JFA 2019 S. Finland tour ;)

Here we go. The JFA summer tour starts tomorrow with excavations in many different locations and with sites ranging from the stone-age to the 17-1800th centuries and of course WW2.

The starting dates for all excavations in 2019 (June-July in red and August-September in green).

I will give a daily report of our many different finds here and on the FB sites for each of the digs! Join the caravan :)

Digging the neolithic stone-age @ Vävarsbacka II

It´s time. The excavation starts on Saturday.

Follow us here on a daily basis with regular updates on the unique finds from this intriguing stone-age dwelling site with a very long history!!

First update here on June 1st

Only a few spots left at the Lohja Kittiskoski excavation!

August 24 - 27th JFA will arrange a community archaeology excavation of the large comb ceramic dwelling site Lohja Kittiskoski E. Part of the excavation is reserved for local schools!

Potsherds of the so called Typical comb ceramic ware is among the expected finds from the site.

The excavation is almost fully booked so you need to secure your spot as soon as possible if you wish to participate. You can register through the link below!

https://www.hiidenopisto.fi/ajankohtaista/arkeologian-kaivaus-kittiskoskella/

"The Dirt Diggers" Excavating the stone age with schoolchildren

The JFA 2019 field season includes several excavations with schoolchildren. What could possibly be a better way to teach history than letting the students participate, hands on, in an excavation of a neolithic dwelling site!

The excavation area prior to the excavation.

The Ölmosviken late Neolithic site was chosen because of it´s relative vicinity to all the participating schools. Some 100 schoolchildren (mainly 11-12 year olds) participated in the excavation during one week.

The Dirt Diggers at work!

Although we were aware that this would be a great site to excavate for the participants the amount of finds recorded was surprisingly high. During the week som 3000 potsherds along with hundreds of quartz and porphyre flakes were found along with burnt seal bones.

Late Neolithic so called "Kiukais" pottery from the dig. 

The many finds of course made the participants wery happy and added a lot to their interest in archaeology. Especially a stone axe found near the end of the five day excavation made many of the schoolchildren want to become archaeologists themselves. 

A complete late neolithic stone axe!

For daily updates from the dig click here!

https://finndinforntid-juurilla.blogspot.com/2019/05/utgravninigsdag-ett-ensimmainen.html 

The Ölmosviken excavation was financed with a grant from "The Finnish Cultural Foundation (Mullankaivajat)".

Mapping the traces of the Battle of Bengtskär (26.7.1941)

On the early morning of May 17th our WW2 conflict archaeology team drove to the boarder guard station at Cape Tulliniemi in Hanko. From there we were escorted, very professionally, to the island of Bengtskär, where we spent the whole day studying and mapping the traces of the fierce fighting that took place here in 1941.

Bengtskär lighthouse, seen from the direction of the soviet assault in the early hours of July 26th 1941.

GPS mapping.

The aim of the visit was to register all traces of battle no matter how large all small. The survey included GPS mapping of grenade impact traces as well as the registration of areas with finds from the battle.

Grenade impact trace in the bedrock near the lighthouse.

During the day we encountered several traces and even finds from the battle which were promptly registered in our database. Already at this early stage it is quite clear that the results of the survey propose a partially new hypothesis about the battle. The accurate 3D model of the battlegrounds are now well underway and will be displayed in an upcoming exhibition in Hanko and a forthcoming publication.

Preliminary map of the battleground by Aleksi Rikkinen and Teemu Väisänen. The dots mark traces of battle and different areas of future interest for our research

Thank You all who participated and especially Hangö Sommaruniversitet, The personnel at The Boarder Guard Station in Hanko and Paula Wilson at the Bengtskär lighthouse for taking such good care of us during our visit. And last but not least thank you all 400 nesting Eiders for "the look" :)

On the road again 2019

After some really sinister WW2 conflict archaeology digs in May it´s finally time for the "2019 JFA Summer Tour".

We will be excavating on several different stone-age sites. I will post regular daily updates of our research and finds here so please stay tuned.

Jan and Janne