Cemetery Considerations

Abstract

Finnish cairn sites are typically defined through the concepts of ‘grave’ or ‘cemetery’, their main purpose being associated with burials. However, when one examines cemetery-related contexts in Iron Age Finland, they exhibit a great deal of variation with regard to the existence of interments, how they can be identified, and how they correlate with other finds. The case study, a re-examination of Cairn 4 at Nokia Viik, excavated in 1986–1987, illustrates some of these issues. With a focus on understanding the chronology, osteology, formation, and more detailed spatial character of the cairn, it is revealed that the monument has been accumulated over several centuries and includes elements that cannot easily be explained as individual burials or even cremation remains in a collective grave context. The site’s timespan extends from the Late Roman Iron Age and the Migration Period to the Merovingian Period and the Viking Age, where especially the latter periods seem to include deposited materials not related to any actual or distinguishable funerals. One major issue addressed is how to interpret complex structures, where distinct burials are difficult to define, and human remains only occur as one component.