Browsing by Author "Tuppurainen, Stiina"

This is a case study of archaeology of religion. Bronze Age and Pre-Roman Iron Age beliefs are studied through the cairns on Sammallahdenmäki and a settlement site on Huilu2, which is contemporary with the youngest cairns. Archived reports of excavations and surveys of the area are used to ponder the meanings of the structure, location, form, and content of the cairns, and whether this data reveals signs of past beliefs and rituals. Other source materials are later written sources about the beliefs from this area, Finno-Ugrian and Indo-European ethnographies, folklore poetry and spells, and comparison to archaeological material on surrounding areas. Sammallahdenmäki is located on the southwestern coast of Finland, which was clearly connected to Southern Scandinavia and to Baltic areas. For this reason research history has been gathered from these areas as well. The Early Metal Period of the inland Finland gathered influences from the east, and the effects of connections between different groups on the religious beliefs are also considered. Methods used are ethnographic analogies and phenomenology. The Bronze Age stone cairns differ remarkably from the earlier burial customs. Connections between cremation and sun worship and fertility rituals are discussed. Only a small amount of bones are found from the cairns. Most of the deceased bodies were deposited elsewhere. These differences in the treatment of bodies likely indicate social differences even within a fairly uniform religious belief tradition. There are also many variations on the structure of the cairn, even between cairns built during same time periods. Not all of the cairns were necessarily graves, and a small amount of human bones doesn't prove that a grave was the primary function of the cairn. There may have been other rituals, in addition to burials, although these would be impossible to prove archaeologically.