"SA Wehrabzeichen" and other goodies

Only one day left of the 2018 excavation season of "Durchgangslager Hanko" but the exciting finds leads me to think we might be excavating here again in 2019.

 SA- Sportabzeichen "as found" today during archaeological excavations of "Durchgangslager Hanko" 

A. Hitler challenged all able-bodied boys age 16 and up to compete for this award but older military men were also encouraged to obtain it. The badge was one of the few political decorations that the armed forces allowed to freely be displayed on a military uniform.

By December 1936, one million had been awarded. Then by the end of 1943, over 2.5 million had been awarded. We will have this "Abzeichen" sent into conservation so stay tuned for pictures about that process here later this year!

Another "Gebirgsartillerie" related item!

Today we finished the trial excavation of the "Soldatenheim" dump. This fragmentary small tea pot was among the last items recovered this year! We hope to continue excavations in this area in 2019!

German tea pot from the "Soldatenheim Hanko" dump.

 Some of the German coins are extremely well preserved due to the sandy soil!

Archaeology student Fanny Fagerholm is keeping count and measuring all of the hundreds of German food ration cans found during the dig. The contents and origins of this aluminium can was an easy task :)

 Norwegian made "Fischkonserve"

The other items found today included a very well preserved blade of a pocket knife, Smoking utensils and of course the ever present "Eau de Cologne" and perfume bottles.

Discovering a graveyard of bottles. The materiality of a German WW2 "Soldatenheim".

Running the "Soldatenheim" of "Durchgangslager Hanko" was one of the main tasks of the "DRK Schwestern" of the camp.

What a truly exciting day! When the going gets tough you can always rely on the help of an experienced crew to help out with excavating the really tough spots. Yesterday and today we had the pleasure of getting Lasse (SME) and border guard Mika to join us in the research of the German WW2 transition camp.

 

Thank you for your help Mika (top) and Lasse! 

Under the supervision me and Teemu, Lasse and Mika found truly amazing artefacts and helped us big time in excavating the "Soldatenheim Hanko" dump site. This area proved be a true gravesite... a gravesite of bottles that is.

Part of the amazing but rather monotonous finds of the "Soldatenheim Hanko".

One litre wine bottles and schnapps bottles and porcellain litter the area were German soldiers relaxed before going on home leave to Germany.

Wonderfully excavated find layer at the "Soldatenheim Hanko" dump site. Photo Lasse Nyman.

On the excavation site close to the "Ukrainerlager" or "Hilfsfreiwillige" area, the personal belongings of the German soldiers kept turning up as we extended the excavation are a bit to the east and west.

Excavating a "Schnapps" or a Gognac bottle.

 A flashlight battery.

 A razor knife.

 A German soldiers (civilian purchase) red comb.

A flash light.

Lots of intriguing WW2 small artefacts from "Duchgangslager Hanko" today!

The 2018 excavation of the German WW2 transition camp at Cape Tulliniemi is  nearing it´s close but the exciting artefacts just keep on coming!!

A wonderfully preserved Rovaniemi-Petsamo ("Eismeerstrasse") pin!

Today we excavated layer four of the German dump site but we also made an effort to locate new dump sites in the area. In one of these we found this interesting WW2 button.

A Dutch WW2 uniform button, probably picked up as a war souvenir by a German soldier in Holland  before beeing sent to the Nordfront!

We also made experiments using drone videphotography, 3D imagining and photogrammetry. We hope to be able to use this technology and more in our upcoming "Hanko 1941" project.

laser.

Romi Rancken 3D photographing a Luftwaffe spoon found by Lasse Nyman during the excavations.

Below a few more pictures from today :). Overall a great day with a wonderful team.

 Sovjet markings on a porcellain plate.

German WW2 "Nasensalbe" tube (made in Munich).

 Kriegsmarine button.

Sovjet WW2 spoons.

Digging layer four  !

More dark heritage..."Luftwaffe" porcellain and more from the German dump at "Durchgangslager Hanko"

Today we continued the excavation of the large German WW2 dump. We are now digging excavation layer three. Many well preserved porcellain items turned up and, as expected... many, many more intriguing finds of metal, plastic and glass!

"Luftwaffe"  1937 made Porcellain mug!

As we have a new excavation team this week it was fun that so many nice finds turned up already on day one.

Mother and son  on todays dig :)

Today we also succeeded in finding one probably DRK (Deutsches Rotes Creutz Schwestern) related item too. The finds related to females working within the German transition camp are very hard to find as there were only some 40 female personnel and 4000 German soldiers.

 Hair clip barrette

Below are a few of the other items found today. Big hopes for tomorrow when we will hit excavation layer four of thei ineteresting area.

German lighter

Sovjet (?) spoon.

 Cough medicine bottle.

Brass cigarette case.

More German porcellain and a 18th century cannon ball!!!

Yleisöopastuksia "Durchgangslager Hanko 1942-1944" näyttelyssä!

Konfliktiarkeologinen näyttely ”Durchgangslager Hanko – Hangon saksalainen kauttakulkuleiri 1942–1944” Hangon Museossa

Toisen maailmansodan kestettyä keväällä 1942 jo neljä vuotta, alkoi Hangon Tulliniemellä intensiivinen vaihe. Saksa oli edellisenä kesänä hyökännyt Neuvostoliittoon, ja nyt oli oleellista järjestää saksalaissotilaitten ja heidän tarvitsemiensa tarvikkeiden kuljetus Jäämeren rintamalle sekä muualle Suomeen. Suomen ja Saksan yhteistyö alkoi toisin sanoen monella rintamalla; muun muassa Hangossa.

Hanko oli vallattu takaisin Suomen hallintaan joulukuussa 1941 neuvostojoukkojen vetäydyttyä meritse alueelta. Hangon Tulliniemelle rakennettiin pian Suomen oloihin nähden laaja parakkikylä saksalaissotilaitten kauttakulkua varten pohjoiselle rintamalle. Leirissä oli 130 rakennusta:  majoitusparakkeja, huoltorakennuksia, elokuvateatteri sekä kerhoja. Alueella saattoi saman aikaan elellä jopa 3 300–4 400 sotilasta.

Saksalaisten junat saapuivat pohjoisrintamalta yötä päivää suoraan Hangon Tulliniemelle. Sotilailta poistetiin Tulliniemen saunassa täit ja he saivat lisäksi puhtaat vaatteet. Monet sotilaista jäivät leiriin pitemmäksikin aikaa, mutta enemmistö jatkoi karuissa oloissa laivoilla Rewaliin (nyk. Tallinna) tai Stettiniin (nyk. Gdansk).

Hangon kauttakulkuleiristä ei ole paljoa tietoa. Vuonna 2014 arkeologi Jan Fast aloitti konfliktiarkeologiset kaivaukset alueella. Yleisölle avoimissa kaivauksissa on tehty tuhansia kauttakulkuleirin arkielämästä kertovia löytöjä. Maan alta on paljastunut muun muassa henkilökohtaiseen hygieniaan liittyviä esineitä kuten kampoja ja hammasharjoja. Leirillä kulutettiin paljon alkoholia, varsinkin olut oli suosittua.

https://tapahtumat.hanko.fi/fi-FI/event/Taide-kulttuuri-Hanko-Nycanderinkatu-4-Opastus-Durchgangslager-Hanko-1942-1944-n%C3%A4yttelyyn/5b2b6544caf4084bf006732d

More intriguing WW2 finds from Cape Tulliniemi!

Today we dug into layers one and two of the large German WW2 dump site at Cape Tulliniemi. We will continue excavating the area again on Monday!

Backside of German WW2 pocket mirror with the text "Wo bleibt meun Engelhardt Bräu". The brewery was in Berlin :)

Layers one and two proved extremely rich in finds. Allmost all of the 100 plus finds were German and from 1942-1944.

A Genever bottle.

"Butterdose"

WW2 German stylograph.

German plastic cup and soap box.

Other WW2 items included (among others) coins, an inscribed messtin and an as yet unidentified uniform button.

20 Kopek coin.

Soviet messtin.

Inscription on the messtin.

 Interesting uniform button.

Media coverage on this weeks excavation here!

https://areena.yle.fi/1-4479711?autoplay=true

https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10286815