Almost autumn... the 2016 dig is almost over.

Despite of the 2016 main archaeological excavations of "Deutsches Lager Hanko 1942-1944"  beeing over for the summer season, we are still continuing documentation work as well as and small scale digging at the site until snow falls.

Below are a few finds from our latest visit to this (for Finnish circumstances) extraordinary large and well preserved WW2 site.

A well preserved German "Likör" bottle from the Benedictiner Monastery of Ettal in Bavaria Germany..

Kloster Ettal.

Below are some small telltale items of the "Waffenbruderschaft". Finnish porcelain lemonade and beer  bottle caps.

 "Helsingin Virvoke Oy" (Helsinki)

"Aura" brewery (Turku).

I would like to thank "Hangö Sommaruniversitet" for understanding the value of the Community Archaeology effort of this project as well as the Scientific part in 2016.

Last but not least I would like to thank the Finnish Defence Forces and the Finnish Police (Raseborg district) for their support and help in 2016. We are of course beeing extra careful when researching the area but we need your co-operation and help now and in the future 2016-2018. I´m looking forward to our meetings in the upcoming weeks.

An unexploded , highly dangerous 81 mm mortar grenade found during our research and promptly removed and dismantled by the Finnish Defence Forces/Police authorities in July 2016.

Metal Detecting in Finland - An Ongoing Debate

Here´s as interesting new article (Suzie Thomas, Anna Wessman and Leena Koivisto) on a couple of issues regarding metal detecting in Finland.

http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/opar.2016.2.issue-1/opar-2016-0006/opar-2016-0006.xml?format=INT

More finds from Suomussalmi !!!

The number of late iron age axe heads keep mounting (now five and counting).

Here are a couple more late iron age axeheads for you to admire all pictures by Petri Anttonen! I´ll keep you updated about the finds here as things progress.

 Axehead number two.

 Axehead number two.

 Axehead number three.

Axehead number four.

The find site of these axes, close to the center of Suomussalmi,  was inspected by archaeologists Esa Suominen and Riikka Mustonen from the museum of Kainuu "Kainuun Museo".

http://www.kajaani.fi/fi/palveluopas/kulttuuri/kainuun-museo

Extremely interesting late iron age finds from Suomussalmi (NE Finland).

This must be one of the more intriguing finds this summer. Metal detectorist Petri Anttonen first found a late iron age axehead and today when another site he found was visited by archaeologists today even more items were recovered.

The first find, a large iron axe head, the find site of the axehead has not been documented yet.

The area is natural untouched forest by a lake. Even though the axehead was found directly underneath the topsoil there seems to be a small cairn like structure close to the find site too! According to Anttonen small bronze fragments were also recovered at the findspot.

A grave? What appears to be a viking age E-type spearhead.

The find site.

Congratulations for these magnificient finds and thanks for reporting them to the archaeologists!

A similar grave find like the one with the spearhead was reported last year. Below is a link to an article (in Finnish) about the previous find.

http://www.kaleva.fi/uutiset/pohjois-suomi/suomussalmelta-loytyi-ristiretkiaikainen-hauta/712624/

Excavating and documenting Deutsches Lager Hanko

The documentation of the German Barracks continues. Photo Japo Knuutila.

Today we visited "Deutsches Lager Hanko" again, the idea was to mostly do documentation but because of the good weather and the talented crew we decided to do some digging too. Below area few of the hundreds of finds from today :)

Aluminium "Creme" container.

Louse comb.

Mess tin related aluminium and brass artefacts.

 Austrian "HARICH BRAUSE LIMONADE" bottle.

 German "PFLANZENSÄFTE" bottle

Another German antigas container (right).

"Laplands Dark Heritage" excavations in Inari started today

In the background Wesa Perttola (University of Helsinki) and Anni Tolppanen (University of Aberdeen)

Sad to see it in the pictures the weather looks very rainy indeed. The finds are mounting though. Some of the finds are of course very similar to the ones found earlier this season during the excavations of "Deutsches Lager Hanko". Good luck guys, you are doing an excellent job!

 Kettle from Inari.

Kettle from "Deutsches Lager Hanko".

Intriguing surface fnds!

200 l. standard "Kraftstoff" barrel.

Please follow the ongoing excavations here! 

http://blogs.helsinki.fi/lapland-dark-heritage/

JFA... has gone fishing.

"It´s not the years, it´s the mileage."

It´s time for my annual summer holiday in the wonderful Finnish archipelago! I´ll be back again in mid August with regular updates on a forthcoming very interesting stone-age dig (you are all invited!), WW2 Conflict Archaeology in Hanko, the EEA meeting in Vilnius and much much more... The adventure continues!

Thank You Jasmin, Anni and Jordan! Thank you Hangö Sommaruni!

It was a true pleasure and a great experience for me to work together with the three of you for three weeks in Hanko, S. Finland. You are all very talented and above all great company!

Jordan Paddison from the University f Aberdeen (left).

I hope that we will be able to continue our work in Hanko in 2017, after all this summers excavation was only a trial excavation before the big one next year :). Allthough feeling a bit tired after three weeks of hard work I´m actually already looking forward to the next season!

German soldiers shaving on the beach.

Me guiding people from Hanko and Germany on the beach.

I would also like to take this opportunity and thank Jan Martti Kaila and  Japo Knuutila for their valuable work in documenting the whle thing and especially the "Baracke". Thank you Yrsa Grüne for lending us your home.

Nature taking it´s revenge on the barracks.

Last but not least thank You Leica Finland and Mika Ikonen.The Leica Zeno 20 worked like a dream!

The dig is almost over... but we will be continuing in September 2016.

The last two days have been sunny and warm here in Hanko. I´m sure all of us will cherish these moments next autumn and winter.

Hanko at it´s best. Blue skies, sun and sea. 

We have have been focusing on the beach area. As the nature path to Uddskatan is extreamely crowded this time of year we have been doing a lot of explaining for the passers by, telling them about WW2 conflict archaeology and the German transition camp.

Archaeology student Jasmin Jyrä (University of Aberdeen) telling passers by about our work.

Today we added a few Norwegian WW2 finds to our list of finds from different parts of Europe.

Norwegian WW2 tram token (Oslo Sporveijer).

Norwegian coin (1 öre).

Below are a few of our finds from today (and yesterday). The french military uniform button AM Paris) might be a souvenir from France were many of the troops passing through Hanko were stationed before beeing sent to the "Nordfront".

French button.

 Finnish/German "Nordfront" memorial pin (part of a watch fob).

Another "Kriegsmarine" uniform button.

The weather report says tomorrow will be a rainy day but no worries, we are already planning the continuation of the excavations in September. Before that though we will have a couple of meetings with the police and the Finnish Defence Forces regarding security issues when excavting the deeper layers (which sofar, we have left untouched).

On the beach

Today we concentrated on documenting the beach area of "Deutsches Lager Hanko" thanks to our co-operation with Leica Geosystems/Mika Jussi Ikonen we have the priviledge of using very high tech in our work the marvelous Leica Zeno 20! The accuracy of the device makes it possible for us to pinpoint every single find from the WW2 conflict archaeology excavation with an accuracy of 1 cm!

Leica Zeno 20 at work Archaeology student Jasmin Jyrä (univerity of Aberdeen) mapping the finds in the beach area of "Deutsches Lager Hanko".

The excavation areas one and two continued to produce large amounts of finds highighting the different aspects of life in the camp 1942-1944.

Pipes.

Razors.

Mauser cartridges.

 German Nivea sunoil "Hautöl" bottle.

Tomorrow we will be checking out the rest of the beach area and continue with excavating layer 6 of the large German dump (excavation area 2.). Until then bye from sunny Hanko :)

A small piece of Berlin in Hanko, Finland.

Sad to say but the 2016 dig of Deutsches Lager Hanko is almost over :( we have  only four days left of this years excavation..

Berlin made tube of "Körperschutssalbe".

This 11th excavation day was a rainy one and we had to quit early. Still some very nice finds again. Back "home" Anni and Jordan cleaned a few of the finds from Friday while Jasmin worked in the garage, sorting through all the finds from the past two weeks!

Some German soldier squeezed the last drop of his Solidox toothpaste before he discarded the tube.

Christmas decorations were found during last years excavations and again today when we recovered this small brass bell. The item could also be a "Schnapps bell".

 Jingle bell or "Schnapps bell"?

Tomorrow we will be extending excavation area two and digging into layer six so be prepared for many more find in tomorrows update.

New week with a new team of ten :)!