Results of Archaeological Fieldwork in Narva-Jõesuu in 2009 (with Estonian and Russian summaries)

ESTONIAN JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, 2022

The settlement site of Jägala Jõesuu V is located in northern Estonia in the village of Jõesuu, about 200 m from the eastern bank of the Jägala River and about 2 km from the present-day coast of the Baltic Sea. It was discovered during the fieldwork in 2011, and 275 m 2 was researched during rescue excavations in the course of road renovation. The remains of one pithouse (partly excavated), several pits and fireplaces were found. The collection of finds (11 454 artefacts and ecofacts) consists of potsherds of Comb Ware, tools and debris of quartz and flint, burnt bones, hazelnut shells, etc. The excavation technique, as well as the fact that the site was a relatively short-term and undisturbed complex, provided a good basis for spatial analysis that identified at least five concentration zones of finds. The largest concentration (61% of all finds) is related to the filling of the pit-house, >2.8 × 5.3 m in size and with pits inside it. The second large concentration zone (10% of all finds) contains the same find categories as the pit-house, but in different proportions, and it is assumed to be the remains of an above-ground construction measuring about 6 × 3 m. Three other concentrations, which in one case mostly contain flint and quartz artefacts (diameter ca 2.5 m) and quartz in the other two cases (ca 1.5 and 3 m in diameter) can be associated with outdoor activities.

A combined ground-penetrating radar (GPR), drilling and diatom survey was carried out in order to characterize formation of the Kudruküla Stone Age Comb Ware archaeological site, northeast Estonia. A few decades ago a cultural layer was discovered, located within fine-grained sands of the right bank of the Kudruküla Stream an altitude of 1.25-1.60 m above sea level. The layer is 15-35 cm thick and composed of poorly sorted sand of intensive reddish colour with abundant arteand ecofacts, human bones, burned hearthstones and charcoal pieces. Artefacts, in particular pottery, are well preserved and frequently present as large pieces. The Kudruküla site holds an exceptional position among other Stone Age coastal settlements in that it is not located directly on top of beach ridges, but is buried under~3 m of sand. When the Kudruküla settlement existed the level of the Litorina Sea was~6 m above present sea level, which is~4.5 m above the present location of the cultural layer. The current research is used to describe the geological structure of the area to provide a perspective on the history of the cultural material, and reveals that the cultural material is not restricted to one layer/lens only because it is irregularly and widely distributed within the sands of Kudruküla. The GPR and diatom analyses show that the Kudruküla cultural material is redeposited, because it occurs within an ancient point-bar succession of a (Narva) river meander. Originally, the dwelling site had been located on top of the Narva-Jõesuu sandy coastal ridges, which subsequently suffered erosion and the sand resedimented at the Kudruküla location. Good preservation of the cultural items shows that, after redeposition, they were buried fast, probably within a year. The present Kudruküla stream has cut into the floodplain of the ancient (Narva) river to expose the redeposited layer/lens.

Archaeological Fieldwork in Estonia 2013, 33–44. , 2014

Kloostrisaar (Eng. 'Monastery Island') is an island in Lake Pühajärv which is situated in the Otepää Heights in South Estonia. The island with an area of 11520 m 2 has 8 m high shores. According to folklore text a monastery, which was destroyed during a huge war, was situated on the island (Rebane 1929, 7-8). 1 in 2012 Andres Vindi and Tõnis Türna visited the island with two purposes in mind: first, to check the oral tradition, and second, out of growing interest in the possible Stone Age settlement on islands in small inland lakes (Vindi 2012). They found flint flakes, pieces of burnt bone and three sherds of handmade pottery 2 from the lower sandy plateau in the northern part of the island (ibid.). Since the pottery was not earlier than the Iron Age, the site was implicitly titled as a Mesolithic settlement site and an Iron Age find place. Motivated by the interest in possible Stone Age settlement sites on islands in small lakes it was decided to conduct smallscale archaeological excavations on ArchAeologicAl Fieldwork in estoniA 2013, 33-44 1 There used to be a monastery once on Kloostrisaar in Pühajärv and monks lived there. The nobles did not like them and wanted to get rid of them. Then a big war came. For ten years war was waged from mornings till evenings on the shores of Pühajärv. There were so many dead people that even now the churchyard of Otepää is filled with bones to the depth of many fathoms. Many bones have been found also elsewhere around Lake Pühajärv -all the monks were killed on the island. Only three of them, who were not local, could hide themselves in the thatches by the lake and thus survived (Rebane 1929, 7-8; translated by Kristiina Johanson). 2 Finds TÜ 2165.

Translation: Eljas Oksanen, Jarmo Kankaanptizi and Tuija Rankama Language revision: Tuija Rankama Cover design: Mikko Rautala Front cover: Puumala Kzirmelahti. Reconstruction of the building and the site terrace. Drawings by Mikko Rautala. Back cover: Puumala Krirmelahti. Northeastern part of dwelling during excavation. Photograph National B oard of AntiquitiesA(aarlo Katiskoski. Publisher:

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2020

Currently, only a few clear remains of Stone Age houses, revealed due to their sunken floors, are known to exist at four of the more than four hundred settlement sites of this period in Estonia. The focus of our paper is on three such hunter-gatherer settlement sites of the Narva and Comb Ware cultures, all located in different settings of the Baltic coastal zone. In order to analyse houses at these sites, archaeological collections and archival materials related to the Riigiküla I and Kõnnu sites were reexamined, and the site Jägala Jõesuu V is published here for the first time. Spatial analyses and a series of new radiocarbon dates let us to determine that three potential pit-houses at Kõnnu, dating to the first half of the 5th millennium calBC, and three pithouses at the Riigiküla I settlement site, dating to the latter part of the 5th millennium calBC, belong to the Narva culture. Two new structures discovered during our analysis at Riigiküla I are related to the Comb Ware culture, along with the pit-house at Jägala Jõesuu V, from the end of the 4th millennium calBC. A comparison with the neighbouring territories shows that the Estonian coastal area forms the southern border of the distribution of pit-houses at least during the Narva and Comb Ware culture periods.

Karelian Isthmus – Stone Age Studies in 1998–2003. Iskos 16., 2008

This paper presents the archaeological studies conducted by Finnish and Russian researchers in 2003 in the former municipalities of Koivisto and Kuolemajärvi in the Karelian Isthmus. The environmental history and archaeological research history of the area are also summarized. Short surveys and small-scale test excavations at three sites revealed the long time span and versatility of the prehistoric habitation in the area. The oldest sites located in the surveys seem to date from the Mesolithic period. A test excavation was carried out at one of these sites. The whole Neolithic period also seems to be represented, and one of the test-excavated sites dates to the Early Metal period based on the presence of a Textile-impressed Ware pot broken in situ. The area holds high research potential for further prehistoric studies.