited and documented one of them as part of the upcoming conflict archaeology project "Hangö 1940-41". No digging at this site of course but it became quite clear that six Soviet soliers were buried here in 1941. The buried wre possibly victims of an artillery barrage against their dugouts in the summer of 1941.

Soviet 5 Kopek coin (1930)

 The field burial site of six unknown Soviet soldiers.

At "Durchgangslager Hangö" we located and documented a few very interesting areas prior to the community archaeology excavations in June/July 2018. Especially one of the areas proved  very promising with lots of German WW2 finds made outr of a variety of different materials.

"Kriegsmarine" button and 10 "Pfennig" coin.

German uniform button with makers mark and the text "BESONDERS HALTBAR".

German "Erkennungsmarke" (dogtags).

Our hard work was filmed by the well known German metal detectorist Hans v. M. for his YouTube channel "Metal Detecting Germany (Terra Germania)". Have to say I´m very much looking forward to seeing this episode from Hanko, Finland soon :)

Hans filming in "Durchgangslager Hangö".

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY5khWMz1Stm4wTl0gaJo3A

"Durchgangslager Hangö", last field trip of the 2017 excavation season!

It´s been a very rainy autumn here in Southern Finland but the weather seems to clear up for the weekend. It´s time to have a last look at the German transition camp before the winter sets in.

Field made ring found almost exactly one year ago.

During three days (13.10-15.10.2017) me, Mr. Lasse Nyman and Hans v. M. from Germany will make a serious effort to try to search through a couple of very promising and hitherto unexplored areas of the German transition camp as well as the "Lotta-Svärd Kantine" area of the camp.

Finnish Lottas in Durchgangslager Hangö in the summer of 1942.

We will also make limited trial excavations with a team of experienced amateur archaeologists during the weekend. The trial excavations willl be of use when deciding were to place the large scale excavations in the summer of 2018.

Amateur archaeologists and archaeology student Teemu Väisänen at work in October 2016.