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Eastern arrivals in post-glacial Lapland: the Sujala site 10 000 cal BP

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Tuija Rankama  and
Jarmo Kankaanpää
Tuija Rankama
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki, Institute of Cultural Research, Department of Archaeology, PO Box 59, FI-00014, Finland (Email: tuija.rankama@helsinki.fi)
Jarmo Kankaanpää
Affiliation:
Isonpellonkuja 6, FI-02880 Veikkola, Finland (Email: jarmo.kankaanpaa@kolumbus.fi)
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Abstract

The Sujala site in northern Finnish Lapland is a reindeer hunters' camp from the early post-glacial period, discovered by the authors in 2002. The site was originally linked with the Preboreal occupation of the north Norwegian coast, but further excavations and analyses indicate that it actually represents a totally new phenomenon: evidence for an eastern influx into Lapland around the Preboreal–Boreal transition. This discovery has far-reaching implications for the colonisation of north Scandinavia, but also for the subsequent development of Early Mesolithic settlement in northern Finland and Norway.

Keywords

Northern FennoscandiaEarly Mesolithicpioneer occupationsKomsa culturepost-Swiderianlithicsblade industry
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 82 , Issue 318 , December 2008 , pp. 884 - 899
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2008

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