Title: On the Way: The development of the Societies within the Baltic Sea Islands of Rosalalandet and Hitis from the Late Iron Age to the Early Medieval Period
Summary: Located in the Archipelago Sea region of the Baltic Sea, the Islands of Rosalalandet and Hitis have been a stopping point along maritime routes. From the Viking Age to the Early Medieval period the societies connected to these islands developed by adapting to the cultural and environmental changes. This research interprets societies and their development from an environmental perspective. The principal methods used are models of shore displacement and Wind Exposure, supported by field survey data. The result of the research supports previous Archaeological interpretations by offering new detailed data on the chronological development of the islands' ancient monuments. Furthermore, the research suggests a more nuanced interpretation of site functionality and extent of the landing site of Kyrksundet and the harbour of Högholmen.
Bio: Yann Irissou is a PhD researcher and a Maritime Archaeologist at the University of Helsinki. His research interests include prehistoric lost landscapes and societies. His current research focuses on the Late Iron Age and Early Medieval maritime networks of the Archipelago Sea region of Southwestern Finland. Yann’s previous position as a Maritime Archaeologist at the Finnish Heritage Agency and his current position as the director of the SR project in the Finnish Nautical Archaeology Society makes him a contributing member of the professional and citizen science sectors of Finnish Underwater Archaeology. Yann’s approach to research is multidisciplinary, exploring and adapting tools for the analysis of past maritime societies.
Title: Viabundis Finland 1350-1650
Summary: How was the late medieval and early modern road network in Finland? What kind of routes did it consist of? What spatial information do we have about public roads, bridges, waypoints and seasonal routes of the time? “Viabundus Finland 1350–1650” research project aims to answer these questions. The project compiles historical geospatial data (HGIS) on traffic routes and related infrastructure of medieval and early modern Finland into a unified database and map interface and makes them open to the public. It is part of the European Viabundus project.
Bio: PhD, docent Tapio Salminen is the leader of Viabundus Finland project. He has previously studied roads, communication, and information in medieval and early modern Northern Europe.
Bio: PhD Jenni Lares works as a researcher in Viabundus, where she focuses on taverns, inns, and other wayward services.
Title: Witnessing demographic movement through palynology
Summary: This poster addresses the phenomenon of the Late Iron Age Ålandic (Finland) clay-paws parallels to which have been found in the Viking Age cemeteries of the Upper Volga Area (Russia). I present and discuss new data based on pollen analyses from the Åland Islands that support an argument for a demographic change in the Ålandic population, an expansion of its cultural sphere, and a shift in subsistence strategy, characterized by a decrease in agrarian land use and an increase in long-distance trade. This presentation highlights how landscape studies though palynology can be applied to questions of mobility.
Bio: Petter I. Larsson is an archaeobotanist specializing in palynology. His current PhD-research is based in the Åland Islands (Finland), where he investigates how land use has been adapted and changed in response to past crises – focusing on the 6th-century CE climate crisis and the mediaeval period with the Black Death, cattle panzootic, and climate variability. He examines general trends of anthropogenic signals and investigates specific practices, such as cultivation of cereals (e.g. barley and rye) and fibre plants (e.g. hemp and hop), fodder production (hay and leaf-fodder), as well as grazing regimes. He explores how these different practices have led to linked niche constructions and landscape patchiness.
Title: Seasonal transitions in the Early Modern Period maritime Southeast Asia
Summary: Monsoons govern the climate of extensive areas in the tropics. Throughout history, the monsoonal wind and rain regimes have had wide-ranging effects on the lives and livelihoods of people living in these regions. This relationship is so profound that disturbances have been linked to the downfall of several major civilizations. In my poster, I will explore the seasonality of seafaring in Early Modern Period Southeast Asia using sailing models and compare the results to the production schedules of exports to further our understanding of maritime movement and trade in the monsoonal region during the era of sailing ships.
Bio: Wesa Perttola works as a university instructor at the University of Helsinki’s discipline of archaeology. His research interests include GIS methods in archaeology and gadgets related to fieldwork. Wesa is currently finalizing his PhD dissertation about ports and trade in in the Early Modern Period Southeast Asia from a seafaring modelling perspective.
Title: Maritime zones of interaction - The Finnish archipelago in the Middle Ages and early modern period
Summary: The poster introduces the Finnish southern coast and archipelago in the medieval and early modern period as an active zone of interaction. Archaeological evidence is combined with the study of the maritime landscape(s) to reconstruct past connectivity and to tie the region to wider contemporary developments within maritime trade and political climate in the Baltic Sea.
Bio: Riikka Tevali is a PhD researcher in Archaeology, University of Helsinki and a maritime archaeologist working for the Cultural office in Åland, as well as an occupational scientific diver (AESD). During and after her MA in archaeology in 2010 from the University of Helsinki, she has worked as a maritime archaeologist with the Finnish Heritage Agency as well as private consultants. She has published several articles concentrating on the maritime archaeology in Finland and been involved in various academic projects on the research of medieval settlements within the Finnish coastal zone and archipelago. She is especially interested in the research of medieval pottery, coastal settlements and shipwrecks. Her current PhD research concentrates on the medieval and early modern networks and connectivity in the Finnish archipelago.