G.P.

Amateur archaeology, for example!

Archaeology has interested me enormously since I was a little boy, and after all I would not be in bad company with Giuseppe Sinopoli who was preparing a dissertation on archaeology, or Wilhelm Furtwängler who grew up surrounded by ancient Greek pottery. So this summer, after again spending one fun week teaching at the Järvenpää Hausmusikwoche, I left to western Finland, to Laitila where I could take part as a volunteer in an excavation of a Viking time burial mound.

The usual finds: small pieces of pottery and bones

This excavation was organized by the National Board of Antiquities together with a local archaeology centre Untamala. They had hired six professionals and were aided by 10-15 volunteers each day. As a volunteer you could take part in the whole project or come just for one day. I could join the team for the last three days of the excavation.

On site we were given equipment and basic instruction. The idea was to work on a 50*50 cm area and dig to the depth of 10 cm, and then change the spot so that the whole pit would deepen at an even pace. We had small bags for pottery, bones, and possible bronze or pearl finds. Bigger finds we would report and they would be photographed and measured on the spot - the smallest finds we would find at the sieve where we had to carry all the dust and soil we dug out.

My biggest find on the first day - a piece of a bronze buckle

What was it we were digging? It was a burial ground where the ashes of the deceased were transported to from the funeral pyres and then covered with big stones. We are talking about times approximately a thousand years ago, when christianity was not yet prevalent in Finland. The corpses were burned in their best clothes and sometimes had belongings with them to aid them in the afterlife - pottery, knives, swords, valuables.

My second day surprise

On the first day I was excited enough when I found crumbs of pottery and burned bone from my square. The work itself is kind of meditative - your purpose is to dig deeper at an even pace, but the finds themselves are totally dependent on chance. We know there are artifacts at the site, but no-one can know for sure if something of value will be at your square!

My second day excavation had already started well when I found a small rusty knife at the sieve. But when I moved on to the next square I had barely scratched the surface when I noticed a green glow underneath. And since green colour means usually bronze there had to be a sizable bronze object in sight! When I turned in excitement to the professional next to me he whispered to me: "Let's not tell everyone right away - brush around it a little bit so we can see how big the object is."

Carefully taking the soil out with a brush

Of course soon everyone else had heard about the find and stopped their work to see what was coming. I was handed a smaller brush to clean the soil around the object (and I must say I really appreciate the fact I could do that part till the end all by myself) and soon it turned out to be a big and heavy bronze necklace which laid there in two pieces!

Here is the result of my brushwork: the whole artifact unearthed!

After my work was done the leader of the excavation Esa Mikkola lifted the object carefully. Luckily there was big enough box for the find, because objects this big were not expected. I heard it was one of the biggest finds at this site during the whole summer!

The closing of the excavation

On the last excavation day I saw the other side of the work of archaeologists. First of all it was raining cats and dogs and the whole site threatened to turn into a pool of mud! Secondly, we had already dug to the desired depth and we just had to dig till the end of the black spots on the soil, because the colour comes from the coal from the funeral pyre. We made still some small finds, the most important being a piece of sword sheath which means that on some later excavation we might find the sword as well!

Archaeologists at work - uncle yellow, uncle blue and auntie green!

After the digging had finished, there was only one thing left to be done - filling the pit with the same stones and soil we had dug out! I must admit carrying heavy stones is not my forte, so I tried to help by carrying some soil and cleaning the place of the equipment which was left laying here and there. The heaviest burden was left to the pros who you can see above carrying rocks in their colourful raincoats!

Afterwards the mound will have the same shape as before the digging and in a few years it will look natural again. But next year some other spot on the mound will be opened and I then hope to be with the ranks again! Although slightly off topic I hope you enjoyed my holiday report. See you at the pit!