Subneolithic Fishery in the Iijoki River Estuary, Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland

Abstract

A wetland site discovered accidentally in the western part of the Kierikki area in Yli-Ii, Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland, surprised archaeologists in the mid 1990s by its size and the rare degree of preservation of the organic finds. A number of wooden objects had already been found during the draining of the present-day peatland agricultural field in the 1950s, but the age and the full scientific value of the prehistoric fishery were only recognized later. Since none of the wooden structures were intact, it has been challenging to reconstruct the Stone Age fishing methods in detail, but most of the finds point to ethnographically recognisable fish weir with lath screen traps set in shallow water. All of the radiocarbon samples returned Middle Subneolithic (nonagricultural Neolithic) dates ranging between 3934–2679 cal BC (2σ), but the relative dendrochronological dates indicate a distinct activity phase of only 19 years. The site is still in the process of being destroyed due to the progressive lowering of the water table. After a few decades, or a century at the most, a significant portion of the wooden artefacts of Purkajasuo will have deteriorated.