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

Spatio-temporal variations in sediment phosphorus dynamics in a large shallow lake: Mechanisms and impacts of redox-related internal phosphorus loading

The role of redox-related sediment phosphorus (P) release in shallow polymictic lakes remains poorly understood. Our previous studies in large and shallow Lake Peipsi suggested the importance of the redox-related P release in internal P loading. In the current study, we explored the validity of this hypothesis by also considering organic sediment P (Org-P). We analysed spatio-temporal changes in diffusive P flux and sediment P forms determined by P fractionation and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in summer 2021. Using 1997–2021 data, we computed internal P load (IL) by two methods and studied their relationships with several water quality variables. Anoxia of sediment surfaces and P release progressed with an increase in water tem- perature during summer. In the long-term, IL estimates by two methods were similar (mean values: 315 and 346 mg/m2/year) and correlated with the predicted anoxia of sediment surfaces (AApred). A contribution of sediment iron-bound P (Fe-P) to P release was indicated by the positive correlation of Fe-P with orthophosphate (NMR) in the short-term studies. No similar evidence was found for Org-P, which contradicts the common tendency to attribute internal P loads largely to Org-P in eutrophic lakes. Nevertheless, organic matter seemed to support reductive dissolution, because seasonal changes in sediment Org-P correlated with those in Fe-P, and organic matter content and diffusive P flux were negatively correlated over different sites. Complex bottom morphology and hydrology affected spatial distribution of the sediment P forms and masked the relationships between sediment P variables and P release. Finally, the importance of redox-related release was reflected in significant relationships between AApred and associated IL with Secchi depth transparency, chlorophyll a concentration, and the biomass of phytoplankton and cyanobacteria. To our knowledge, this is the first time when such direct ev- idence was provided for a large polymictic lake.This study was funded by the Estonian Research Council grant PRG1167 and Estonian Ministry of Environment 4-1/21/76. Also, this project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951963.This study was funded by the Estonian Research Council grant PRG1167 and Estonian Ministry of Environment 4-1/21/76. Also, this project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 951963

Dynamics of phytoplankton pigments in water and surface sediments of a large shallow lake

Our aim was to find out to which extent fossil phytoplankton pigments in the large shallow and turbid Lake Võrtsjärv carry information on the history of phytoplankton communities. For this purpose we examined how the changes in the pigment composition of surface sediments follow their changes in the water column. Depth-integrated lake water and surface sediment samples were collected weekly in May–October 2007. Considering cyanobacterial and diatom dominance in phytoplankton, we analysed fucoxanthin, diadinoxanthin and diatoxanthin as marker pigments for diatoms, zeaxanthin as a marker pigment for total cyanobacteria and canthaxanthin as a marker pigment for colonial cyanobacteria. Chlorophyll a and its derivative pheophytin a were applied as indicators for total phytoplankton. The dynamics of phytoplankton pigments in surface sediments generally did not follow their dynamics in the water column, possibly due to intensive resuspension and a high sedimentation rate in a large and shallow lake. It was noticed that the surface sediment carries information on pigment degradation intensity and on weight and size characteristics of phytoplankton cells, which affect their sinking and floating velocities. Higher pigment contents of sediment in spring were presumably caused by lower resuspension due to high water level and slower degradation in cold water. Pheophytin a and the marker pigments of cyanobacteria were found to be persistent against degradation in upper sediment layers, which makes them useful indicators for tracking the historical changes in phytoplankton communities also in a shallow lake. Sharp decrease in chemically unstable pigment contents between the sediment surface and deeper layers indicates that only the uppermost sediment surface is resuspended in Lake Võrtsjärv. The transformation of the diatom marker carotenoid diadinoxanthin to diatoxanthin was found to occur mainly in sediments and not in the water column, and the process is not induced by excess light