Every year the department of archaeology at the University of Helsinki organizes the Archaeology Afternoon, an event that reunites scholars with the wider audience. Last year the event was held on 13th of December 2019 at the Tiedekulma stage, organized and hosted by our colleague, Marja Ahola. After the short introductions of professors Mika Lavento and Volker Heyd, eight presentations were given which were livestreamed, all in all the event lasting for four hours. Archaeologists from the university introduced their research projects and progress that has been made over the year.
The YMPACT project was also present at the event, with the presentation given by post-doctoral researcher Bianca Preda-Bălănică. The lecture focused on the excavation performed in the summer of 2019 in Romania near the community of Boldești-Grădiștea, in collaboration with colleagues from the Prahova County Museum of History and Archaeology. During the excavation the team investigated one burial mound containing several burials, some of which were assigned to the Yamnaya culture. The presentation introduced the excavation site in general and the team that worked at the dig, but mostly concentrated on the Yamnaya burials (1, 3 and 4), and on the preliminary results of the interdisciplinary analyses undertaken.