The Finnish Archipelago Coast from AD 500 to 1550

51 Pages·2011·5.5 MB·English

The Finnish Archipelago Coast from AD 500 to 1550 –
a Zone of Interaction
Tapani Tuovinen
[email protected], [email protected]
Abstract
New archaeological, historical, paleoecological and onomastic evidence indicates Iron Age settle-
ment on the archipelago coast of Uusimaa, a region which traditionally has been perceived as deso-
lated during the Iron Age. This view, which has pertained to large parts of the archipelago coast, can
be traced back to the early period of field archaeology, when an initial conception of the archipelago
as an unsettled and insignificant territory took form.
Over time, the idea has been rendered possible by the unbalance between the archaeological
evidence and the written sources, the predominant trend of archaeology towards the mainland (the
terrestrical paradigm), and the history culture of wilderness. Wilderness was an important platform
for the nationalistic constructions of early Finnishness. The thesis about the Iron Age archipelago
as an untouched no-man’s land was a history politically convenient tacit agreement between the
Finnish- and the Swedish-minded scholars. It can be seen as a part of the post-war demand for a
common view of history.
A geographical model of the present-day archaeological, historical and palaeoecological evi-
dence of the archipelago coast is suggested.
Keywords: Finland, Iron Age, Middle Ages, archipelago, settlement studies, nationalism, history,
culture, wilderness, borderlands.
1. The coastal Uusimaa revisited er the country had inhabitants at all during the
Bronze Age (Aspelin 1875: 58). This drastic
interpretation developed into a long-term re-
The early Finnish settlement archaeologists of-
search tradition that contains the idea of easily
ten treated the question of whether the country
perishable human communities and abandoned
was settled at all during the prehistory: were
regions. According to a pertinent description by
people in some sense active there, or was the
country in an entirely natural state? In 1875, Karin Viklund, the ”prehistoric time was regard-
J.R. Aspelin gathered all known Bronze Age ed (...) as consisting of empty waiting-rooms which
metal artefacts found in Finland into his disser- were suddenly filled with people, just as suddenly to
tation Elements of Finno-Ugric Archaeology. be empty, giving room for new people to come in,
The museum collections only held about ten ar- often having a new culture and a new language”
tefacts. Aspelin thought it was uncertain wheth- (Viklund 2002: 122).
Maritime Landscape in Change
THE FINNISH ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, ISKOS 19, 2011
THE FINNISH ARCHIPELAGO COAST FROM AD 500 TO 1550 – A ZONE OF INTERACTION
After the number of finds and datings that term archipelago coast (Granö et al. 1999; Fri-
have accumulated for more than a hundred sén et al. 2005).
years, it is doubtful that anyone could seriously In this specific mosaic of land and water,
suggest that any of the prehistoric periods would one can expect that people adopt a subsistence
have comprised of a lack of settlement in the strategy that made use of the special character-
area of Finland. But one can still encounter the istics of the nature. Through ethnographies we
“waiting-rooms”, though in a different shape, are familiar with the economic system, where
in texts dealing with settlement prehistory on islanders made use of the archipelago accord-
a regional level, often within a municipality or ing to seasons in cultivation, animal husband-
other administrative unit. Even in the present ry, fishing, seal hunting, fowling and foraging
situation of field archaeology, we are in many (Ahlbäck 1955; Storå 1985; cf. Núñez 1995).
situations faced with a paucity of finds, but the This adaptation is generally known as multiple
distribution map has now been zoomed much subsistence strategies (Fi. monitoimitalous, Sw.
closer than during Aspelin’s era. The problem is mångsyssleri, Tuomi-Nikula 1982: 44; Storå
that as the points on any archaeological distri- 1982). So far, very little archaeological research
bution map have been more densely distributed has been done on the long-term development of
than before, the empty “waiting-rooms” are multiple subsistence strategies. However, the
now searched for in smaller gaps between the excavations in Gunnarsängen, Hanko, during
points and shorter time spans between the finds. the 21st century have now brought out evidence
This approach ultimately leads to an increas- on the relationships between agriculture, fish-
ing number of “waiting-rooms” that are emp- ing and hunting during the late Iron Age and
tied and filled more and more frequently until early medieval period (Jansson et al. 2010; see
the point of absurdity finally will be reached. also Núñez 1995).
The simplistic traditional approach seems to be Likewise, one could expect archaeological
based on assumptions that can be found in the evidence on a roughly similar Iron Age set-
history of research. These assumptions have to tlement and exploitation of natural resources
be highlighted and discussed. In order to more throughout the Finnish archipelago coast,
deeply understand the preconditions, events, since is has a roughly uniform nature. Due to
contacts and circumstances associated with set- the scantiness of archaeological finds from the
tlement, the focus of research has to be directed Iron Age, Uusimaa was for a lengthy period of
to the regional and local level, that goes into time regarded as unsettled. With reference to
the field-archaeological evidence of the settle- medieval written sources, it has been thought,
ment, pollen stratigraphy, local communities, that Iron Age Uusimaa would have been en-
networks, and spatial patterns. This has been tirely or almost entirely unsettled between the
one of the aims of the project Western Uusimaa coast of the Gulf of Finland and the inland lake
during the late Iron Age and Medieval Period district of Häme. This zone was exploited by
(500–1550 AD). Tavastians, people from Finland Proper and
Characteristic of the maritime living condi- Estonians for long-distance utilization (see ar-
tions of the early dwellers along the coast and ticle by Georg Haggrén in this volume). This
archipelago of Western Uusimaa were the same continued until and even after the colonisation
stratified brackish water, strong seasonal alter- of Uusimaa by people from Sweden began in
nation and arctic features of the ecology (Autio the 12th century. It has been suggested, that the
et al. 1993) as elsewhere in the Northern part people exploiting the wilderness would not
of the Baltic rim. Particular to the Southern settle down because they would have to cross
and South-Western coasts of Finland is shal- the ice-marginal features of Salpausselkä and
low fragmented coastal topography. The ar- travel tediously by boat along the rivers as they
chipelagos give the coastal Finland, Åland and made their way from their homes to the coast
Sweden a special character, and this evokes the of Uusimaa in the south. So instead their trade
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TAPANI TUOVINEN
was directed towards the west to the coasts of Miettinen, T. 1998: 91–110), reminiscent of the
Finland Proper and Lower Satakunta, both of cairns in Åboland.
which are regions that served as goods agents In 1995 Torsten Edgren wrote that, due to
of commodities (Masonen 1989). several indications, “the old cherished myth of
Uusimaa would thus have been settled an unsettled archipelago” should be rejected
rather late. It was thought that the coast would (Edgren 1995b: 62). The new evidence in the
have been dependent on the interior. Accord- 21st century makes it paramount to continue
ing to this view, the coast was a hinterland, along this line of thought, re-evaluating the set-
which was not affected by initiatives, popula- tlement (pre)history of the archipelago coast of
tion pressure or economic enterprises from the Uusimaa and questioning established views.
interior. Uusimaa would thus have dramatically In the following, it is examined how the 450
differed from Finland Proper and Åland, where kilometres long archipelago coast of Uusimaa,
the preconditions of settlement and possibilities Åboland and Åland – using the vocabulary of
of success were tied to the geography and his- natural geography it would be called the archi-
tory of the coast. But why would the settlement pelago coast of Uusimaa and the Archipelago
dynamics of Uusimaa before the Swedish set- Sea – could be viewed from a coastal archaeol-
tlers have been so different? And why would ogy perspective.
the competence and strategies of the Swedish
settlers have been so much more advanced that
before them the resources of the sea and land 2. Footprints of the early settle-
could not be exploited in full scale? ment
Nonetheless, preliminary and significant in-
dications of an Iron Age settlement on the coast
of Uusimaa have been discovered. Archaeo- Cemeteries and settlement
logical evidence points towards an exchange
of goods with the interior as well as across the
Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia. Not Valter Lang has presented a concise definition
later than during the Viking Age the Tavastians of settlement archaeology. According to him,
were involved in trade with the coast of Uusi- settlement archaeology is “a study of the estab-
maa (Edgren 1985; Lavento 2005; Haggrén lishment and development of human settlement
2008a). Among the place-names a stratum old- (usually) in a long-term perspective and in its
er than the medieval period is evident (Kepsu whole versatility, among others: the dimen-
2005). Furthermore, pollen analyses indicate sions, variability and geographic distribution of
clearance, cultivation and grazing not later than settlement units, the choice of settlement areas,
the middle of the Iron Age (Sarmaja-Korjonen the mutual influence between man and envi-
1992; Vuorela 1993; Miettinen, T. 1998: 95; ronment, the creation and re-creation of cul-
Alenius et al. 2004; Alenius et al. 2006; see tural landscape, the land colonization (so called
also Alenius’ contribution to this volume). The landnám) and land-use systems, the social
number of archaeological sites has increased structure, proprietorship rights and territoriality
through archaeological surveys. In 2006, there of society – and all these in their mutual rela-
were 233 sites in the database of the National tions and interaction” (Lang 1996: 604). Set-
Board of Antiquities associated with human ac- tlement is thus a network of material culture,
tivity in Uusimaa during the Iron Age, which al- socioeconomics, landscape and nature, chang-
ready corresponds to a fifth of prehistoric sites ing through time. Since a network of this kind
in the database (Seppälä 2006: 35). A consid- can be approached, in addition to archaeology,
erable part of the burial cairns along the coast through history, onomastics and paleoecology,
of Uusimaa and Kymenlaakso can be dated to the definition will apply to all research concern-
the Iron Age, and the burial sites were typically ing early settlement.
located by the sea (Haggrén & Jansson 2004;
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THE FINNISH ARCHIPELAGO COAST FROM AD 500 TO 1550 – A ZONE OF INTERACTION
Settlement studies in Finland have focused ties situated in the cultural landscape. The tra-
a great deal on the landnám and the distribution dition of burial cairns – which in large parts of
of settlement. Since as yet a sparse number of the Finnish coast continued from the Bronze
dwelling sites and remains of houses from the Age to the Iron Age (Edgren 1984; Tuovinen
Iron Age and the medieval period are known, 2002; Keskitalo 1979) – included burial monu-
and their datings are approximate, cemeteries ments that were erected on elevated places,
have been used as the main evidence of settle- separate from dwelling sites. In some cases, the
ment, due to their considerable number (eg., prevailing principle of choosing the places for
Seger 1982; Vuorinen 2000a). It is assumed, burials did not prevent the burial site from be-
that where the natural conditions allowed sub- ing close to houses, but these cases mainly ap-
sistence during the Iron Age and where ceme- ply to Bronze Age sites (Salo 1970; Strandberg
teries are known to appear, a contemporaneous 2002). The maps that Birgitta Roeck Hansen
settlement has existed as well. Here Unto Salo presents from Jomala Önningeby, Åland, illus-
uses the term cemeterial settlement (Salo 1995; trate how burial cairns from the Early Iron Age
Salo 1999). were located further apart compared to the Late
There are, however, some problems related Iron Age cemeteries, located close to the pro-
to the use of cemeteries as evidence of settle- gressive central toft area of the hamlet (Roeck
ment. Hansen 1991: 116–119).
(1) Cemeteries and dwelling sites have an The burial cairns were followed by later
obvious spatial interrelationship, but which var- types of Iron Age cemeteries and graves, fre-
ies from region to region and discovering that quently located near dwelling sites in the
depends on the situation of the field research. coastal agrarian region (eg., Vuorinen 2000b;
(2) Different types of graves and cemeteries Schauman-Lönnqvist 1989: 78). The dwelling
are linked to dwelling sites in different ways. sites seem to be located on moraine hills, often
(3) Through a selection mechanism, archae- nearby easily ploughed and quickly drying fine
ological surveys may make the interrelation- sediments, which were suitable for cultivation
ship biased and run into a circular reasoning, (Orrman 1987; Luoto 1988; Saloranta 2000;
if dwelling sites are only or mainly searched Kuusela & Tiilikkala 2008). Thus, the commu-
for where graves are known to exist (Tuovinen nity structure, suggested by Pihlman, arose in
2000). the agricultural regions of the Late Iron Age:
(4) In Finland, Sweden, and Estonia there the cemetery, the fields, and the farmstead
are indications that not all individuals would constituted an economic primary unit1, which
have been buried in cemeteries. Cemeteries signified the area and expression of early land
were mainly for individuals in social key posi- ownership (Pihlman 2004). During the medi-
tions, such as landowners (Pihlman 2004; Mägi eval period, the community structure dissolved
2002; Göthberg 2000). Thus, a part of the in- as the church centered the burials into conse-
ternments remained absent or, in any case, ar- crated graveyards, although behind the uni-
chaeologically invisible. The invisible graves form ecclesiastical facade one can distinguish
were probably located somewhere else than the the remains of beliefs and practices of older
visible ones. Thus, even in Finland cemeter- folk religion. The medieval hamlet cemeteries
ies and graves hardly reflect an unbiased pat- of Köklax and Finno, Espoo, can be regarded
tern of settled regions and the distribution of as examples of such remains (Haggrén 2005a;
settlement. Instead, as Sirkku Pihlman (2003) Haggrén 2008a).
suggests, they rather pinpoint some social and The spatial relationships between the cem-
ritual core areas of local communities. eteries and dwelling sites or farmsteads were
These problems obviously go back to the complex and indirect, and they changed during
fact, that we know so little about the traditions, the long-term development of the cultural land-
beliefs, and cultural meanings pertinent to the
growth of local communities and their activi-
1 For the concept of primary unit, see Blomkvist 2007.
13
TAPANI TUOVINEN
scape of the coast. The distribution of cemeter- to the landscape, the natural resources and the
ies and graves does not give a comprehensive territory (Lang 2000: 21–23; Lang 2006: 294).
picture of settlement and, more importantly, the If we consider settlement to be an interaction
lack of graves does not a priori prove a lack between material culture, landscape and social
of settlement (Huurre 1995: 141; Mägi 2002: life as well as economy, the complexity of set-
171–172). For instance, in Dalby (Värmland in tlement obviously cannot be resolved by using
Sweden), no Iron Age graves have been discov- the traditional approach alone. A multidiscipli-
ered, but instead archaeological surveys have nary approach is needed to tackle the evidence
brought home plenty of evidence on elk hunt- from different viewpoints. Regional case stud-
ing, bloomery iron production, agriculture and ies are required in order to get closer to the lo-
animal husbandry beginning from ca 500 AD cal communities of the archipelago coast and to
(Svensson 1998). Kari Pitkänen has probably the work and subsistence of the people there.
right when he points out that future research
will supposedly reveal that the settled area of
The terrestrical paradigm
the late Iron Age Finland was larger than pre-
viously thought by archaeologists (Pitkänen
The overall impression one can gather from
2007: 47).
the local communities of the Late Iron Age in
In Finland and Estonia, the idea of a linear
Southern Finland mediated by the literature,
relationship between cemeteries and settlement
sources of livelihood other than agriculture and
can be derived from a positivistic orientation,
the exchange of goods remain virtually unde-
the central actor of which was A.M. Tallgren
tected. They are mainly reduced to fallbacks or
(1885–1945). Lang describes Tallgren’s idea
secondary occupations of minor importance.
using a kind of reaction equation:
The freemen were the presumed primary ac-
tors of prehistory and the attention of archae-
Economy + natural conditions → distri-
ology has been directed towards finds that can
bution of settlement = distribution of an-
be associated with agriculture. The overall con-
tiquities (sites)
ception of the Iron Age has been rather static
throughout the 20th century: the livelihood of
It was thought, that the conditions of sourc-
the local communities was based on agricul-
es of livelihood and the ecological settings de-
ture, cooperation between primary units and
termined the distribution of settlement, which
the exploitation of the natural resources from
in turn is reflected on the distribution of archae-
the wilderness; the communities had local pa-
ological finds.
triarchs or aristocrats as rulers, which organ-
ised the long-distance exchange of goods and
Using a new reaction equation:
wielded advanced weapons. The cooperation of
the communities took place within the compass
Culture ↔ (economy ↔ natural condi-
of proto-parishes and municipal leagues (e.g.,
tions) → distribution of settlement →
Salo 1995).
distribution of antiquities (sites),
What is missing to a great extent from the
overall conception is seafaring, fishing, hunting
Lang gives an expression for a newer view
and foraging at the seaboard, in other words,
carrying the idea, that in circumstances where
the multiple subsistence strategies made possi-
the exploitation of natural resources was not
ble by the natural resources of the archipelago
restricted by the density of population, the
coast. Rather little is known about the develop-
choice of the dwelling site was affected by
ment of the multiple subsistence strategies, but
many other factors than merely those related
what is known tends to be significant. Studies
to sources of livelihood and natural resources,
in Kökar, situated in the outer archipelago of
such as cultural factors, the human relationship
Åland, have demonstrated the economic im-
14
THE FINNISH ARCHIPELAGO COAST FROM AD 500 TO 1550 – A ZONE OF INTERACTION
portance of the procurement of seal blubber simple community organisations to more com-
during the Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age plex ones, from Palaeolithic and Mesolithic
(1500 calBC – 500 calAD). Thanks to the good hunter-gatherers to Neolithic herders, and fi-
conditions for transportation, it was possible to nally to Bronze Age agriculturalists (Dennell
supply seal blubber within the southern Baltic 1985: 113–117).
rim (Gustavsson 1987; Núñez et al. 1997). The Agriculture involved tilling the soil and
long period of production suggests that there changing the local vegetation. Because of this,
was a stable demand for seal blubber, so traces clearing, burning, pasturage, and cultivation
of the production of seal blubber should be pos- left material traces in the ground – fossil arable
sible to discover also somewhere else. So far, land, plough-marks, and traces in the pollen
the archaeological remains of procurement of stratigraphy. In addition, agriculture is visible
seal blubber, the charred-stone cairns, are very in the archaeological artefacts and animal fos-
few in number outside the island of Kökar.2 sils, while fishing, seal hunting and fowling can
Although the coastal fishing has been dis- only be traced through archaeological finds and
regarded, there is no reason to believe that the osteology. Due to the obtrusiveness of agricul-
fish stock would not have been exploited. On ture as compared to maritime subsistence, there
the contrary, the distribution of remains of the is an inherent disproportion that causes the
agrarian settlement follows the coast, reaching maritime multiple subsistence economy to be
no more than 10 kilometres from the sea shore underrepresented. To trace the maritime fishing
of the Iron Age, which implies that coastal fish- and hunting is often also a question of exten-
ing must have had a considerable significance sive knowledge and sophisticated equipment in
(Meinander 1980: 11). Furthermore, during the field research.
medieval period there were some coastal mu- Since the 1970’ s, paleoecology has been an
nicipalities, for example Houtskär, where fish- increasingly important method to investigate
ing was the main source of livelihood (Kuvaja the sources of livelihood. Pollen and macro-
1997). fossil analyses have revealed new vital evi-
There are, of course, good reasons to raise dence on early agriculture, and thanks to these
the freemen into a prominent role in the prehis- the initial stage of agriculture in Finland has
toric economy. However, it has lead to a biased been dated as far back as more than 2000 BC.
tradition of research, that Johan Ling calls the At the same time, the detailed and impressive
terrestrical paradigm in his study concerning outcomes of pollen analysis have strengthened
the Bronze Age rock art of Bohuslän county the position of the terrestrical paradigm in set-
in Sweden. In the traditional interpretation of tlement research. Paleoecologists and archae-
rock art, scenes related to cultivation have been ologists should be aware of the impact of the
emphasized, while scenes including maritime agriculture on interpretations concerning the
motifs have been dismissed (Ling 2004; Ling character and structure of settlement and the
2008: 15–33). The terrestrical paradigm comes use of natural resources.
from a Nordic tradition, but it is also a part of a
wider paradigm. The idea of agriculture being
a universal cradle for culture can be regarded 3. The written sources and the
as an axiom within cultural anthropology, go- archaeological evidence
ing back to the cultural evolutionism of the 19th
century. In this view, mankind evolved from
Scarce written source material is something that
has been considered to be characteristic of the
2 Other sites of charred stone in pits are Kallio in Rauma,
maritime culture. The burden of taxation was
Pyheensilta in Mynämäki and Hannunniittu in Turku
weighted towards land ownership, and mari-
(Salo 1983; Väkeväinen 1979; Laukkanen & Vuorinen
1987). All occurrences of charred stone are not related time means of livelihood, such as fishing and
to the procurement of seal blubber. For Sweden, see trade, were harder to control than agricultural
Larsson 2001.
15
TAPANI TUOVINEN
production (e.g., the Gotlandic tradesmen; Silt- lier sources only contain fragments of informa-
berg 2007). The crown and the church had dif- tion about fishing, seal hunting and agriculture
ficulties to control seafarers on the Baltic Sea, (Henriksson 1987). More systematic data on
which emerged as a field of competition be- taxation can be obtained from the beginning of
tween kingdoms, trade organisations, maritime the 16th century, which allows a closer examina-
peasant traders, and freebooters. The freedom tion of the settlements, wealth, and population.
of the sea, as Nils Blomkvist calls it, was an Medieval sources contain both place-names
exception in the medieval society where power that can be identified and names that have
was centralised (Blomkvist 2007: 291–311). disappeared. Places such as towns, monaster-
Many aspects of maritime culture in the his- ies, churches, chapels, castles and manors can
toric times are in any case missing from written mostly be associated with written sources, as
sources. Fishing, for example, is rarely men- well as harbours, such as Gäddtarmen in Hanko
tioned in sources from Sweden and Åland (Nor- or Jungfrusund in Kimitoön (Dragsfjärd). It is
man 1993: 73–75; Henriksson 1987). Christer uncertain whether some of the possible cas-
Westerdahl suggests, that we should talk about tles and earthworks by the coast of Uusimaa
subhistorical aspects (Westerdahl 2005a: 259). can be connected to known places (Suhonen
For example, the land register of Bohuslän, 2005). The same applies to the Danish itiner-
Sweden, contains very few toponyms relating ary of ca 1300, which is a list of place-names
to the natural environment of the coast. A pos- and distances connecting Denmark through
sible explanation is that the preserved names the archipelago of Southern Finland to Reval
were given and used by freemen, and it was (Tallinn) (Zilliacus 1994; Breide 2006). In ad-
predominantly the agricultural names that were dition, we have names that do not point to any
entered into the land register. There is a gap known locations. Kyrkosunds skär, which has
among the place-names, making the people liv- been mentioned as a guild in 1378, may refer
ing on the coast invisible, unlike the archaeo- to two different places (Eriksson 1989; Edgren
logical record, where they can among others be 1999; Edgren 2005). Moreover, in an agree-
verified through tomtningar (stone enclosures). ment in 1395, Wartholm is mentioned as a cas-
However, in Bohuslän there are traces of an tle in Uusimaa, but its location is not revealed.
old stratum of toponyms, in which the element There are good reasons to assume it was equal
of water is significant. These names represent to Borgbacken in Borgå (Gardberg 1994), al-
a prehistoric way to structure the landscape though Högholmen in Kimitoön (Hitis), a forti-
(Lönn 1999: 133–152). The place-names in the fied isle not known in sources, has also been
Finnish archipelago, collected through exten- suggested (Nikula 1987).
sive fieldwork (Zilliacus 1989), indicate how Although places related to the use of natu-
densely and elaborately the cultural landscape ral resources often stay invisible, fishing in the
was scattered with toponyms (e.g. Jurmo: An- crown’s fishing waters in the outer archipelago
dersson 2008: 39–51). was so productive, that a system was estab-
The archipelago coast of Southern Finland lished to impose taxes from the production.
was a traffic zone, where many events related The outer skerries were visited regularly by
to administration, trade and politics took place. bailiffs that collected the taxes. The tax records
Medieval and 16th century sources mention from the 16th and 17th century fishery of Mör-
many places and events that were situated on skär, Åland, give an account on, among others
the archipelago coast. For example, on Åland the islets where the fishermen lived. It is pos-
there are approximately 200 preserved late Me- sible to identify some archaeological remains
dieval documents, most of which are related of fishing activities on the islets (Gustavsson
to the royal and ecclesiastical administration, 1994; Tuovinen 2001). On the skerries at the
visitations made by regents and bishops, mili- edge of the open sea there are plenty of remains
tary operations, trade and judicial issues. Ear- from living and working during different time
16
THE FINNISH ARCHIPELAGO COAST FROM AD 500 TO 1550 – A ZONE OF INTERACTION
periods, but they mostly remain undated and graves that were excavated in the monastery’s
anonymous. However, the number of remains cemetery in Kökar, Åland. They represent the
on the isles does not necessarily correlate with common people of the archipelago (Gustavsson
what is known about the fishing activities that 1994).
took place there (Andersson 2003: 359). Another current topic is the fact that the
Written sources at the time were meant to archaeological interpretations often are – and,
support the use of ruling power, to influence or apparently, have always been (Jensen 1993) –
dominate things and people and to have control dependent on the written sources. Interestingly,
over interpretations. Archaeology may have the testimony of the written sources has affect-
a different point of view altogether. We may ed even the strategies of archaeological herit-
search for a strong and expressive archaeologi- age management (Svensson 2001). The sources
cal attraction, such as a monument, a work of offer rescuing explanations for archaeological
art, or a luxury artefact, but with some pre- occurrences, the content and significance of
understanding it is also possible to produce a which are hard to understand and the fact that
close reading of data and to search for weak the sources are also incomplete and partial are
signals. As Barbara Bender puts it, put aside easily. Where and when the written
“The material record for a preliterate period is sources are absent, the archaeological evidence
inevitably coarse-grained and incomplete. Nonethe- is crucial in order to understand what one can
less it is – sometimes – a more democratic record see, but where sources exist, it is not unusual
than one based purely upon written sources. It is that they dominate interpretation. In Uusimaa,
the material imprint of what Bourdieu calls habitus, for example, previously no archaeological re-
the normal, banal, habitual but nonetheless socially mains of Iron Age settlement were known. The
and culturally specific environment in which, and concept of human activities in Uusimaa was
through which, people negotiate their lives. It is also mainly based on 14th century documents re-
the imprint of more consciously created realms of vealing that dwellers of Häme used to fish on
social knowledge and control. Of course the record the coast of Uusimaa (Kerkkonen 1966: 13).
remains weighted in favour of those with power: they In Finland Proper freemen were, according to
produce the more distinctive, more durable remains. non-archaeological sources, also fishing in the
To some degree, the world of the less powerful has sea (Pitkänen 1985: 362–368), but probably
to be reconstructed from absences in the record, for because the Iron Age has been well known ar-
example the lack of permanent burials. The world of chaeologically in Finland Proper for a consid-
the less powerful is also imaged in the ’discourse’ erable time, the assumed significance of fishing
of the powerful: spaces are constructed to keep in Iron Age communities has remained in the
’them’ at distance, to prevent them from ’seeing’ even background. Fishing is actually often not even
though their labour created those spaces” (Bender mentioned in texts concerning the Iron Age (ex-
1992: 752). ceptions: Salo 1995; Nissinaho 2007; Vuorinen
So far, the most obtrusive sites and those 2009).
sites that can be identified by using written The impact of the written sources on the in-
sources have attracted the greatest attention in terpretation is not so much a problem than other
the archaeology of the coastal Southern Finland. possible hypotheses and interpretations taking
The knowledge concerning the settlement (pre) to the sidelines. In Estonia, Valter Lang and
history has accumulated a great deal, but at the Marge Konsa investigated the fort of Keava
same time an imbalance has seemed to evolve. that was a centre for the Harju district until
First of all, those who earned their keep on the 1224, when it was destroyed by German troops.
sea and on the fields and were not mentioned The archaeological studies give an entirely dif-
in the written sources are also underrepresented ferent view of the of the fort’s life span than
in the archaeological record. Of course there the written sources (Lang & Konsa 2004). In
are exceptions, such as the 14th and 15th century Värmland, Sweden, it could be pointed out that
17
TAPANI TUOVINEN
the natural resources of the outlands were per- The predominant picture of the human ac-
manently utilised during the Iron Age in spite tivities in coastal Uusimaa during the Iron Age
of the depressed picture of a desolate and dan- has been static, naturally depending on restrict-
gerous wilderness that transmits through the ed field-archaeological efforts. Those scholars,
early written sources. The negative description who were inclined to take the formerly sparse
of the outlands can be perceived as part of a evidence as a proof of a largely desolated Uusi-
strategy that served the interests of the king and maa especially during the Late Iron Age, have
the church, restricting the freemen’s right to summed up that the Vikings would have de-
utilise the valuable natural resources of the out- stroyed the settlement in Uusimaa, or that the
lands. Interestingly, the northern part of Värm- coast of Uusimaa would have been only utilised
land is one of the regions that has the highest by fishermen from Häme (Wickholm 2005).
densities of archaeological sites in Sweden, The former conclusion only encompasses the
while in marketing for tourists it is described Viking Age and in the latter case, it remains
as one of the last preserved wildernesses in Eu- open, why Uusimaa would have been unsettled.
rope (Svensson 1998; Emanuelsson et al. 2003; New evidence on early settlement in Uusi-
Svensson 2003). maa challenges the traditional view. It is no
The archaeological evidence and the writ- longer sufficient to refer to scanty finds or writ-
ten sources of history are associated to different ten sources. It can be anticipated that the devel-
segments of the human life and environment in opment of settlement has been more complex
the past and they illuminate different facets of than what was thought before and that only the
the ancient reality. The difference in the points tip of the iceberg has been raised up for obser-
of view is true for other possible routes to the vation. Still, much field work remains to be
past as well, such as onomastics and paleoecol- done in order to understand the specific char-
ogy. Paleoecology has changed our conception acter of the settlement (pre)history of Uusimaa.
of early agriculture. As stated above, it has had The physical geography of coastal Uusimaa is
a powerful impact on how the prehistoric socie- rather similar to Finland Proper, Åboland and
ties are generally viewed. Again, the problem is Åland, but the external characteristics of the
not the paleoecological evidence as such, but province differ from the western regions. The
the fact that settlement and cultivation were challenge for archaeology is to specify and un-
two different spheres of material culture. Es- derstand those characteristics and to discover
pecially in maritime environment one cannot the silent evidence that is missing from the
presume that the settlement was located only written sources and which does not appear in
where samples were taken and cultivation was the archaeological record without considerable
confirmed. efforts.
When making connections between fields
of research, special emphasis should be put on
archaeological and paleoecological records. 4. Understanding the scarcity of
These records share a common trait: they do the finds
not include given meanings in the same manner
as written sources. The method is to pose ques- On the history culture of ’wilderness’
tions to the archaeological and paleoecologi-
cal record and the written sources separately,
starting from their own premises and source Part of the political process of the building of
criticism, and then compare the outcomes the national state of Finland during the Period
(Berglund 1998; Saunders 1993; Hammer et of Autonomy (1809–1917) and in the begin-
al. 1993). The backgrounds, actors, events and ning of the Independence (1917–) was to create
circumstances of the sources are placed in their a great tale about the origin of the Finnish peo-
particular contexts. ple. Events, symbols and scenes were needed
18
THE FINNISH ARCHIPELAGO COAST FROM AD 500 TO 1550 – A ZONE OF INTERACTION
to establish a history of the Finnish ”tribe” and national landscape imagery turned towards
its identity and images of enemy. In art and aca- Karelia, the idealised ancient domicile of the
demic history the national imagery was canon- Finns, which represented the pioneer ethos of
ised to be presented in schools and colleges and the slash-and-burn agriculturalists, becoming
to be mediated in popular culture. It involved a materialized in sublime landscapes, such as the
Finnish political tribe organisation, a local ad- Koli heights (Häyrynen 1997; Häyrynen 2000).
ministration within proto-parishes and munici- The counterpoints opposite to the wilderness
pal leagues, the conversion and commitment to were the hamlets and proto-parishes, from
Christianity and a heroic military power in the where the wilderness was by and by laid
distant past, during the Iron Age and the medi- under control with private ownership and was
eval period (Fewster 2006). The Kalevala epic finally settled. The hillforts formed a kind of
was the flagship which proved the presentabil- mediating structure between the settlements
ity of the Finns among other civilised nations. and the wilderness. They provided the basis of
Since the 1870’s, the role of academic archae- a military power of organised communities and,
ology in the creation of a national conscious- for the Finnish nationalists, they still represent
ness was to materialise the Kalevala-epics and a unity of tribes and a permanent state of war,
to create an affiliation with artefacts, monu- keeping watch and a justified conflict (Fewster
ments, museums and institutions. 1999).
The main ingredients of the construction of The ideal of the wilderness has continued
ancient Finnishness were adopted from the folk its existence during the post-war period, espe-
culture of Karelia and the eastern provinces cially in Iron Age research (Fewster 2006). The
of Finland. Thus the historical perception of readings have both stayed the same and altered.
wilderness (Fi. erämaa) was invaluable when Thanks to pollen analyses, the knowledge of
Finnishness was constituted. Wilderness was early cultivation in Finland has drastically in-
given a kind of most-favoured status in all creased, but, as remarked by Evert Baudou, in
the conceivable platforms that defined the spite of the development of research methods,
emblems for the Finns and localised important swiddening has remained an axiom, which
territories, landscapes, events, organisations regularly supersedes cultivated fields in the
and symbols. The natural domicile of the interpretation of pollen assemblages (Baudou
Finnish settlers was the forest, where they were 1993: 68). Among the changed views is the no-
swiddening, hunting, fishing and burning tar. tion that a formal military management was not
For the artists of the Finnish Golden Age, the necessary for the troops nor was it necessary in
landscape of the wilderness represented a piece the building and maintenance of the hillforts.
of an ancient uncorrupted Finland disappearing The military threat against the Finns was no
under industrialisation. The artists crystallised more coming from the land of the Vikings in
a chronotope of a native culture with pertinent the west, such as the Finnish-minded stated
images, such as virginal forests, glimmering during Finland’s language strife, but rather it
lakes, smoke saunas, humble hard-working came from the east (Taavitsainen 1990).
tar burners, and swiddeners (Lukkarinen & The wildernesses were regions where natu-
Waenerberg 2004). This was a part of what ral resources were not fully utilised, but still
Maunu Häyrynen calls the “national landscape held by landowners. The difference between
imagery, a systematic ’imagined topography’ settlements and wildernesses was a continuum
of Finland”. Through the history of the reaching from the organised ‘culture’ of set-
Finnish national landscape imagery, from the tled regions to the ‘chaos’ of the wilderness.
18th century to the post-war period, the most Through time, areas of wilderness were claimed
outstanding national landscapes represented and converted into settlements as swiddening
wildernesses and distant borderlands. Towards areas and fishing waters were reclaimed or par-
the end of the 19th century the focus of the celled out from the ownerships of the original
19