We received magnificent Christmas news: our 2017 public excavations got funded! We get to continue the public and community archaeological research together with the Sámi Museum Siida and all the volunteers from the local area and further away, with financial support from the University of Helsinki Future Fund!

We will arrange in 2017 two weeks long public excavations at Prisoner-of-War camps in Inari, inspired by the positive experiences and feedback from our 2016 field studies. Volunteers are again welcome to join in the excavations and related program, and to share their own experiences, opinions and everything else related to the World War 2 heritage.

We will update details about our upcoming studies in our blog page and through the University information channels after the New Years.

Merry and peaceful Christmas and happy New Year to everyone!!!

Christmas on the front in 1942, Santa Claus has arrived (SA-Kuva).

Saimme vielä joulun alla ilouutisen, että vuoden 2017 yleisökaivauksiin anomamme apuraha on myönnetty! Pääsemme jatkamaan yleisö- ja yhteisöarkeologisia tutkimuksia yhdessä saamelaismuseo Siidan ja paikallisten sekä kauempaakin tulevien vapaaehtoisten ja kiinnostuneiden kanssa Helsingin yliopiston Tulevaisuusrahaston suosiollisella avustuksella!

Järjestämme loppukesästä 2017 kahden viikon mittaiset yleisökaivaukset Inarissa toisen maailmansodan vankileirikohteilla, vuoden 2016 tutkimuksista saatujen positiivisten kokemusten ja palautteen inspiroimina. Vapaaehtoiset ovat jälleen enemmän kuin tervetulleita osallistumaan kaivaustutkimuksiin ja kaivausten oheisohjelmaan, sekä jakamaan omia tärkeitä mielipiteitään, kokemuksiaan ja kaikkea muuta toisen maailmansodan kulttuuriperintöön jollain tavalla linkittyvää.

Ilmoitamme alkuvuodesta tarkempia tietoja tulevista tutkimuksista sekä blogissamme että yliopiston tiedotuskanavien kautta.

Hauskaa ja rauhallista joulua sekä uutta vuotta kaikille!!!

Dr. Iain Banks from Glasgow university attended the open excavation in Inari with us this summer. He already dazzled us with his knowledge (and his accent) in this video, and now he was kind enough to write us a piece about how he remembers experiencing Finnish Lapland.

Dr. Iain Banks, 2011

Mustikka Dreams

This summer, I found myself in a place that was both familiar and very strange to me.  I was standing in a forest in Lapland, far to the north of the Arctic Circle, with my field of vision cut down to a few feet by the density of the forest. The familiarity came from the vegetation and landforms. Lichens grew everywhere, and the ground cover was a mixture of mosses and berries. The trees were pines for as far as could be seen. This was so familiar to someone who has spent as much time as I have in the Highlands of Scotland.  We don’t have as rich an array of species of berry as Lapland, but the lichens thrive as well, the damp conditions keep the mosses as dominant as in Lapland, and I could almost believe myself to be in a forest at home.

There is also a similarity in terms of the human landscape.  While we don’t have reindeer herders, we have traces of the Second World War scattered across the Highlands.  We have training camps, PoW camps, and forestry camps slowly decaying into the landscape, disappearing under the mosses and lichens amidst the trees. I was in Lapland as part of the research project Lapland’s Dark Heritage, come to see Lapland’s PoW camps and participate in the excavations at Inari.  Further north than I had ever been before, in a country that I had never previously visited and whose language is a closed book to me, the combination of environment, archaeological material, and the warm welcome of colleagues made me feel completely at home.

During my time in Lapland, I learned a huge amount about the history of events, about which I’d previously had a hazy notion of plucky Finns holding back the Russians in the North. In particular, I’d never heard about the burning of Lapland.  I was able to share my experience as a field archaeologist in helping the volunteers to learn the basics of excavation, and to share some of my research into PoW camps further south in a public lecture.

We excavated elements of a hospital site just outside the town of Inari, working with a group of Finnish volunteers, and forming a truly international group of English, Scottish, Brazilian, and Finnish academics probing the heritage and impact of the war in Lapland.  Still smarting from the Brexit vote, it was heartening to work with my European colleagues and plan future collaborations that will endure whatever the politicians decide.  A small taste of that came with the recent visit of Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto to the University of Glasgow, and we hope to expand links between Glasgow, Helsinki, and Oulu in the coming years.  Lapland’s Dark Heritage is a tremendous project, and I have really enjoyed being involved in it; I will be returning for as long as the project will have me.

I started by talking about the familiar; the biggest difference was night time. We have long hours of summer daylight and short winter days, but it is less extreme than in Lapland. Standing on the edge of Lake Solojärvi at 2 am photographing the mist on the surface of the water was an experience I will always remember.  I have travelled far and wide across the world, but Lapland has been one of the best experiences I have had.

Lake Solojärvi. Taken by Dr. Iain Banks in the summer of 2016.

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.

Oula Seitsonen is taking part in a “Dialogues with the Past” seminar “Materialities of the Pressing Past: Challenges in post-medieval archaeology and the archaeology of the recent past” in Copenhagen this week. As described, “[T]his seminar aims to explore the landscape of archaeological research as it transgresses conventional frameworks for a discrete ‘past’ and turns towards archaeology as the study of things, events and processes that are of archaeological relevance”. Oula will present a paper “Haunting and haunted reminders of the past: Special deposits and features at German-run WWII PoW camps in Finnish Lapland”, dealing with some of the unexpected finds and features with apparent relations to the northern rural beliefs in magic and spiritualities.

Tivoli in Copenhagen (Photo: Oula Seitsonen).

“Current topics in archaeology at the University of Helsinki” is a two day workshop presenting this week some of the hottest stuff going on at the moment in archaeology in Helsinki, including, naturally, Lapland’s Dark Heritage. Oula Seitsonen is presenting on Monday “Taming evil landscapes: Special features from WWII Prisoner-of-War camps in Finnish Lapland”, discussing some of the more peculiar finds spotted during our field research, and on Wednesday together with Sanna Seitsonen “Burnt bones by Europe’s largest lake: Zooarchaeology of the Stone Age and Early Metal Period hunter-gatherers at Lake Ladoga, NW Russia” discussing prehistoric faunal remains from the Lake Ladoga area.

Mystery sneaker / Salaperäinen tossu (Photograph: O. Seitsonen).

“Ajankohtaista arkeologiassa Helsingin yliopistossa” on tällä viikolla järjestettävä kaksipäiväinen työpaja. Työpajassa esitellään muutamia Helsingin arkeologiassa käynnissä olevia mielenkiintoisimpia tutkimusteemoja, joihin luonnollisesti kuuluu myös Lapin synkkä kulttuuriperintö. Oula Seitsonen käsittelee maanantaina esitelmässään “Taming evil landscapes: Special features from WWII Prisoner-of-War camps in Finnish Lapland” joitakin erikoisempia sotakohteilta kesinä vastaantulleita löytöjä, ja keskiviikkona yhdessä Sanna Seitsosen kanssa Laatokan alueelta tehtyjä kivi- ja varhaismetallikautisia luulöytöjä esitelmässä “Burnt bones by Europe’s largest lake: Zooarchaeology of the Stone Age and Early Metal Period hunter-gatherers at Lake Ladoga, NW Russia”.

While explaining us about all the equipment used in the project, Wesa Perttola made an amazing video summarizing the whole field work week. The video can be found in YouTube under the account Dark Heritage or by clicking the subscription link on the side of this page or clicking the straight link here. Or you can just watch it below.

Samalla kun Wesa Perttola kertoi meille projektissa käyttämistään laitteista hän teki myös ihastuttavan video, jossa näkyy kenttätyöviikko koko komeudessaan. Videon löytää YouTubesta tililtä Dark Heritage, tai klikkaamalla sivun reinasta löytyvää kuvaketta, tai klikkaamalla suoraan tästä. Tai sitten voit katsoa sen suoraan tästä alta.

A memorial cross will be raised at the German-run WWII PoW camp at Inari Kankiniemi to commemorate the people who perished at the camp, on Saturday October 10, 2016, 3 pm. Orthodox church of Lapland and a team of volunteers will raise the cross, and there will be a memorial service following the Skolt Sámi tradition. Memorial service is open to the public. Oula Seitsonen and Vesa-Pekka Herva will be taking part in the service on the behalf of our project.

We studied the Kankiniemi camp with archaeological mapping and excavations in 2015: two trash pits and some stone structures were excavated. As a peculiar feature a heart carved into a pine tree was observed outside the barbwire fence of the PoW camp, next to the guard path.

Kankiniemi PoW camp functioned in 1941–1944 as a forestry camp for Russian PoWs, who worked in different parts of the Kankiniemi peninsula. Local informants have estimated that there were about 200 prisoners working in the area. Site has remains of several log houses and barbwire fence, although most of the barbwire and some log houses were moved away after the war in the reconstruction period.

Two graves were found on top of the hill next to the camp after the war. These were marked with Orthodox crosses, and the other one had still a name visible on it: “Viktorin Sukhov”. Local police asked the finder to open the graves and take the bodies to a PoW mass grave at the graveyard of Ivalo.

Heart carved into a pine tree at Kankiniemi / Männynkylkeen kaiverrettu sydän Kankiniemessä (Kuva: O. Seitsonen).

Inarin Kankiniemen sodanaikaisen saksalaisten vankileirin paikalle pystytetään muistoristi lauantaina 1.10.2016. klo 15 leirillä menehtyneiden muistoksi. Lapin ortodoksinen seurakunta ja joukko vapaaehtoisia pystyttävät ristin, ja samalla toimitetaan kolttatradition mukainen vainajien muistopalvelus. Tilaisuus on avoin yleisölle. Oula Seitsonen ja Vesa-Pekka Herva ottavat projektimme puolesta osaa tilaisuuteen.

Tutkimme Kankiniemen leiriä arkeologisin kartoituksin ja kaivauksin vuonna 2015: kaivauksissa tutkittiin kaksi roskakuoppaa ja joitain kivirakenteita. Erikoisena ilmiönä vankileirin piikkilanka-aidan ulkopuolelta, vartiopolun kulmasta löytyy männyn kylkeen kaiverrettu sydän.

Kankiniemen vankileiri toimi sodan aikana 1941–1944  metsätyöleirinä venäläisille sotavangeille, jotka työskentelivät eri puolilla Kankiniemen aluetta. Paikallisten arvion mukaan alueella oli n. 200 vankia. Paikalla on säilynyt jäänteitä useista hirsirakennuksista ja piikkilanka-aidasta, vaikka suurin osa piikkilangasta ja joitain hirsikehikoita on haettu pois jälleenrakennuksen yhteydessä.

Leirin lähistöltä vaaran päältä on löytynyt sodan jälkeen kaksi ortodoksiristeillä merkittyä hautaa, joista toisesta erottui vielä nimi “Viktorin Sukhov”. Poliisi oli tuolloin pyytänyt kaivamaan haudat auki ja toimittamaan vainajat Ivalon hautausmaalle sotavankien joukkohautaan.

Kitchen of the PoW camp / Vankileirin keittiörakennus (Kuva: O. Seitsonen).

Alla olevassa tekstissä Helsingin yliopiston arkeologi Wesa Perttola kertoo projektin yhteydessä käyttämistään kuvaus- ja äänityslaitteista. Tekstin lopusta löytyy luettelo laitteistosta. Wesan ansiosta kenttätöistä on taltioituna upeaa materiaalia, joista muutamia esitellään tässä kirjoituksessa.  Wesan käsialaa ovat myös kauniit ja opettavaiset videot, joiden tekemisestä hän kertookin tässä esittelyssä.

Below Wesa Perttola from the University of Helsinki’s archaeology department explains what equipment he has been using during the project for video, audio and pictures. In the end there is a full list of the equipment.

The story begins in Autumn of 2015 when we were wondering how to spruce up the corridor of the University of Helsinki’s archaeology department a bit and came up with the idea of a video display. There are always extra monitors floating about so I configured a Raspberry Pie 2 mini computer to repeat video files and a programmable socket timer to automatically turn them both on and off. Now if we only had some videos to display… The problem was that I had never used video editing software before. So last spring I started from scratch and learned the basics of Adobe Premiere Pro (and a little bit of After Effects) by practicing with the help of instructional videos on Youtube. You can see the slow progress on some of the videos on our Instagram here.

The next step was to figure out how to get decent footage. Photography is an integral part of archaeological documentation, so I already had some gear laying around suitable of shooting video as well: Canon EOS 60D digital SLR, GoPro 3 Black action camera and DJI Phantom 4 drone. Also got a Samsung Gear 360 camera a bit before the trip to Inari. Its resolution is not good enough for serious documentation (see examples from Dropbox here and here, you can use a Chrome add-on called Pano View to view it as a sphere), but you can capture fun moments with it like train timelapses or group photos.  Well, what can I say: I like my gadgets. 🙂

Can you spot the excavation area?

#Inaridig was a challenging place to film. First three days were so rainy that on site we could only use the GoPro with a waterproof case. Sadly, it also means that there is no proper audio for that footage and that there were some minor problems with the lens fogging up. The site is in a quite dense forest and that has its own complications: you can’t do much with a drone and when it’s sunny the shadows of the trees ruin the images.

On a rainy day.

On a sunny day.

The aerial looking images were captured with the GoPro dangling on the top of a 7-meter telescopic pole with a handle bar mount. The camera is controlled on a phone through Wi-Fi and the phone attached to the pole with Quad Lock Bike Mount so I can keep my both hands on the pole. You can see the pole and my feet in some of the shots where I had tilted the camera a bit too much. I came up with the setup while looking for a cheap and light method to take top down images of excavation areas. It not perfect though: the wide lens of the GoPro causes lots of barrel distortion and it is hard to say when the camera is level. If someone has a good idea how to implement a wireless tilt sensor to the back of the GoPro, please contact me!

The previous Lapland’s Dark Heritage Youtube video with Dr Iain Banks was shot with the Canon 60D. I used a tripod with a Manfrotto 502AH fluid video head for that smooth motion and a RØDE VideoMic Pro on top of the camera for the sound. At one point of the video you can hear the audio quality drop: I got a bit too eager and turned the camera (and the mic) a bit too far. Maybe a lavalier mic or the shotgun mic on a boom would have been a better choice. The edit was easy because Iain did a brilliant job off the cuff on the first go: there are no edits on the soundtrack and I just spliced the images in. You can see he has been on a TV show. All the music I use is from Free Music Archive. Searching for music fitting the scene is actually one of my favorite parts of making a video: it can take ages to find the perfect song, but there are real gems hidden there.

I have still lot to learn about filming and editing: if you look closely you might see that basic stuff like focus, exposure and white balance could use some tweaking. I also need to look into color grading. Next gadgets are already on their way: a DJI Osmo Mobile for smooth shots and a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 for 4k video. So be ready for some burning hot (sic!) videos in the future! Also would not mind having a proper 4k video camera at some point…

Wesa

Full list of the equipments used.

Cameras:
–    Canon EOS 60D
–    GoPro 3 Black
–    Samsung Gear 360

Tripods/Rigs:
–    Benro A2970F + Manfrotto 502AH
–    Benbo Trekker Mk II
–    CamSmart DSLR Shoulder Rig
–    Polaroid Video Shoulder Mount

Sound:
–    RØDE VideoMic Pro

Drone:
–    DJI Phantom 4

“Aerial” shots of the excavation areas:
–    7 m telescopic pole + GoPro Handlebar Mount + GoPro 3 Black, controlled by a phone attached to the pole with a Quad Lock Bike Mount

Programs:
–    Adobe Premiere Pro
–    Adobe After Effects
–    Gear 360 Action Director
–    PTGui

Our public excavation in Inari in August 2016 triggered a lot of media attention even at the national level: Yle news and Yle Sápmi wrote several articles about us and also Iltasanomat and MTV3 published texts online. In addition, local newspapers Inarilainen and Lapin Kansa took also interest and the University of Helsinki interviewed us about the outcomes of the excavations.

Below is a list of articles in different medias.

Elokuussa 2016 järjestetty Inarin yleisökaivauksemme sai runsaasti mediahuomiota kansallisia medioita myöten: Yle kotimaa ja Yle Saame julkaisivat useita juttuja verkkosivuillaan, ja myös Iltasanomat sekä MTV3 kirjoittivat meistä. Lisäksi paikallisissa lehdissä Inarilainen ja Lapin Kansa oli pitkät tekstit kuvineen ja Helsingin yliopiston sivuilla pohdintaamme kaivausten järjestämisestä.

Alla lista julkaisuista eri medioissa.

Artikkeli Inarilaisessa 31.7.2016 Kuva: Minna Rissanen.

YLE

8.6. Inarissa tutkitaan Lapin sodassa tuhotun saksalaisen sotilassairaalan raunioita vapaaehtoisten voimin

27.7. Inarissa pääsee seuraamaan sotasairaalan kaivauksia

5.8. Inarin arkeologisilta kaivauksilta paljon löytöjä

10.8. Toisen maailmansodan sotajäänteet osaksi matkailuelinkeinoa Inarissa? (in Sápmi)

24.8. Inarin arkeologisilla kaivauksilla mukana myös vapaaehtoisia – harvinaista Suomessa

MTV3

3.8.2016 Paikallisten sodanaikainen salaisuus paljastui Inarissa – “Oikea jäänteiden aarreaitta”

ILTASANOMAT

2.8.2016 Saksalaisten polttama sotasairaala Inarissa osoittautui varsinaiseksi aarreaitaksi – raunioista löytyi kaivauksissa runsaasti tavaraa

HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO / HELSINGFORS UNIVERSITET / UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI

26.8. Inarin yleisökaivauksilla syntyi tutkijoiden ja vapaaehtoisten yhteisö

Forskare och frivilliga samarbetade på öppna utgrävningar i Enare

Community of Researchers and Volunteers at Inari Archaeological Dig

LAPIN KANSA

3.8.  Inarin sotasairaalan raunioista löytyy synkkää historiaa – video

INARILAINEN

31.7. Inarin yleisökaivauksilla löytyi valtava määrä aineistoa Pakkanen ja sääskeet riivasivat saksalaisia

We uploaded a video of the excavation in YouTube today. It is our first – and hopefully not last – video showing what the project is about. This video is about 5 minutes long and done by Wesa Perttola. In it Dr Iain Banks from University of Glasgow explains understandably and simply what we found in the second excavation area. Dr Banks did amazing job painting a picture of how life might have been during the time the German army was in Inari, and the project would like to thank him for participating in making this video.

Latasimme tänään ensimmäisen videon YouTubeen esittelemään projektia. Videon on tehnyt Wesa Perttola ja se kestää noin viisi minuuttia. Videolla Glasgow’n yliopiston arkeologi, Iain Banks, esittelee kaivausten löytöjä ja kuvailee millainen toisen maailmansodan aikainen kenttäsairaala olisi voinut mahdollisesti olla. Videolla on esitelty helposti ymmärrettävällä tavalla mitä kaivausten kakkospaikalta löytyi. Projektin jäsenet haluavat kiittää Banksiä osallistumisesta videon tekoon.