HIIS-SITES IN NORTHERN ESTONIA: DISTINCTIVE HILLS AND PLAIN FIELDS

In this article, I analyse places with toponyms connected with hiis (meaning ‘holy place’, usually associated with ‘holy grove’ in Estonian) in northern Estonia. Geographically, it is possible to distinguish between three main types of landscape for places of which the names include the word hiis: distinctive hills, plain fields, and isolated, hidden places. Research into holy places tends to focus on naturally prominent or spectacular places, which have shaped the view that holy places are usually situated on hills; but plain fields and other visually less attractive sites have been neglected. Here, I will give examples of different types of Estonian hiis-sites, and discuss the links between these places and other monuments, graves and cemeteries dating from different periods, and settlements and churches. Finally, the article points to the favouring of different landscapes se­lected for hiis-sites, and argues that the claim that only attractive sites are regarded as ‘holy places’ is not valid. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ab.v15i1.1

Koerad Eesti asukate viikingiaja maailmapildis

In the article I am going to give a concise overview of the relationship between dogs and people in the context of Estonian prehistory. The dog has been accompanying humans ever since the arrival of the first people on Estonian territory ca 9000 BC. Pendants made of dog teeth were in wide use during the Middle Neolithic. At the end of the Neolithic when all kinds of pendants disappeared, all signs of dogs disappeared as well. Throughout the Late Bronze Age till the end of the Roman Iron Age (1100-500 AD) dogs were placed into graves, although not often. Also, they are mostly represented by single bones. A new tradition began during the Migration Period, reaching its culmination in the Viking Age: now dogs were buried as a body, they were cremated on the funeral pyre with their masters. In addition, small bronze figurines were made depicting dogs. Some of these were used as pendants; some are just figures that would have been difficult to use as pendants (for example the figurine from Ehmja grave). The region's historians have discussed the connection of animals with the concept of the Otherworld relatively thoroughly. Still, the dog has not been the most popular animal in these studies. Several interpretations have been offered: the dog as the guard of the Otherworld or the grave, the dog as a warrior-dog, the dog as a sacrifice. Considering that dog burials and figurines appear during the Estonian Viking Age and the Late Iron Age, it seems that dog had been connected with a new concept of the Otherworld that started to spread in the Migration Age. According to this, the Otherworld existed as a separate place that reflected the life in this world, although not one-to-one but with a certain shift towards the ideal. This means that the Otherworld expressed not the actual life but the model of what life should be like. Considering the material of Estonian stone graves, there is good reason to believe that it reflects only the burial sites of the elite and their ideas of the Otherworld. A part of the Otherworld was probably made up by celebrations and other elite amusements like hunting, a symbol of which might have been a dog in the grave

NATURAL HOLY PLACES. VALUES AND PROTECTION.

REVIEW. Õpetatud Eesti Seltsi Toimetised, XXXVI. Edited by H. Valk. Tartu 2007.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ab.v15i1.2

Stone Age imitation of a slotted bone point from Pärnu River (south-western Estonia)

This is an in-depth study of a mimicked slotted point, carved from a cervid longbone, found in the lower reaches of the Pärnu River. The 3D digital model, created during this study, provides an interactive and innovative tool for studying the object in detail. The AMS dating places the artefact at the very beginning of human habitation in the present-day territory of Estonia. SEM-EDS, ATR-FT-IR and GC-FID/MS analyses demonstrate that this unique object was probably originally partially covered with a mixture of red ochre and some coniferous resin, possibly as hafting adhesive. As this is a detailed replica of a slotted point, it also demonstrates how people themselves saw slotted points in the Early Mesolithic, also raising the question of the purpose of this replica â was it an ordinary arrowhead or rather a ritual object

Multi-method Analysis of Avian Eggs as Grave Goods: Revealing Symbolism in Conversion Period Burials at Kukruse, NE Estonia

Eggshells are unusual finds in the Iron Age of eastern Europe (500 BC–1200 AD) deserving extra attention in terms of analysis as well as interpretation. This paper discusses two rare eggshell finds, discovered in female burials at the conversion period (12th–13th century AD) cemetery at Kukruse, NE Estonia. Our multianalytical study combining FT-IR, SEM(-EDS), microscopy and ZooMS provides an overview of methods applicable for identifying egg species, their predepositional history and curation. Based on the analytical results and the comparative analysis of the content and context of these two burials, we argue that different aims and connotations lay behind depositing eggs as burial goods, allowing well-supported interpretations of both pagan and Christian religious worldviews simultaneously

Dissertationes archaeologiae Universitatis Tartuensis

Väitekiri käsitleb Eesti esiajaloolise perioodi (9600 eKr – 1200 pKr) erinevaid usundikihistusi. Rõhk on pööratud usundilist tõlgendust lubavate arheoloogiliste allikate esitamisele ning nende alusel tehtavale esiajaloolise religiooni periodiseeringule. Töö baseerub kahel seisukohal – 1) religioon on ajas pidevalt muutuv ja dünaamiline nähtus, 2) mida tuleb uurida lähtuvalt tervikpildist, kuhu on lisaks üksikutele usundifenomenidele haaratud ka majandusviis, sotsiaalsüsteem jmt. Sellistest lähtekohtadest kasvab välja ka töö hüpotees, mille järgi on Eesti muinasusundi näol tegemist akadeemilise abstraktsiooniga ning tervikpilti arvestades võime perioodi jooksul näha niivõrd erinevaid usundivorme, et on põhjendatud rääkida erinevatest religioonidest. Eesti esiajaloolise religiooni puhul võib, mõningate reservatsioonidega, rääkida seitsmest terviklikumast etapist – mesoliitikum (9600–4900 eKr), vara- ja keskneoliitikum (4900–3200 eKr), hilisneoliitikum – vanem pronksiaeg (3200–1100 eKr), noorem pronksiaeg – eelrooma rauaaeg (1100 eKr–50 pKr), rooma rauaaeg (50 – 450 pKr), keskmine rauaaeg (450–800 pKr) ja noorem rauaaeg (800–1220 pKr). Kõik need perioodid on omavahel vähem-rohkem küll seotud, kuid esindavad siiski sisuliselt erinevaid religioonivorme. Current doctoral thesis expands upon different religions of Estonian prehistory (9600 BC – 1200 AD). The emphasis has been put on one hand on presenting of archaeological material which allows us to make interpretations about religion; on the other hand to the periodization of prehistoric religion. The thesis is based on two theoretical positions – 1) religion is an everchanging and dynamic phenomenon, 2) which has to be studied dwelling on entire picture, where in addition to religious phenomena also economy, social system etc has been embraced. From these standpoints the main hypothesis of the dissertation derives, according to which Estonian prehistoric religion is an academic abstraction and within the entire picture we can observe so many different religious forms that it is justified to talk about different religions. In case of Estonian prehistory we can observe, with some reservations, seven more consistent religious phases – Mesolithic (9600–4900 BC), Early and Middle Neolithic (4900–3200 BC), Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (3200–1100 BC), Late Bronze Age and Pre-Roman Iron Age (1100 BC – 50 AD), Roman Iron Age (50–450 AD), Middle Iron Age (450–800 AD) and Late Iron Age (800–1220 AD). All of these periods are to some extent connected but present albeit different religions

Eesti ja kujutlus Eestist Skandinaavia saagades

Descriptions of sagas have been widely used in studies on prehistoric and early medieval periods but mostly as descriptive sources. The following article will discuss Scandinavian sagas, written mostly during the 13th and the 14th centuries, and will attempt to analyse how the Scandinavians and especially Icelandic saga-writers have understood the eastern Baltic region, namely Estonia, Latvia and the area known as Austrvegr. The latter is a relatively ambiguous term and has been used only in texts describing the eastern Baltic in regard to the context. The article distinguishes between the two different levels of attitude towards the inhabitants of the area under discussion. The first attitude that was widespread and shared mostly by ordinary people describes the Eastern Baltic as a balanced area with common culture. Several paragraphs contain references to the Scandinavian names given to the Estonians, or information about the etymology of toponyms. But there was also another level, which shows the eastern Baltic region as different, strange and hostile. According to these descriptions Austrvegr was inhabited by giants and other evil creatures, against whome men had to fight. It is also distinctive that most of these stories appear in the later, the so-called Knight sagas. This may be explained by the fact that the sagas were scribed by Christian monks in the monasteries of Iceland. The written stories were old and passed down orally, thus representing the first, i.e. the common level of attitude. The second attitude was probably represented by monks, who regarded the eastern Baltic as a heathen region, and not a part of the Christian world. According to the Old Norse worldview, which was probably still followed, among others, also by the monks, evil beings inhabited a region somewhere east and north of the World of Men. So the eastern Baltic proved very appropriate as a supposed dwelling place. And it was also much easier to integrate these artificial stories into later sagas, which were actually European tales of chivalry, originally not associated with the world of the sagas