The Bronze Age culture in Finland from the perspective of the 2020s

• Main Author: Lavento, Mika
• Other Authors: Hofmann, Daniela, Nikulka, Frank, Schumann, Robert, Department of Cultures, Faculty Common Matters (Faculty of Arts), Archaeology
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: 615 History and Archaeology; Bronze Age; Finland; Kola Peninsula; karelia*; kola peninsula; Northern Finland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/353077

The Bronze Age is a period of the past that is both evident but also problematic to define in Finland. While the appearance of the new period is relatively easy to observe on the basis of archaeological remains in the coastal zone of the country, it is not that easy to separate from the Late Neolithic in inland areas or particularly in the northern part of the country. The same problem is apparent in the northern part of Scandinavia, the Baltic countries as well as in the Kola peninsula. The many changes observed in the archaeological material, as well as in the populations and their structure, make this period complicated and challenging. Research on the Bronze Age has a great deal of possibilities despite the fact that the availability of archaeological material is variable and opens only some parts of the past cultures to analysis. This means that questions can be posed to the material and the material can be researched using varying methods. Although the Bronze Age has already been studied from many perspectives in Finland, much still remains to be researched; what I can do here is to give a general overview of the situation right now. The aim of the article is to describe the Bronze Age and the Early Metal Period in Finland. As a period, the Bronze Age has been dated between c. 1700-500 BC, while the Early Metal Age began c. 1900 BC (Figure 1) and continues as late as c. AD 300/400. The Early Metal Age has been defined as a period in eastern and northern Finland, Karelia and the northern part of European Russia. Already during the late decades of the nineteenth century, archaeologists in Finland saw the Bronze Age in the country divided into two areas. The coastal zone was connected to the Scandinavian Bronze Age, but inland culture had its roots in the east. This was important, because the origin of the language of Finland lay to the east and archaeologists focused on locating the origins of material culture in Russia. As a result, the western Bronze Age was separated from the eastern Bronze Age, which ...