Building a network of contacts

Got some great new contacts and found some interesting archaeological articles on the internet today :).  Dr. Ilze B. Loze from Latvia should be able to help me with my upcoming article about the anthropomorphic clay figurines (thanks to Mag. hist.  Inna Rozentāle department of archaeology at the university of Latvia).  I also started thinking and writing about the amber trade in the neolithic in connection with the figurines, even though it´s nothing more than a wild guess at the moment it seems like a trail worth following when thinking of the broader picture of circumbaltic contacts in the neolithic. Great day!

Purciems White Dune in Latvia were some interesting anthropomorphic figurines have been found.

Link to an interesting article on the topic of ornamentation of figurines (in french): 

http://atlas.usv.ro/www/codru_net/CC16/1/02_Boghian.pdf

Partners in crime ?

The similarities are obvious but what do they tell about circumbaltic contacts 5000 + years ago. Tomorrow it´s time to get back to article writing again :) Can´t wait!

Upcoming archaeology projects in april/may

Sadly I didn´t get any funding from Svenska Kulturfonden for my planned archaeology project with schoolchildren but I´m still going to do some surveying and look for new stone age dwelling sites in Sipoo and Raseborg this spring. Feel free to contact me if you are interested in participating. Please email me at jan.fast@helsinki.fi  for more info :). Below are some pictures from last springs surveying trip to Raseborg.

For info on previously known sites in the areas mentioned above visit

http://kulttuuriymparisto.nba.fi/netsovellus/rekisteriportaali/mjreki/read/asp/r_default.aspx

Finally spring

Can´t wait for archaeological fieldwork

Can´t wait for Kobban (our maritime paradise)

Can´t wait for fishing and planting onions, potatoes etc etc in the island garden

With my loved ones <3

Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten: Slow progress with my WW2 archaeology expedition to Kutsa (Salla region)

Today  I finally managed to get a good solid contact for my forthcoming conflict archaeology project in the far north. It´s a good thing because the circumstances and situation in northern Russia is not something I´m not overly familiar with. Below are some pics to illustrate the nature and the circumstances in the Kutsa region today 69 years after the diaries were written in World War two. More info to follow as things develop.

Lovin´ Rockin´ Diggin´ Fishin´

This one goes out to Niinu <3

"One could not write without the other"

Jan 18.3.2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGKtxbV9x84

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhIGBV2dMgo

Hans Ruin tävlingen 2013

Sände idag in min novell "Sju gropar i berget" till Svenska kulturfionden och  Hans Ruin-tävlingen 2013. Länge leve arkeologien och kärleken till den och versen.

Writing is my thing..

Sry I haven´t been a very active blogger lately. Writing and studies have taken a lot of my time lately, which is a good thing of course ;). I "promise" to be more active when spring arrives in Finland (-38 C yesterday in northern Finland!). Cant wait for warmer days and visits and search trips to archaeological sites in spring which is something of a tradition for me and my trustworthy friends in ANGO :).

On the lookout for new prehistoric sites and surveying old ones  with Ango in Raseborg SW Finland in the spring of 2012. Will publish a report before may so stay tuned.

Keihäänkärjen löysin ja hävitin...

JK and AK telling the story of my life :)

... and great songs  for the upcoming field season too :)

Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten...

Upcoming battlefield archaeology project.

A few years back I got hold of two unpublished
hand written diaries (with photos) from a member of the Finnish "Lotta Svärd" organisation. The very well written diaries give a very vivid account of the life and situation of the German and Finnish soldiers, the fighting and of the whole cultural complexity of war in Finnish Lapland during one month in 1944. The diary would be worth publicizing in its own right.

I have decided to go further and try to relocate the site, the German camp and the associated Lotta Svärd canteen in Kutsa (east of Salla) in Russia were the described events occurred. I am also planning an excavation of the site to "illustrate the diary" and a documentary movie "The road to Kutsa and back". Anyone interested in the project please contact me.

Very important thread if you are into battlefield archaeology

Check this link out and join the discussion on this excellent forum!


http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/battlefield-archaeology/what-is-relic-digging-and-why-we-do-it-180711/


Also check this one out! Battlefield archaeology and the work to save these sites for future generations is just starting. This short clip adresses some of the fundamental questions!

Busybusybusy and in a good mood

Today Matti Klinge tomorrow Charlotta Wolff and writing and writing and writing, sounds stressful but no it isn´t. I´m enjoying everything full time. Still... so many projects so little time. Another good thing is that I realized that my studies are almost over (at least for the moment) the fact is that I´m enjoying the atmosphere of the university so much that I´m sure I will continue my studies after 2013. I have a few very good topics and ideas about what these studies could be but more about that later. Archaeology and history is what I live and breathe at the moment and in the future :). Here´s a nice BBC documentary check it out if you haven´t seen it already (it´s from 2004). The BBC sure knows how to make good and catchy documentaries!

Friday on the archaeologists mind

After a rather hectic week of studies and writing it´s weekend again. Today the Finnish newspapers have been talking a lot about the recent 17th and 18th century excavations in the center of Helsinki. glazed red earthen ware found in the excavations there in 2005-2007. As I will be presenting the disposition for my article now on the upcoming Tuesday at the university it´s nice to hear the news about the recent finds :)
Below some pictures from the excavations (copyright Ilta-Sanomat magazine).

Riksantikvarieämbetet on Youtube

Very good links to excavations and work by RA via this. Enjoy!

Back to studies

My fathers birthday was a blast but now it´s back to the books and writing the articles one about the stone age anthropomorphic clay figurine from Vantaa and another one about the excavations at Herttoniemi manor. I´m trying to incorporate cultural history in the latter one, something about the archaeology food and glaced red earthenware of the mid 18th century based on the excavation finds from 2005-2007. Anyone with hints regarding to good litterature about this topic? :)

Picture of Herttoniemi Manor in which a ceramic factory was situated in the mid to late 18th century. The refuse was dumped on the backyard (this side) and proved to be a real treasure trove during the excavations.

Excavations at the leprosy hospital at Korpholmen in 2012

Interesting realistic documentation of the excavations of the leprosy hospital at Korpholmen in 2012 (more links on Youtube). Very small scale work but very important in it´s own right!  Below is a link to the excavation reports etc (in swedish).

http://kronobyhembygd.jimdo.com/korpholmens-hospital/

Studying, writing and cooking

It´s been an almost perfect day for studies and writing. I think the clue is to get to bed early and here especially my decision to quit Facebook has helped me a lot. Now it´s time for some weekend extravaganza including serious cooking at my fathers birthday party and after that just relaxing in good company. Have a nice weekend everyone and don´t forget to read a book or an article or two ;)

What we should learn from history

Never think of history as "the past"
Read more books and always remain curious.
History is were you are.

Alf-Gunnar Kranck excavation photos found

Got a telephone call yesterday from Gunilla Kranck the widow of the very active amateur archaeologist and photographer Alf-Gunnar Kranck. She told me that she had found a huge pile of photos that Alf-Gunnar took while participating in different excavations from 1987 until his death in the early 90´s.

This is extremely good news because very few pictures exist of the early amateur archaeologists at work in southern Finland and Vasa (western Finland) from those years. I will visit Gunilla and start sorting out the pictures beginning on the first of march.

Alf-Gunnar (seated in the middle) on his beloved Jurmo in 1982 in progress of raising the midsummer pole 

(picture by Timo Salonen).

"I arkeologens fotspår"

This is a short preliminary clip from the intro to my upcoming book about "Jan Fast archaeology" from the happy 80´s and back to the future :

"Arkeologi är mer än utgrävningar. För mig är arkeologi är synonymt med känslan av att vara nyförälskad, gång på gång. Sigmund Freud beskrev förälskelse som en form av sinnesstörning (“man är galen när man är förälskad”). Kanske han hade rätt också gällande ”arkeologien, den onyttigaste af alla wetenskaper”.

Att jobba i fält  är många gånger äventyrsfullt och spännande. Resultatet av de flesta mer vetenskapliga  expeditionerna arkiveras på Museiverket i Helsingfors i form av fynd och utgrävningsrapporter med tillhörande bild och kartbilagor.

Grävningsfynden rengörs, räknas, vägs, konserveras, katalogiseras och sorteras omsorgsfullt in i tiotusentals kantiga arkivlådor och många försvinner på nytt i arkivens oändliga hyllor. Istället för tung jord täcks de nu av fint arkivdamm.

Utgrävningsrapporterna är för det mesta torr och tråkig läsning. Detta är som sig skall. Dessa detaljerade beskrivningar om utgrävningarna är ju i första hand konsisa sakliga dokument som tjänar forskningen och skyddet av de ömtåliga fornlämningarna i fält. I utgrävningsrapporterna talas det sällan om hur det var på riktigt på utgrävningarna, ej heller om hur fynden såg dagsljuset eller i hur de i några fall tappades bort.

Oftast nämns inte heller andra personer än utgrävningsledare och eventuella viceutgrävningsledare eller assistenter vid namn. Eftersom en stor del av utgrävningarna görs utanför de ledande arkeologernas barndomsskogar och -stigar är de lokala amatörarkeologerna och -historikerna ofta mycket viktiga för fältarkeologerna. Många av dessa lokala förmågor är förutom skickliga guider och sakkännare, även fantastiska personligheter. I detta verk har jag velat berätta även om några av dem.

I likhet med alla minnen är även dessa minnesbilder högst personliga. Olika personer bär ofta på olika minnesbilder av samma episod. Denhär skriften innehåller berättelser från min barndom och från några av de utgrävningar och personer jag jobbat med mellan åren 1982 och 2009.  Du är inbjuden att delta."