Day 1/8. Excavating the Jäkärlä (Jäkärlä Culture) stone-age dwelling site in Turku SW. Finland

Since its discovery in the early 20th Century the stone-age dwelling site in Jäkärlä has been considered one of the most interesting stone-age dwelling site in Southern Finland and almost all of the early Finnish archeologists have excavated here (Cedehvarf, Tallgren, Europaeus, Pälsi, Norman etc.). Although the site has been inhabited over thousands of years it is best known for its finds from the so called Jäkärlä Culture ca 4300 - 3900 BC.

Picture from the excavation in 1908. Photo A-M. Tallgren.

For the upcoming 8 days we will continue excavating the site in the footseps of the previous researchers. The excavation area on the northern edge of Karhunojantie, a gravel road at an elevation of approximately 39 meters above present day sea level. 

During the Jäkärlä culture the dwelling site was situated on a sandy shore on a large island with open sea views to the SW.

                        The research area marked with an orange dot. Map by Teemu Väisänen                         

This years excavation area only measures some 30 square meters but we will continue excavating the site for several more years 5 cm layers at the time

This years excavaton area before excavation and after removal of the topsoil.

Todays surface finds were still quite modest consisting of quartz and poryfrite flakes but as last year we expect to find much more when we reach the second and third excavation layers. Below some pictures from the sunny first day of the 2022 excavation of this wonderful site.