From Separation to Interaction

• Published in: Acta Archaeologica
• Main Author: Nordqvist, Kerkko
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Brill 2016
• Subjects: karelia*; karelian
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0390.2016.12167.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1600-0390.2016.12167.x; https://brill.com/view/journals/acar/87/1/article-p49_4.xml; https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/acar/87/1/article-p49_4.xml

Up until recent years, Corded Ware has remained poorly studied in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, located in north-eastern Europe. Traditionally, this region has been considered marginal in terms of Corded Ware, but new research has started to change this view. This paper presents the Corded Ware material known up to the current date (2016) from the eastern area of the Gulf of Finland, i.e. the Karelian Isthmus and Ingria (western Leningrad oblast, Russia); currently ca. 30 sites and ca. 60 stray finds are known in the research area. Based on this and previously published data from the adjoining regions, features related to the material culture, the contact networks, and the chronology of Corded Ware are discussed. Even though focusing the research may skew the picture, there are good grounds to propose, that there was a distinctive Corded Ware sphere of interaction in the eastern area of the Gulf of Finland, also including areas in north-eastern Estonia and south-eastern Finland. Due to its particular cultural background, local preferences, and consequently, development trajectories, the area had a clear regional character. Further, populations inhabiting it also maintained active contacts with other Corded Ware groups in the sphere of Baltic Sea and further to the east, as well as with non-Corded Ware settlers of north-eastern Europe.