Abstract
Archaeological concepts of prehistory and the Stone Age are rooted in nineteenth-century scientific discoveries, which extended the human past much further back in time than was previously thought. Without this deep past, the disciplines of archaeology and history would not be what they are today. However, when the division of prehistory into the ages of stone, bronze, and iron was introduced in 1836, it was already an old idea. Stone Age artefacts and the initial phase of human history were discussed in the eighteenth-century academic world, even though the periodisation of history was constructed differently. In the philosophy of the Enlightenment several ideas surfaced which were essential to the formation of archaeology as a scientific practice, and which still affect the way the prehistoric past is imagined. This article examines the concept of a prehistoric, furthest past in Finnish scientific texts, within the framework of eighteenth-century Swedish traditions of science and historiography. How did the scholars in the Academy of Turku view Stone Age artefacts that had a multi-faceted nature in the antiquarian tradition? In what way did their visions of the earliest phase of the Nordic past set up later nationalistic narratives about prehistory?
Highlights
Archaeological concepts, like the Stone Age or prehistory, were coined in the nineteenth century
Stone Age artefacts and the initial phase of human history were discussed in the eighteenth-century academic world, even though the periodisation of history was constructed differently
The folklore related to Stone Age stone artefacts, in addition to their alleged nature as natural curiosities, is a well-known aspect of the history of archaeology
Summary
Archaeological concepts, like the Stone Age or prehistory, were coined in the nineteenth century. While being aware of the variation in temporal scope, I suggest that tracing the conceptual change and continuity beyond the mid-nineteenth-century threshold could bring forth something new about implications still attached to the concepts of Stone Age and prehistory.[6]. My first research question is related to the use of prehistory in the narratives of the national past, from which the Stone Age has often been omitted.[7] Is this tendency already visible in the eighteenth-century discussion about the early history of the Nordic peoples? Similar searches were performed on the newspaper material (sten, kivi, åsk(e)wig*, etc.) using the tools available in the digital archive database of the National Library of Finland.[11]
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