Suzie Thomas and Oula Seitsonen will be presenting our research at the Archaeology Days of Archaeological Society of Finland on 10-11.11.2016 at the University of Helsinki’s Lammi Research Station. They take part in the session “Memories of the past / Memories in the past” with a presentation “#InariDig: Using public archaeology to engage with difficult history” discussing our public excavations in Inari last summer and related wider issues.

Their abstract says: The legacy of the Second World War is an aspect of heritage that continues to have an impact across the world; in Finland this is no different. Our research project “Lapland’s Dark Heritage” addresses the ways in which local communities and individuals come to terms with the material remains of the Second World War still present in Finnish Lapland, in a multidisciplinary manner. One of the many approaches has been the use of archaeological investigation as a means of also engaging the public. In this presentation we outline the approaches we used in what has come to be known as “#InariDig”, the impact that this work appears to have had, and our plans for the next steps in our research.