Archaeology of wings : Birds and people in the Baltic Sea region during the Stone Age

The prominent roles of birds, often mentioned in historical sources, are not well reflected in archaeological research. Absence or scarcity of bird bones in archaeological assemblages has been often seen as indication of a minor role of birds in the prehistoric economy or ideology, or explained by taphonomic loss. Few studies exist where birds form the basis for extensive archaeological interpretation. In this doctoral dissertation bird bone material from various Stone Age sites in the Baltic Sea region is investigated. The study period is approximately 7000-3400 BP, comprising mainly Neolithic cultures. The settlement material comes from Finland, Åland, Gotland, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. Osteological materials are used for studying the economic and cultural importance of birds, fowling methods and principal fowling seasons. The bones were identified and earlier identifications partially checked with help of a reference material of modern skeletons. Fracture analysis was used in order to study the deposition history of bones at Ajvide settlement site. Birds in burials at two large cemeteries, Ajvide on Gotland and Zvejnieki in northern Latvia were investigated in order to study the roles of birds in burial practices. My study reveals that the economic importance of birds is at least seasonally often more prominent than usually thought, and varies greatly in different areas. Fowling has been most important in coastal areas, and especially during the breeding season. Waterbirds and grouse species were generally the most important groups in Finnish Stone Age economy. The identified species composition shows much resemblance to contemporary hunting with species such as the mallard and capercaillie commonly found. Burial materials and additional archaeological evidence from Gotland, Latvia and some other parts of northern Europe indicate that birds –e.g., jay, whooper swan, ducks – have been socially and ideologically important for the studied groups (indicating a place in the belief system, e.g. clan totemism). The burial finds indicate that some common ideas about waterbirds (perhaps as messengers or spirit helpers) might have existed in the northern European Stone Age.

Archaeology and authenticity

In this master s thesis, I have discussed the question of authenticity in postprocessual archaeology. Modern archaeology is a product of the modern world, and postprocessual archaeology in turn is strongly influenced by postmodernism. The way authenticity has been understood in processual archaeology is largely dictated by the modern condition. The understanding of authenticity in postprocessual archaeology, however, rests on notions of simulation and metaphor. It has been argued by postprocessual archaeologists that the past can be experienced by metaphor, and that the relationship between now and then is of a metaphorical kind. In postprocessual archaeology, authenticity has been said to be contextual. This view has been based on a contextualist understanding of the meanings of language and metaphor. I argue that, besides being based on metaphor, authenticity is a conventional attribute based on habits of acting, which in turn have their basis in the material world and the materiality of objects. Authenticity is material meaning, and that meaning can be found out by studying the objects as signs in a chain of signification called semiosis. Authenticity therefore is semiosis.

Death in the Bolivian High Plateau : Burials and Tiwanaku Society

My Ph.D. dissertation presents a multi-disciplinary analysis of the mortuary practices of the Tiwanaku culture of the Bolivian high plateau, situated at an altitude of c. 3800 m above sea level. The Tiwanaku State (c. AD 500-1150) was one of the most important pre-Inca civilisations of the South Central Andes. The book begins with a brief introductory chapter. In chapter 2 I discuss methodological and theoretical developments in archaeological mortuary studies from the late 1960s until the turn of the millennium. I am especially interested in the issue how archaeological burial data can be used to draw inferences on the social structure of prehistoric societies. Chapter 3 deals with the early historic sources written in the 16th and 17th centuries, following the Spanish Conquest of the Incas. In particular, I review information on how the Incas manifested status differences between and within social classes and what kinds of burial treatments they applied. In chapter 4 I compare the Inca case with 20th century ethnographic data on the Aymara Indians of the Bolivian high plateau. Even if Christianity has affected virtually every level of Aymara religion, surprisingly many traditional features can still be observed in present day Aymara mortuary ceremonies. The archaeological part of my book begins with chapter 5, which is an introduction into Tiwanaku archaeology. In the next chapter, I present an overview of previously reported Tiwanaku cemeteries and burials. Chapter 7 deals with my own excavations at the Late Tiwanaku/early post-Tiwanaku cemetery site of Tiraska, located on the south-eastern shore of Lake Titicaca. During the 1998, 2002, and 2003 field seasons, a total of 32 burials were investigated at Tiraska. The great majority of these were subterranean stone-lined tombs, each containing the skeletal remains of 1 individual and 1-2 ceramic vessels. Nine burials have been radiocarbon dated, the dates in question indicating that the cemetery was in use from the 10th until the 13th century AD. In chapter 8 I point out that considerable regional and/or ethnic differences can be noted between studied Tiwanaku cemetery sites. Because of the mentioned differences, and a general lack of securely dated burial contexts, I feel that at present we can do no better than to classify most studied Tiwanaku burials into three broad categories: (1) elite and/or priests, (2) "commoners", and (3) sacrificial victims and/or slaves and/or prisoners of war. On the basis of such indicators as monumental architecture and occupational specialisation we would expect to find considerable status-related differences in tomb size, grave goods, etc. among the Tiwanaku. Interestingly, however, such variation is rather modest, and the Tiwanaku seem to have been a lot less interested in expending considerable labour and resources in burial facilities than their pre-Columbian contemporaries of many parts of the Central Andes.

Englanniksiko maailmanmaineeseen? : Suomalaisen proosakaunokirjallisuuden kääntäminen englanniksi Isossa-Britanniassa vuosina 1945 2003

This doctoral thesis focuses on the translation of Finnish prose literature into English in the United Kingdom between 1945 and 2003. The subject is approached using translation archaeology, interviews, archival material, detailed text analysis and reception material. The main theoretical framework is Descriptive Translation Studies, and certain sociological theories (Bourdieu s field theory, actor-network theory) are also used. After charting the published translations, two periods of time are selected for closer analysis: an earlier period from 1955 to 1959, involving eight translations, and a later one from 1990 to 2003, with a total of six translations. While these translation numbers may appear low, they are actually rather high in proportion to the total number of 28 one-author literary prose translations published in the UK over the approximately 60 years being studied. The two periods of time, the 1950s and 1990s, are compared in terms of the sociological context of translation activity, the reception of translations and their textual features. The comparisons show that the main changes in translation practice between these two periods are increased completeness (translations in the 1950s group often being shortened by hundreds of pages) and lesser use of indirect translation via an intermediary language (about half of the 1950s translations having been translated via Swedish). Otherwise, translation practices have not changed much: except for large omissions, which are far more frequent in the 1950s, variation within each group is larger than between groups. As to the sociological context, the main changes are an increase in long-term institution-level contacts and an increase in the promotion of foreign translation rights by Finnish publishing houses. This is in contrast to the 1950s when translation rights were mainly sold through personal contacts by individual authors and translators. The reception of translations is difficult to study because of scarce material. However, the 1950s translations were aggressively marketed and therefore obtained far more reviews and reprints than the 1990s translations. Several of the 1950s books, mostly historical novels by Mika Waltari, were mainstream bestsellers at the time, while current translations are frequently made for niche markets. The thesis introduces ample new material on the translation of Finnish prose literature into English in the UK. The results are also relevant to translation from a minority literature into a majority one. As to translation theory, they lead us to question the social nature of translation norms and the assumption of a static target culture. The translations analysed here are located in a very fragmented interculture and gain a stronger position in the Finnish culture than in the British one.

Suomen rautakautiset kulkuset, kellot ja kelloriipukset : äänimaiseman arkeologiaa

The thesis addresses the problem of Finnish Iron Age bells, pellet bells and bell pendants, previously unexplored musical artefacts from 400–1300 AD. The study, which contributes to the field of music archaeology, aims to provide a gateway to ancient soundworlds and ideas of music making. The research questions include: Where did these metal artefacts come from? How did they sound? How were they used? What did their sound mean to the people of the Iron Age? The data collected at the National Museum of Finland and at several provincial museums covers a total of 486 bells, pellet bells and bell pendants. By means of a cluster analysis, each category was divided into several subgroups. The subgroups, which all seem to have a different dating and geographical distribution, represent a spread of both local and international manufacturing traditions. According to an elemental analysis, the material varies from iron to copper-tin, copper-lead and copper-tin-lead alloys. Clappers, pellets and pebbles prove that the bells and pellet bells were indisputably instruments intended for sound production. Clusters of small bell pendants, however, probably produced sound by jingling against each other. Spectrogram plots reveal that the partials of the still audible sounds range from 1 000 to 19 850 Hz. On the basis of 129 inhumation graves, hoards, barrows and stray finds, it seems evident that the bells, pellet bells and bell pendants were fastened to dresses and horse harnesses or carried in pouches and boxes. The resulting acoustic spaces could have been employed in constructing social hierarchies, since the instruments usually appear in richly furnished graves. Furthermore, the instruments repeatedly occur with crosses, edge tools and zoomorphic pendants that in the later Finnish-Karelian culture were regarded as prophylactic amulets. In the Iron Age as well as in later folk culture, the bell sounds seem to have expressed territorial, social and cosmological boundaries.

Visions of Past Glory: Nationalism and the Construction of Early Finnish History

The study is an examination of how the distant national past has been conceived and constructed for Finland from the mid-sixteenth century to the Second World War. The author argues that the perception and need of a national 'Golden Age' has undergone several phases during this period, yet the perceived Greatness of the Ancient Finns has been of great importance for the growth and development of the fundamental concepts of Finnish nationalism. It is a question reaching deeper than simply discussing the Kalevala or the Karelianism of the 1890s. Despite early occurrences of most of the topics the image-makers could utilize for the construction of an Ancient Greatness, a truly national proto-history only became a necessity after 1809, when a new conceptual 'Finnishness' was both conceived and brought forth in reality. In this process of nation-building, ethnic myths of origin and descent provided the core of the nationalist cause - the defence of a primordial national character - and within a few decades the antiquarian issue became a standard element of the nationalist public enlightenment. The emerging, archaeologically substantiated, nationhood was more than a scholarly construction: it was a 'politically correct' form of ethnic self-imaging, continuously adapting its message to contemporary society and modern progress. Prehistoric and medieval Finnishness became even more relevant for the intellectual defence of the nation during the period of Russian administrative pressure 1890-1905. With independence the origins of Finnishness were militarized even further, although the 'hot' phase of antiquarian nationalism ended, as many considered the Finnish state reestablished after centuries of 'dependency'. Nevertheless, the distant past of tribal Finnishness and the conceived Golden Age of the Kalevala remained obligating. The decline of public archaeology is quite evident after 1918, even though the national message of the antiquarian pursuits remained present in the history culture of the public. The myths, symbols, images, and constructs of ancient Finnishness had already become embedded in society by the turn of the century, like the patalakki cap, which remains a symbol of Finnishness to this day. The method of approach is one of combining a broad spectrum of previously neglected primary sources, all related to history culture and the subtle banalization of the distant past: school books, postcards, illustrations, festive costumes, drama, satirical magazines, novels, jewellery, and calendars. Tracing the origins of the national myths to their original contexts enables a rather thorough deconstruction of the proto-historical imaginary in this Finnish case study. Considering Anthony D. Smith's idea of ancient 'ethnies' being the basis for nationalist causes, the author considers such an approach in the Finnish case totally misplaced.

Locus Bonus : The Relationship of the Roman Villa to its Environment in the Vicinity of Rome

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship of the Roman villa to its environment. The villa was an important feature of the countryside intended both for agricultural production and for leisure. Manuals of Roman agriculture give instructions on how to select a location for an estate. The ideal location was a moderate slope facing east or south in a healthy area and good neighborhood, near good water resources and fertile soils. A road or a navigable river or the sea was needed for transportation of produce. A market for selling the produce, a town or a village, should have been nearby. The research area is the surroundings of the city of Rome, a key area for the development of the villa. The materials used consist of archaeological settlement sites, literary and epigraphical evidence as well as environmental data. The sites include all settlement sites from the 7th century BC to 5th century AD to examine changes in the tradition of site selection. Geographical Information Systems were used to analyze the data. Six aspects of location were examined: geology, soils, water resources, terrain, visibility/viewability and relationship to roads and habitation centers. Geology was important for finding building materials and the large villas from the 2nd century BC onwards are close to sources of building stones. Fertile soils were sought even in the period of the densest settlement. The area is rich in water, both rainfall and groundwater, and finding a water supply was fairly easy. A certain kind of terrain was sought over very long periods: a small spur or ridge shoulder facing preferably south with an open area in front of the site. The most popular villa resorts are located on the slopes visible from almost the entire Roman region. A visible villa served the social and political aspirations of the owner, whereas being in the villa created a sense of privacy. The area has a very dense road network ensuring good connectivity from almost anywhere in the region. The best visibility/viewability, dense settlement and most burials by roads coincide, creating a good neighborhood. The locations featuring the most qualities cover nearly a quarter of the area and more than half of the settlement sites are located in them. The ideal location was based on centuries of practical experience and rationalized by the literary tradition.

Death, Destruction and Commemoration : Tracing ritual activities in Finnish Late Iron Age cemeteries (AD 550-1150)

The thesis is connected with death, memory and ancestor commemoration during the Merovingian Period, the Viking Age and the beginning of the Crusade Period (AD 550-1150) in Finland. During this time, cremation was the dominant burial rite. It was not until the end of the Viking Age that inhumation became more common but both cremations and inhumations are performed even at the same sites throughout the time. Three different burial types 1) cremation cemeteries below level ground, 2) inhumation burials and 3) water burials are discussed in five articles. I consider these burial forms from three different viewpoints; collectivity-individuality, visibility-invisibility and cremation-inhumation. The thesis also discusses the topics of memory, memorialisation and monument re-use, which have been neglected subjects in Finnish archaeology until now. Both cremation cemeteries below level ground and inhumation burials have been re-used during their time of usage, and on most occasions are situated in a landscape that is overlaid by other monuments as well. The main questions of the thesis are: What kinds of ritual behaviour can we detect in the burials during the period (AD 550-1150)? How did people perceive the moraine hills that functioned as burial places? What kind of re-use can be detected in the Iron Age cemeteries? Why have ancient sites and artefacts been re-used? This thesis shows that it is possible to claim that both artefact and site re-use is a much more widespread phenomenon than has previously been thought in Finnish archaeology. It is also a conscious and deliberate behaviour that can be related to an ancestor cult and commemoration of the dead. The funerary rituals during this time period show great variation and complex, both regionally and nationally. Not only have the dead been buried using elaborate rituals, they have also been mourned and commemorated in intricate ways that proves that death was not an end product, but the start of something new.

The Walls of Agios Donatos Zervochoriou : A case study of a fortress in Thesprotia, northwestern Greece

The study deals with the dating and the function of the fortress of Agios Donatos, which is located in the Kokytos river valley in Thesprotia, northwestern Greece. To solve the dating problem one had to use parallels found in research literature, preferably within as close range as possible. As most of the fortresses within a close proximity had not been adequately published, one had to use parallels within a larger area, throughout the Hellenistic world. Archaeological material found in trial trenches on site was used when possible. To think of the function of the site one had to study the site itself and its relation to the environment, and to compare the situation with the parallels found in research literature, mostly different archaeological survey projects in Greece and Asia Minor. The fortress was built during a period ranging from the final decades of the fourth century down to the mid-third century BC. Most likely it was built during the first quarter of the third century, that is the reign of Pyrrhus of Epirus when the area experienced a boom in fortress building activity. The function of the site was most likely to protect a trade route from the major port in the area to the central areas of the valley and on to Kalamas river, which was the major route on to Macedon. In the end an appendix dealing with the other fortified sites in Thesprotia has been compiled.

Suomalaiset antisankarit : Suomalaisuusdiskurssi kolmessa 1980-luvun elokuvassa

Tutkimuksen aiheena on suomalaisuusdiskurssi elokuvissa Täältä tullaan, elämä! (1980, ohjaus Tapio Suominen), Ajolähtö (1982, ohjaus Mikko Niskanen) ja Arvottomat (1982, ohjaus Mika Kaurismäki). Tutkimuksen kohteena ovat elokuvien sisältö ja aikalaisten lehdistöarviot elokuvista. Elokuvia analysoidaan kahdella tasolla: pintatasolla jossa tutkitaan elokuvien kerrontaa ja tyyliä ja syvemmällä tasolla, jossa tutkitaan elokuvien merkitysrakenteita semiotiikan ja analyyttisen psykologian keinoin. Elokuvatekstien pintatason tutkimuksessa käytän päälähteenä David Bordwellin ja Kirstin Thompsonin kirjaa Film Art: An Introduction (1990, 3. ed.). Merkitysrakenteiden analyysissa käytän Algirdas Julien Greimasin semanttista neliötä ja aktanttikaavaa ja Ronald Barthesin teorioita kirjasta Mytologioita (1957/1994). Elokuvien sankaruuden tutkimisessa sovelletaan Carl Gustav Jungin teorioita kollektiivisesta alitajunnasta ja sankarin arkkityypistä. Suomalaisuusdiskurssin analyysissa käytän pohjana Michel Foucaultin teosta The Archaeology of knowledge (1972/1985) ja samaa teokseen teoreettisesti paljolti pohjautuvaa Päivi Rantasen teosta Suolatut säkeet. Suomen ja suomalaisten diskursiivinen muotoutuminen 1600-luvulta Topeliukseen (1997). Rantasen teos tuo tutkittavien elokuvien suomalaisuusdiskurssin analyysiin historiallista perspektiiviä. Kontekstina elokuva-analyyseille tarkastelen myös elokuvateollisuuden rakennemuutoksia 1980-luvulla ja elokuva-arvosteluja. Suomalaisuusdiskurssi korostuu elokuvien sovittamattomissa ristiriidoissa. Elokuvien kerronnan ja tyylin, narratiivisen merkitysrakenteen ja jungilaisen analyysin tutkimustuloksina on, että elokuvien sisäisistä ristiriidoista voi havaita suomalaisuusdiskurssin pyrkimystä muutokseen. Elokuvien realistisuus sitoo elokuvia perinteiseen topeliaanis-runebergiläiseen suomalaisuuteen, mutta elokuvissa on myös uudenlaisia suomalaisuustulkintoja jotka tulevat ilmi päähenkilöiden toiminnan kautta. Elokuvien analyysi osoittaa, että elokuvien suomalaisuusdiskurssi ei ole vielä valmis täysin sisäistämään muun muassa kansainvälistymistä (Ajolähtö) ja yksilöllisempää suomalaisuutta (Täältä tullaan, elämä! ja Arvottomat). Tarve uudenlaiseen suomalaisuuden määrittelyyn kuitenkin näkyy sekä elokuvateksteissä että elokuva-arvosteluissa. Tutkimusta voisi jatkaa analysoimalla eri aikakausien elokuvia ja vertailemalla niiden suomalaisuusdiskurssia toisiinsa.

To Petra via Jabal Haroun : Nabataean-Roman road remains in the Finnish Jabal Haroun Project survey area

Työ käsittelee Finnish Jabal Haroun Project -tutkimusryhmän Etelä-Jordaniasta inventoimalla keräämää arkeologista aineistoa (vuosilta 1999-2005) tietutkimuksen kannalta. Työn tarkoituksena on selvittää, miksi tutkimusalueella, Aaronin vuoren ympäristössä, sijaitsee tien jäänteitä ja miten tie on maastossa muinoin kulkenut. Lisäksi työ analysoi tien varsilla havaittujen rakennusten jäännösten suhdetta tiehen ja pyrkii ajoittamaan tien käyttöajankohdan (ajankohdat). Työn alkuoletuksena on, että pääosa tienvarsirakennuksista on liitettävissä tiehen ja tien sijoittuminen tutkimusalueelle johtuu pitkälti lähistöllä sijaitsevan Petran noususta merkittäväksi, Nabatealaisten harjoittaman kaupan keskukseksi, Lähi-idässä ajanlaskun alkuun mennessä. Tien jäänteitä tarkastellaan maisema-arkeologisin perustein. Tämä tarkoittaa sitä, että analyysissä korostuvat sekä kulttuuriset että ympäristölliset vaikuttimet. Niiden välistä, aikaan sidottua, suhdetta arvioidaan menneen ihmistoiminnan selittämiseksi. Tutkimusmenetelmät ovat paikkatietojärjestelmien soveltaminen, kohdekohtainen arkeologisen aineiston ja sijainnin tutkiminen, vertailevan aineiston käyttö sekä kolmiulotteinen tarkastelu. Tie ajoitetaan tienvarsikohteiden keramiikkalöytöjen avulla sekä rakenneanalyysin perusteella. Tutkimus osoittaa tien syntyneen alueen sijainnin takia. Sijainti oli edullinen suhteessa luonnonvaroihin, asutuskeskuksiin ja luontaisiin kulkuväyliin. Tien rakentajat osasivat taidokkaasti hyödyntää alueen luonnonpiirteitä ja käyttivät erityisiä menetelmiä vaikeiden tieosuuksien turvaamiseksi luonnonvoimien tuhoilta. Suurin osa tienvarsirakenteista voidaan katsoa johtuvan suoraan tien olemassaolosta, pieni osa rakenteista palveli pääsääntöisesti muita maankäytön muotoja. Petran vaikutus tien olemassaoloon ja muotoon oli suuri, kaupungin kehitys ja kukoistus näkyvät tiehen liitettävässä arkeologisessa aineistossa. Tien aktiivinen käyttö näyttää jatkuneen myös Roomalaisaikaan ensimmäisille vuosisadoille jKr., jonka jälkeen se hitaasti hiipui.

Lithics after Stone Age in East Africa : Wadh Lang'o case study

Tutkielmassa käsitellään kiviesineiden käytön jatkumista kivikauden jälkeen Itä-Afrikassa. Rautakauden alku Itä- ja Etelä-Afrikassa liitetään perinteisesti bantuheimojen migraatioon näille alueille. Tämä vallitseva teoria otettiin tässä tutkimuksessa lähtökohdaksi. Afrikasta tunnetaan runsaasti sekä etnografisia että arkeologisia esimerkkejä kiviteknologian säilymisestä paikoin 1900-luvun loppupuolelle. Nämä liittyvät usein perimätiedon perusteella "kivikautisten" metsästäjä-keräilijöiden ja rautakautisten maanviljelijä- ja karjanhoitajayhteisöjen rinnakkaiseloon. Tutkimuskysymystä lähestytään sekä julkaistun että primääriaineiston kautta. Alussa esitellään kirjallisuudesta löytyviä esimerkkejä myöhäisestä kiviesineiden käytöstä, minkä jälkeen käydään tarkemmin läpi Malawin alueelta julkaistu aiheeseen liitettävissä oleva arkeologinen aineisto. Tätä käytetään vertailuaineistona tutkimuksen pääasiallista tapaustutkimusta käsiteltäessä. Pääasiallisena tapaustutkimuksena toimii Viktoria-järven läheisyydessä sijaitsevan Wadh Lang'o:n asuinpaikan kiviesineistön analyysi. Wadh Lang'o:sta tunnetaan pitkä kulttuurisekvenssi, joka kattaa alueen myöhäiskivikautiset ja rautakautiset kulttuurivaiheet. Stratigrafisen aineiston perusteella kiviesineet ovat säilyneet asuinpaikalla käytössä ainakin keskisen rautakauden alkuun. Varhaisimmassa vaiheessa asuinpaikkaa on asuttanut Oltome-kulttuuriin kuuluva väestö. Suurimmat muutokset materiaalisessa kulttuurissa analyysin kattamana aikana ovat aiheutuneet seuraavan kulttuurivaiheen, Elmenteitan-kulttuurin, myötä. Kiviesineistön perusteella Elmenteitan-keramiikan ilmaantuminen asuinpaikalle on liitettävissä idästäpäin Itä-Afrikan hautavajoaman suunnalta tapahtuneeseen migraatioon. Jatkuvuuden puolesta puhuvat esimerkiksi tehdyt kiviraaka-aine valinnat. Vaikuttaa, että edeltänyt Oltome-keraaminen väestö on säilyttänyt vaikutuksensa asuinpaikalla vielä tänäkin aikana. Varhaisrautakautisen Urewe-keramiikan ilmestymiseen asuinpaikalle ei näyttäisi olevan liitettävissä mitään suurisuuntaista migraatiota, toisin kuin vallalla oleva teoria bantumigraatiosta antaisi olettaa. Mahdollisesti uusi keramiikka on omaksuttu spesialistien, esimerkiksi seppien, muuton myötä tai vaeltavien kauppiaiden vaikutuksesta. Kiviesineistö osoittaa jatkuvuutta esimerkiksi mikroliittien morfologisten piirteiden ja käytettyjen raaka-aineiden perusteella. Mahdollisesti Elmenteitan-kulttuurin karjanhoitoa harjoittanut väestö on kyennyt estämään bantusiirtolaisten muuton alueelleen. Rauta ei vaikuta olleen asuinpaikalla missään vaiheessa erityisen yleistä, eikä paikalta tunneta merkkejä raudanvalmistuksesta. Tutkielman lopussa esitellään kaksi vaihtoehtoista mallia, joiden pohjalta myöhäinen kiviesineiden käyttö voisi selittyä. Niistä ensimmäinen perustuu konventinaaliseen käsitykseen, jossa rautakauden alku nähdään bantumigraation seurauksena. Toinen malli perustuu varhaisrautakautisten kulttuuripiirteiden leviämiseen diffuusion avulla. Wadh Lang'o:n tapaustutkimus näyttäisi puhuvan diffuusion puolesta, mutta toisilla alueilla, esimerkiksi Malawissa, migraatio vaikuttaa olevan todennäköisin selitysmalli. Avainsanat: arkeologia, kiviteknologia, Itä-Afrikka, Oltome, Elmenteitan, Urewe, bantumigraatio, myöhäiskivikausi, rautakausi

Arkeologia, historialliset kartat ja paikkatieto

This licentiate thesis is composed of three parts, of which the parts 2 and 3 have been published elsewhere. Part 1 deals with the research history of large-scaled historical maps in Finland. The research done in four disciplines – archaeology, history, art history and geography – is summarized. Compared to the other disciplines, archaeology is characterized by its deep engagement with the location. Because archaeology studies different aspects of the past through material culture, it is the only discipline in which the concrete remains portrayed on the maps are “dug up”. For the archaeologist, historical maps are not merely historical documents with written information and drawings in scale, but actual maps which can be connected with the physical features they were made to illustrate in the first place. This aspect of historical maps is discussed in the work by looking at the early (17th and 18th century) urban cartographic material of two Finnish towns, Savonlinna and Vehkalahti-Hamina. In both cases, the GIS-based relocating of the historical maps highlights new aspects in the early development of the towns. Part 1 ends with a section in which the contents of the entire licentiate thesis are summarized. Part 2 is a peer reviewed article published in English. This article deals with the role of historical maps converted into GIS in archaeological surveys made in Finnish post-medieval towns (16th and 17th centuries). It is based on the surveys made by the author between 2000 and 2003 and introduces a new method for the archaeological surveying of post-medieval towns with wooden houses. The role of archaeology in the sphere of urban research is discussed. The article emphasizes that the methods used in studying the development of southern European towns with stone houses cannot be adequately applied to the wooden towns of the north. Part 3 is a monograph written in Finnish. It discusses large-scaled historical maps and the methods for producing digital spatial information based on historical maps. Since the late 1990’s, archaeological research in Finland has been increasingly directed towards the historical period. As a result, historical cartography has emerged as one of the central sources of information for the archaeologist, too. The main theme of this work is the need for using historical maps as real maps which, surprisingly, has been uncommon in the historical sciences. Projecting historical maps to the very place they were made to illustrate is essential to understanding the maps. This is self-evident for the archaeologist, who is accustomed to studying the material past, but less so to researchers in other historical disciplines that concentrate on written and visual sources of information. With the help of GIS, the historical maps can be concretely linked to the places they were originally made to illustrate. In doing so, and equipped with a cartographic comprehension, new observations can be made and questions asked, which supplement and occasionally challenge the prevailing views.

Environmental change and human history in the Jabal Harun area, Jordan

The research is related to the Finnish Jabal Harun Project (FJHP), which is part of the research unit directed by Professor Jaakko Frösén. The project consists of two interrelated parts: the excavation of a Byzantine monastery/pilgrimage centre on Jabal Harun, and a multiperiod archaeological survey of the surrounding landscape. It is generally held that the Near Eastern landscape has been modified by millennia of human habitation and activity. Past climatic changes and human activities could be expected to have significantly changed also the landscape of the Jabal Harun area. Therefore it was considered that a study of erosion in the Jabal Harun area could shed light on the environmental and human history of the area. It was hoped that it would be possible to connect the results of the sedimentological studies either to wider climatic changes in the Near East, or to archaeologically observable periods of human activity and land use. As evidence of some archaeological periods is completely missing from the Jabal Harun area, it was also of interest whether catastrophic erosion or unfavourable environmental change, caused either by natural forces or by human agency, could explain the gaps in the archaeological record. Changes in climate and/or land-use were expected to be reflected in the sedimentary record. The field research, carried out as part of the FJHP survey fieldwork, included the mapping of wadi terraces and cleaning of sediment profiles which were recorded and sampled for laboratory analyses of facies and lithology. To obtain a chronology for the sedimentation and erosion phases also OSL (optically stimulated luminescence) dating samples were collected. The results were compared to the record of the Near Eastern palaeoclimate, and to data from geoarchaeological studies in central and southern Jordan. The picture of the environmental development was then compared to the human history in the area, based on archaeological evidence from the FJHP survey and the published archaeological research in the Petra region, and the question of the relationship between human activity and environmental change was critically discussed. Using the palaeoclimatic data and the results from geoarchaeological studies it was possible to outline the environmental development in the Jabal Harun area from the Pleistocene to the present.It is appears that there was a phase of accumulation of sediment before the Middle Palaeolithic period, possibly related to tectonic movement. This phase was later followed by erosion, tentatively suggested to have taken place during the Upper Palaeolithic. A period of wadi aggradation probably occurred during the Late Glacial and continued until the end of the Pleistocene, followed by significant channel degradation, attributed to increased rainfall during the Early Holocene. It seems that during the later Holocene channel incision has been dominant in the Jabal Harûn area although there have been also small-scale channel aggradation phases, two of which were OSL-dated to around 4000-3000 BP and 2400-2000 BP. As there is no evidence of tectonic movements in the Jabal Harun area after the early Pleistocene, it is suggested that climate change and human activity have been the major causes of environmental change in the area. At a brief glance it seems that many of the changes in the settlement and land use in the Jabal Harun area can be explained by climatic and environmental conditions. However, the responses of human societies to environmental change are dependent on many factors. Therefore an evaluation of the significance of environmental, cultural, socio-economic and political factors is needed to decide whether certain phenomena are environmentally induced. Comparison with the wider Petra region is also needed to judge whether the phenomena are characteristic of the Jabal Harun area only, or can they be connected to social, political and economic development over a wider area.

The effects of eutrophication on alternative reproductive tactics in threespine sticklebacks

When organisms compete for mates and fertilisations, the process of sexual selection drives the evolution of traits that increase reproductive success. The traits targeted by selection, and the extent to which they change, are constrained by the local environment. Sexual selection due to female mate choice can be undermined by alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs), which refers to discontinuous variation in traits or behaviours used in reproduction. As human activities are rapidly changing our planet, this raises the question how ARTs will be affected. Fish show a bewildering diversity of ARTs, which make them good model organisms to answer these questions. One example of human-induced environmental change, which is affecting aquatic ecosystems around the world, is eutrophication, the over-enrichment of water bodies with nutrients. One of its effects is decreased underwater visibility due to increases in both turbidity and vegetation density. The aims of this thesis were to investigate the effects increased turbidity and vegetation density have on an ART in sticklebacks, a fish common to marine and fresh water bodies of the Northern hemisphere. I furthermore investigated how this affected sexual selection for male size, a trait commonly under selection. I used a combination of behavioural observations in microcosms, where I manipulated underwater visibility, with collection of genetic material to reconstruct parentage of broods, and thus identify sneak fertilisations. The results show that turbidity might have weak negative effects on the frequency of sneaking behaviour, although this behaviour was rather infrequent in these experiments, which complicates firm conclusions. In dense vegetation the number of sneak fertilisations decreased slightly, as fewer nesting males sneaked, while the number of non-nesting males sneaking remained constant. The paternity analyses revealed that a significantly smaller fraction of eggs was sneak fertilised under dense vegetation. Furthermore, amongst the nesting males that sneaked, the amount of eggs sneak fertilised correlated positively with courtship success. A reduction in sneaking by these males under dense vegetation equalised the distribution of fertilisation success, in turn contributing to a decrease in the opportunity for selection. Under dense vegetation significantly more males built nests, which has also been observed in previous field studies. In a separate experiment we addressed if such changes in the proportion of nesters and non-nesters, without changes in visibility, affected the incidence of sneak fertilisation. My results show this was not the case, likely because sneaking is an opportunistic tactic shown by both nesters and non-nesters. Non-nesters did sneak proportionately more when there were many of them, which could be due to changes in the cost-benefit ratio of sneaking. As nesters can only attack one intruder at a time, the costs and risks per sneaker will decrease as the number of sneakers increases. The defensive behaviours shown by the nesters before spawning shifted to a more aggressive form of nest defence. This could be because less aggressive behaviours lose their effectiveness when the number of intruders increases. It could also indicate that the risks associated with aggressive behaviours decrease when there are fewer fellow nesters, as other studies indicate nesters are competitive and aggressive individuals. Under turbid conditions I did not detect changes in the opportunity for selection, based on fertilisation success, nor was male size under significant selection under clear or turbid conditions. More thorough analyses under densely vegetated conditions across the nesting, courtship and fertilisation stages revealed a decrease in the opportunity for selection across all stages. A reduction in sneaking by nesters contributed to this. During the nesting stage, but not during later stages, body size was under significant directional selection under sparse, but not dense vegetation. This illustrates the importance of considering all selection stages to get a complete picture of how environmental changes affect sexual selection. Leaving out certain stages or subgroups can result in incomplete or misleading results.