"For a witch cannot cross such a threshold!” – Building concealment traditions in Finland c. 1200–1950

The study discusses objects deliberately concealed in buildings in Finland during its historical period (c. 1200–1950 CE). The phenomenon is connected with folk religion and especially with a need to protect the household from outside malicious effects. The goals are, first, to map the phenomenon of ritual building concealments in order to discover its extent, manifestations, and possible regional and chronological variations. The more specific hermeneutic aim is to discuss the motives, meanings, and internal logic of the concealments, as well as possible changes in their meanings. The concealment tradition is also studied in its wider contexts of society and worldview. One special aim, from the viewpoint of archaeology, is to introduce a theoretical framework and develop a contextual multi-source method suitable for studying historical folk religion as part of the archaeology of religion. There are two main types of source material in the study: the finds of concealed objects (234) and folklore accounts (775). A few records from witchcraft trials (7) give additional insight to the practices. The folklore depicts concealment traditions known in the 19th century and the early 20th century. This source material also illuminates meanings and motives of the custom, and the relationship between meanings, concealed objects, and their location. Moreover, the folklore shows signs of regional variation between western and eastern Finnish areas. The finds of concealed objects give historical dimension to the practices. They also enable discussing concealment as factual practice. The early modern trial records bring extra information on meanings in times before the folklore was collected. The methodology used in the study is developed on the basis of contextual archaeology and the direct historical approach. Contextual archaeology aims to identify meanings by analysing patterns in the material culture data. The direct historical approach begins its analysis in a well-recorded historical period to which observed changes and continuity is compared when studying preceding periods. In the study at hand contextuality is extended to include the wider context of folk religion and society. The study shows that in densely laid out villages and towns concealing has especially been connected with tensions in social relations caused by uneven distribution of wealth. This is observable in the emphasis on fear of witchcraft practiced by envious neighbours. In more loosely laid out settlements social pressure is less obvious in the concealment practices. Instead, keeping the building lucky and free of pests are more common motives. The regional variation manifests in different emphasis on concealment types, thus completely different traditions are not in question. It is more difficult to observe chronological variation due to the scarce data. It is possible that medieval concealment traditions have been similar to the late modern eastern tradition, where social pressure was not emphasized. Social pressure is still likely to have had a role in medieval towns. New objects for concealing were adopted in new periods; for example concealing mercury is likely to have become common in early or late modern times when the substance became easier to obtain. From the perspective of the archaeology of folk religion, the fact that practices of folk religion leaves traces in the material record is notable. Understanding these contributes to a wider understanding of past human life.Rakennuskätköperinteet Suomessa n. 1200–1950 Tutkimus käsittelee Suomen alueella historiallisena aikana (n. 1200–1950) rakennuksiin tarkoituksellisesti kätkettyjä esineitä. Ilmiö liittyy kansanuskon kenttään ja erityisesti tarpeeseen suojella kotitaloutta ulkoapäin tulevilta pahoilta vaikutuksilta. Tavoitteina on ensinnä kartoittaa ilmiön laajuus ja muodot. Varsinainen päätavoite on selvittää kätköperinteen merkityksiä, merkitysten muutoksia ja erityisesti ilmiön sijoittumista laajempaan yhteyteensä yhteiskunnassa. Arkeologian kannalta erityisenä tavoitteena on esitellä kansanuskon materiaalisen kulttuurin tutkimukseen soveltuvaa teoreettista viitekehystä ja kehittää moniaineistoista metodologiaa. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu kahdesta pääaineistosta: varsinaiset kätkölöydöt (234 kpl) ja folklore-tiedonannot (775 kpl). Näiden lisäksi tutkimuksessa hyödynnetään muutamia noituus- ja taikuusoikeu-denkäyntien pöytäkirjoja (7 kpl). Folklore-tiedonannot kuvaavat kätköperinteitä 1800-luvun loppupuolella ja 1900-luvun alussa. Tämä aineisto avaa myös perinteeseen liittyneitä merkityksiä ja näiden merkitysten suhdetta kätköobjektiin ja kätköpaikkaan. Tässä aineistossa on myös havaittavissa alueellisia eroja länsi-suomalaisen ja itäsuomalaisen kulttuurialueen välillä. Kätkölöydöt sitovat käytänteet omaan aikaansa. Lisäksi löydöt mahdollistavat kätkötapojen tarkastelun tosiasiallisesti suoritettuina rituaaleina. Uuden ajan oikeudenkäyntiaineistot tuovat lisänäkökulman folklorea varhaisempiin merkityssisältöihin. Aineistoa käsitellään metodilla, joka on kehitelty kontekstuaalisen arkeologian ja historiallisen jatkuvuuden lähestymistavan pohjalta. Kontekstuaalinen arkeologia pyrkii tunnistamaan merkityssisältöjä analysoimalla materiaalisessa kulttuurissa havaittavia kuvioita, eroja ja yhtäläisyyksiä. Historiallisen jatkuvuuden lähestymistavassa puolestaan ilmiön tarkastelu aloitetaan hyvin dokumentoidusta ajankohdasta, josta lähdetään seuraamaan ilmiön muutoksia ja pysyvyyttä ajassa taaksepäin liikuttaessa. Tutkimuksessa kontekstuaalisuus on ulotettu myös kattamaan ilmiön sijoittumista kansanuskoon ja yhteiskuntaan laajemmin. Tutkimuksessa käy ilmi, että tiiviimmin asutuissa kylissä ja kaupungeissa kätkeminen on erityisesti liittynyt sosiaalisissa suhteissa oleviin jännitteisiin, jotka liittyvät varallisuuseroihin. Tämä näkyy kateellisten naapureiden aiheuttaman noituuden korostumisena erityisenä huolenaiheena. Väljemmin asutuilla alueilla sosiaalinen paine on vähäisempi kätkösyy, sen sijaan rakennuksen pitäminen onnellisena ja puhtaana syöpäläisistä ovat merkittäviä syitä. Alueelliset erot näkyvät eri kätköperinteiden välisen suhteen vaihteluna, eli täysin erilaisista perinteistä ei ole kyse. Ajallisia muutoksia on vaikeampi havaita niukemman aineiston takia. On kuitenkin mahdollista, että keskiaikaiset kätköt ovat laajemmilla alueilla muistuttaneet itäisillä kulttuurialueilla havaittavia muotoja, joissa sosiaalinen paine ei korostu. Tämä paine on silti todennäköinen kätkösyy keskiaikaisissa kaupungeissa ja ryhmäkylissä. Eri aikakausina kätköperinteeseen on omaksuttu uusia kätköobjekteja, esimerkiksi uudella tai uusimmalla ajalla elohopean kätkeminen on todennäköisesti yleistynyt, aineen saannin helpotuttua. Kansanuskon arkeologian tutkimuksen kannalta on huomattavaa kansanuskon piiriin kuuluvien tapojen ja uskomusten jälkien jääminen arkeologiseen aineistoon ja näiden ymmärtämisen vaikutus laajempaan ihmisyhteisöjen ymmärtämiseen.Siirretty Doriast

International Magic? : Finnish Folk Magic Objects in a European Context

This paper explores international aspects of Finnish folk magic. Folk magic objects in two Finnish museum collections (the National Museum of Finland and Museum Centre Vapriikki) are compared to analogous objects in the Nordiska museet in Sweden and the Pitt Rivers Museum in the UK to reveal the collections’ resemblances and differences. The material in question dates to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many similar objects occur in these collections. Explanations for this are sought in historical networks between peoples. Yet a closer inspection also reveals variation in practices and beliefs. This reveals the dynamic nature of folk magic traditions, although collection and curation policies also play a role. Moreover, the complex connections between religion, medicine, and magic are uncovered

Ritual deposition of animals in late Iron age Finland: a case-study of the Mulli settlement site in Raisio

The paper discusses the remains of domestic animals showing signs of ritual deposition at the settlement site of Mulli at Raisio in south-western Finland, dating to the Late Iron Age and Early Medieval period. Initially, a singly deposited sheep found under the wall of a building had been interpreted as ritually buried. While selecting samples for another study the curious nature of other deposits of domestic animals at the site became apparent and a re-analysis was conducted. This paper presents the results of the osteological reexamination and discusses indicators of ritual activity at the site. In fact, the site exhibits evidence of repeated rituals involving sheep cut to small chunks and bones buried at the homestead. Since organic material seldom preserves in the local soil, Mulli offers a unique glimpse into the ritual practices involving animal remains in Late Iron Age Finland. Although previous studies suggest that Christian beliefs were already changing the burial practices of the Mulli dwellers, domestic rituals remained important in their worldview.201

The Goat and the Cathedral: Archaeology of Folk Religion in Medieval Turku

Large archaeological excavations where medieval soil layers are studied have lately been conducted almost yearly in the city of Turku. This fieldwork has sometimes unearthed curios finds, such as an upside-down buried goat skull by a boundary marker between building plots. Such finds offer previously unknown evidence of the medieval worldview in south-western Finland, especially since local written sources on medieval everyday lived religion are rare. This paper introduces three cases of material signs of folk religion that archaeologists have discovered in the medieval soil layers of Turku. Moreover, it is discussed how we can interpret these signs and what they reveal of everyday religion. The striking proximity of the centre of institutionalized religion manifested as the Cathedral of Turku offer an intriguing viewpoint to the discussion. The fourth case study reveals the complicated entanglement of different religious practices. It is argued that dealing with the “otherworld” was more than a question of theology versus superstition.</p

En tolkning – och omtolkning – av ett benföremål med djurhuvud från månberget i Åbo

Hösten 1959 hittades ett märkligt spetsigt benföremål av lokala invånare på Månberget i Åbo. Utgående från paralleller till tre benföremål hittade i Lund, kom föremålet att bli katalogiserat som ett skrivverktyg, och mer precist; en medeltida griffel (stylus). En AMS-datering hösten 2013 av nämnda föremål visade dock att det är betydligt yngre; 150 +-30 före nutid. Det här innebär att föremålet kan dateras till en period från sent 1600-tal till tidigt 1900-tal. Det här resultatet påverkar tolkningen av föremålet och dess antagna funktion betydligt. Den här artikeln tar upp forskningsprocessen kring Månbergsfyndet och analyserar det utgående från nya jämförbara fynd, scanner- och printerteknik samt resultat från C14-dateringar. Med grund i den här analysen presenteras en kritik mot att dessa benföremål tolkats som grifflar. Istället måste nya tolkningar sökas. Det är plausibelt att Månbergsfyndet och dess paralleller var de facto nålliknande verktyg som använts i något numera bortglömt hantverk, möjligen med maskulin och/eller maritim prägel, som fallit utanför vår nuvarande arkeologiska och etnologiska expertis i studiet av materiell kultur

Pitkin poikin Aurajokea - Arkeologisia tutkimuksia

In 2011–14, the Museum Centre of Turku conducted archaeological excavations at the site of a 19th-century burial ground. The excavations were connected with building work done at the site. During the excavations, 45 graves were detected of which 37 were thoroughly documented. Eight of the observed graves did not coincide with the construction site and these where left untouched. The graves were preserved to different degrees: some were almost completely decomposed while others were quite well preserved. The bodies had been placed in simple wooden coffins. Some of the coffins were placed in the same pit side by side and on top of each other in two layers. Some of them included plant remains such as straw or twigs that had been placed under the body, especially under the head. Three of the burials contained a small metal Orthodox cross pendant and two of the graves showed signs of amputated legs. One of these was a young man whose left lower leg (tibia) had been amputated. He had died before the amputation had begun to heal. Still, the off-cut part of the leg had not been included in the burial. The other case was an amputated femur that was found in a grave where the buried individual had two whole legs. It seems that the off-cut part was buried in another person’s coffin. However, it is possible that the femur belonged in the coffin on top of the one it was found in, since this quite decomposed coffin had partly collapsed into the nether one. This burial ground has not been marked on maps. Human bones and burials were first found there in the early 21th century, when the area was constructed into a residential zone. In the 1970s, when bones were again found, the museum was informed that this was a Cholera burial ground. Indeed, historical sources confirm that a Cholera burial ground had been founded somewhere in the area in 1831, during the first epidemic. However, two major questions remain. First, why was the burial ground forgotten so soon after its use period? In 1905 when the residential area was being built, newspapers reported the finds of mysterious human bones as if there was no recollection of a burial ground founded there only around 70 years earlier. Moreover, only ten years earlier, in 1895, a local newspaper reported that funds were appropriated for building a fence around the Cholera burial ground, since relatives of the deceased were distressed about the neglected state of the graves. The second question might provide a clue for the first one. All 14 of the deceased whose sex was possible to estimate were male. All were adults, except one was juvenile. Moreover, the Orthodox cross pendants and amputated legs (together with earlier observations of soldier clothing) seem to point towards Russian soldiers. The Cholera burial ground of the Russian military hospital did indeed situate close to the area. However, if the area excavated was mainly in use by the Russian troops, it would mean that the burial ground of ordinary townspeople is still to be located. Continued excavations in the area may shed more light to this question.</p

The Materiality of the Horse in Iron Age and Historical Finland as observed in Zooarchaeological and Folk-Belief Material

In this article, we combine zooarchaeological, ethnological and folk-belief material to study the deposition of archaeological horse remains and the beliefs and symbolic or social attributes associated with horses. We collected zooarchaeological data from 58 Iron Age, medieval and post-medieval archaeological sites and studied abundance of horse remains, their anatomical distribution and their archaeological context. From the nineteenth to the early twentieth century, horses were considered apart from other farm animals and were thought to possess special abilities, such as sensing otherworldly activity. The understanding of the complex traditions, beliefs and practices affecting the material remains of horses is aided by the large dataset spanning a long period, careful consideration of find contexts, and the anatomical distribution and multisource approach.</p