"Durchgangslager Hangö". Day 10-11/15 of the 2017 excavation season.

Last Friday we were mostly covering up excavation areas but today it was time to dig again. This day started off with a new excavation team, but a very effective one, so the dig got a really good start today. We opened up two new excavation areas and will probably start a third one tomorrow!

Wonderful sunny and warm weather too, can´t complain :)

Large gilded KRIEGSMARINE button.

Text on the backside, "KRIEGSMARINE"

Makers mark FLL for Friedrich Linden, Lüdenscheid, 1938.

New excavation area!

 Fig coffee label from "Voglsanger" in Innsbruck!

 Patriotic brass matchbox cover.

Lüger or Parabelum cartridge. The cdp makers mark is for Theodor Bergmann &co. Waffen und Munitionsfabrik Berlin.

Welcome to join the Ölmosviken late stone-age/early bronze age settlement site excavation 21-27.8.2017 (Monday to Sunday)!

Neolithic flint sickle blade (from nearby Perniö). Photo NBA.

You are now invited to join us in the excavation of this very promising dwelling site from ca 2300-1500 BC. No previous knowledge of archaeology is required! Please sen email to joneij@gmail.com if you wish to particapate for one or more days. The excavation is organised by Kimitoöns Vuxeninstitut.

Potsherds attributable to the so called "Kiukais Culture" have been discovered at the site in 2011. Photo NBA.

The site is situated in SW Finland on Kimitoön near Dragsfjärd. Part nature reserve the area is both scenic an rich in animal life. There are many prehistoric sites here too! The dwelling site was found by locals in 2011 but no previous excavations has been carried out until now!

http://100luontohelmea.fi/helmi/purunpaa

Sites with finds from the "Kiukais Culture" in Finland.

"Durchgangslager Hangö". Day 9/15 of the 2017 excavation season.

Slightly warmer weather in Hanko today and not quite as windy as during the previous excavation days this week. The second week of excavations is drawing to it´s close but the site keeps on giving...
Below are just a few of todays finds but I think you see what I mean.

 Small mirror with an interesting image on the reverse.

 Excavation area two, layer 2.

 Hand painted small flowers on a comb fragment.

 Lots of interesting finds in this third excavation area.

 A pipe.

 A glass container that once held "VIKING" shoe cream.

Lid to a "Heer Butterdose".

"Durchgangslager Hangö". Day 8/15 of the 2017 excavation season.

Once again a very hectic day  at the excavations. Archaeology student Anu Varjo finished her work on documenting the German barracks for her MA degree while the rest of us dug three separate excavation areas simultaneously. Lots of small fins today two plus the traditional bottles and food ration cans .

My trustworthy companion since 1990 an "Old school" levelling instrument.

Todays finds included many gaming pieces, many combs, medic realated items, many different types of shaving mirrors and of course lots and lots of uniform realated items.

 Part of a "Heer" cap cockade from "Schirmmütze"

 Ornate ring.

 "Eismeerfront" badge (Kirkenes-Petsamo-Murmansk)

 A dice.

 A pair of broken eye or sunglasses.

 Ornate comb.

Tooth implant.

"Durchgangslager Hangö". Day 7/15 of the 2017 excavation season.

A few finds from the odder side today, a dental prosthesis and a picture still inside it´s original picture frame, a calendar  from the year 1943 an much, much more!!

A picture of an elderly man still inside it´s original picture frame.

This could possibly be classified as the strangest item discovered so far during the excavations. A dental prosthesis (lower jaw). It´s very, very worn.

Dental prosthesis.

A German comb, partly swallowed up by a tree root.

 The excavation work continues.

 1943 calendar on the backside of a shaving mirror.

An eraser.

Presenting the crew: Lasse Nyman metal detectorist technician

Hello everyone

My name is Lasse Nyman, I´m the Chairman of the Finnish Metal Detecting Association (Suomen Metallinetsijät ry). I’ve been working very hard to locate new areas for the archaeologists  to excavate in “Durchgangslager Hangö” together with archaeologist Jan Fast since 2015.

Lasse Nyman.

When I’m not in Hanko, you will find me somewhere along the Eastern border of Finland looking for MIA soldiers from the Second World War. You will also find me in auditoriums talking about the laws and ethics of metal detecting.

Like Mr. Young used to say “Earth is a flower and it's pollinating” – peace!

"Durchgangslager Hangö". Day 6/15 of the 2017 excavation season.

Here we go again. New week, some 20 new participants and a new excavation area. This one seems to be deepest dump pit so far and it has already proved very rich in finds..

The 2x2m trial pit at the site of the German WW2 dump.

Comb fragment, Gas mask canister strap end, and a medical tube "Frostschutzsalbe"

The sort of things German soldiers leave behind... At times it feels like excavating a culture of it´s own, the finds are so very typical to the time period in different regions of Europe. The German "Heer" left it´s tell tale marks everywhere they fought or stayed.

Buttons, hundreds of them.

 Huge amounts of used combs.

 Medical stuff.

 Toothpaste tubes and more toothpaste tubes.

 Uniform details.

 Small coins from different parts of the theatre of the Second World War.

The excavations continue!!

Mystery item identified!!

We all had many different theories about this small glass item found during excavations of "Durchgangslager Hangö" until it was cracked by K. Laitinen today!

The item is a the nib of a 1940´s glass ink pen!!

Article about Jan Kaila and "Poetic Archaelology" in Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish)

Finally an article about Jan Kaila and the "Poetic Archaeology" project in the leading daily newspaper here in Finland (Helsingin Sanomat). The article is in Finnish. Couldn´t be happier!

Jan Kaila. Photo Sami Kero HS.

http://www.hs.fi/paivanlehti/01072017/art-2000005274545.html

"Poeettinen Arkeologia" on tärkeä osa Hangon Tulliniemen saksalaisen, toisen maailmansodan aikaisen kauttakulkuleirin konfliktiarkeologista tutkimusta

Helsingin Sanomien sinänsä ansiokkaasta jutusta (30.6.2017) puuttui valitettavasti toimituksen päätöksen takia kokonaan maininta  poikkitieteellisestä yhteistyöstä Kaila-Knuutila-Fast "Poeettinen Arkeologia" hankkeen kanssa!! Lukekaa lisää aiheesta klikkaamalla allaolevaa linkkiä! 

http://www.uniarts.fi/uutishuone/poeettinen-arkeologia-tutkii-menneisyyden-estetiikkaa

Tulliniemen kauttakulkuleirin parakki. Kuva Jan Kaila.

Presenting the crew: Anu Varjo, research assistant

My name is Anu, I’m a 5th year student of archaeology in the University of Helsinki. This is my third field season in Hanko. I have done my bachelor thesis about the Hanko transition camp barrack’s. 

Anu Varjo.

I’m interested in archaeology, conflict archaeology, the archaeology of buildings, medieval archaeology and almost everything as long as it’s archaelogy. 

I’m also M.Sc. of Real Estate Economics.

"Durchgangslager Hangö". Day 5/15 of the 2017 excavation season.

Sadly the excavation today had to be cancelled because of dangerously strong winds.

Cloudy skies over "Durchgangslager Hangö" today. Photo by Bengt Wikström 30.6.2017.