Excavating the Mynt stone-age dwelling site in the footsteps of professor Carl Fredrik Meinander

The stone age dwelling site in Espoo Mynt was discovered by archaeologist Aarne Europaeus (1887-1971) in the early 1920´s. In 1957 archaeologist Carl Fredrik Meinander (1916-2004) made an extensive excavation of the site but sadly failed to write an excavation report. 

Carl Fredrik Meinander excavated the stone-age dwellling site in Espoo Mynt in 1957.

Now in 2025 we have tried to map his excavation area in order to put the thousands of finds in context. During the past days we also conducted small scale trial excavations on the site in order to find out if there is aanything left to excavate after the 1957 dig. The results have been surprisingly good and it now seems clear that at least 300 square meters of the site remain untouched. 

Work in progress during the 2025 excavation. 

The finds in 2025 that include potsherds from at least eight different Jäkärlä culture clay vessels, fragments of Jäkärlä culture stone-axes, whetstones and fishing sinkers can be attributed to the so called Jäkärlä culture ca 6300-5900 BP. The burnt bone fragments are surprisingly many and quite large in size and will be analysed in autumn. Charred fragments of nutshells of common hazel (Corylus Avellana) will be used to date the site.

  
Jäkärlä culture potsherds.

Stone artefacts.

Burnt bone.

The work in Mynt will continue in early June 2026 when a two-week long excavation will be arranged at the site. The excavation will be organized as a community archaeology field school by Esbo Arbis. It is already possible to register, no previous experience of archaeology is required.

Turku, Jäkärlä - The fifth excavation season

The Jäkärlä Culture (ca 6 000 BP) was an interesting but relatively short period that lasted only a couple of hundred years time. The stone-age dwelling site in Jäkärlä were archaeological research started already in 1907 still keeps giving.

Turku Jäkärlä photos from excavations of the stone-age dwelling site in 1907 and 2025.

Between June and 9th and 13th the site was once again excavated as part of a community archaeology field school organised by Åbo Svenska Arbetarinstitut. Some 20 persons partcipated in the dig, this time in rather poor weather conditions. Dispite the rainy weather the mood of the team remained almost cheerful throughout the excavation. 

Digging into the stone-age despite the rain in 2025.

This years work centered on a house foundation from the Jäkärlä Culture, the only one of its kind so far. It was discovered during excavations in 2021 and has been excavated in segments ever since. This year marked the end of the research of this important structure when we uncovered the northwestern corner of the house. The finds from the excavation were varied and plentiful consisting of rather large potsherds of Jäkärlä ware, stone tools and fragments as well as porfyrite and quartz flakes and a small amount of burnt bone. 

A few of the finds from this years excavation (potsherds and stone tools).

The results of the painstaking research will be published in 2027. Next year we will investigate another area in Jäkärlä with finds from the Jäkärlä culture and the Corded Ware culture. See you then!

Second World War Conflict Archaeology research in Hanko

Back home again after ten interesting days of Battlefield- and Conflict Archaeology research of the Hanko 1941-1944 project in Hanko, South Finland . The days incuded both pedagogic archaeology for schools in the surroundings of Hanko Front Museum and searching for missing and fallen soldiers on the mainland and in the archipelago. 

Most of the battles of the Hanko front were fought in the archipelago. Like in 1941 the journey here had to be made by boat. Photo Wilma Gourdon-Larsson.

The community archaeology fieldschool and pedagogic research was funded by Thure Galléns Stiftelse and Svenska Folkskolans Vänner (SFV:s Sommaruni). This years leg of the  Finding the Fallen of the Hanko FRront project was made with financial support from The Association for Cherishing the Memory of War Dead (Sotavainajien Muiston Vaalimisyhdistys ry.). Archaeology students from Lund and Uppsala university participated in the forensic work.

   

The research of the battlefields and rear areas were preceeded by lectures at the  Hanko Front Museum 

The community archaeology excavations and surveys produced much needed new information about the living conditions of the soldiers on the frontline and behind it on both sides of the conflict. The search for war dead was also successfull this year as we managed to find the exact spot were one Swedish volunteer from Svenska Frivilligbataljonen (SFB) was killed and map his patrols last minutes.

A few of the small finds from the excavations and surveys in May 2025.

The Conflict Archaeology Field Schools continue in September. Please join us by registering through the SFV website https://www.sfv.fi/sv/evenemang/view-155738-117042# or send an email to jfarchaeology@gmail.com for more info! Please visit the Hanko 1941-1944 project website https://hanko1941-1944.fi/ for more info about our multidisciplinary research.