The Late Medieval Church and Graveyard at Ii Hamina, Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland – Pollen and macro remains from graves

The historical Ostrobothnian (Finland) burial tradition is poorly known, particularly when discussed from the environmental archaeological viewpoint. This article examines Late Medieval burial methods in Ii Hamina village using both micro- and macrofossil analyses incorporated into archaeological work. This research provides information on the continuity of burial methods that were sustained through the medieval period and into modern times. Burial tradition patterns in the Northern Ostrobothnia region exhibit widely recognised characteristics, but also contain some local features

Kulttuuriympäristö kaavoituksessa:arvottaminen kaavasuojelussa Oulun keskustassa 50 vuoden ajalla

Summary Cultural environment in town planning — Value judgement in conservation planning in the Oulu city center in 50 years time span This article concentrates on cultural heritage, especially cultural environment, value judgement and decision making in the context of town planning. The article examines how decisions about cultural heritage have been made in town planning and the concrete criteria communities use to assess their heritage. The area of study is the center of Oulu, and it focuses on the period 1963–2012, from the beginning of Antiquities Act to the consolidation of municipalities in Oulu, with a focus on the city council minutes as source material. Value judgement considering cultural heritage are quite complex. One site can have multiple values and those values can even be in contradiction between each other. Also, not all values are consistently measured or compared with one another. Values are not inherent or unchangeable, so the values of cultural heritage should be studied often. In this article values are defined in the way Randall Mason has studied them as both sociocultural and economical values. There are not mentions of values in every case in this study. Value judgement is not clearly something that has been done consciously. It is possible, however, to identify values given to the site from the description of the site. In cases where it is possible to find out values, the three most commonly invoked values were cultural historical value, architectural value and townscape value. Also, in many cases the site was thought to be simply valuable without further explanation. All three acknowledged values are sociocultural values, according to Mason. Economical values were rarely used, although they clearly have a role in decision making. Decisions have been justified by aesthetic and information based values. Social, spiritual and economical values have not been used in town-planning decision making. It is possible that those values used are more commonly agreed upon and thus easier to use, but value judgement was not a conscious act during planning process — although it has become more conscious

Empathy for the ‘other’:neglected Finnish ethnographic war photography from occupied Soviet territory

Abstract This article examines a series of unsettling images from the Finnish Continuation War (1941–1944) and the memories of the war that these photographs construct for contemporary Finns. We argue that these images can be viewed through Alison Landsberg’s (2004) notion of ‘prosthetic memory’, which underlines how visual media enable the acquisition of vivid memories of past events. The paper outlines how these long-ignored photographs narrate unexamined dimensions of World War II in ways that transform how Finns in particular remember the war. The images illustrate a neglected Finnish occupation of Soviet territories and the treatment of Russian civilians under Finnish rule. We argue that the images can provoke empathy for their experiences and therefor challenge traditional and nationalist Finnish war interpretations

Street mirrors, surveillance, and urban communities in early modern Finland

This article discusses street mirrors or ‘gossip mirrors’, in terms of urban social relations and surveillance. Street mirrors were introduced to coastal towns in Sweden and Finland in the 18th and early 19th centuries and may still be found in well-preserved towns with historic wooden centres. The authors argue that the introduction of monitoring and spying devices, such as street mirrors, occurred in the 18th century due to increased urban populations and feelings of insecurity caused by greater regional and transnational mobility. Mirrors, in this sense, were one material mechanism in the process of modernization and the development of individuality

Time, Seasonality, and Trade: Swedish/Finnish-Sámi Interactions in Early Modern Lapland

Recent theoretical debates have identified time as a key area for research by historical archaeologists. In this paper we present evidence from Tornio, in northern Finland, and suggest that the early-17th-century colonists who founded this town developed a multidimensional conception of time that varied according to context and allowed deeply held folk beliefs to coexist alongside Lutheran doctrines and also facilitated seasonal trade with the indigenous Sámi people in the upper reaches of Lapland