Associated finds

As Whitley (2006: 60) writes, a rock art panel represents but a single component of a larger and more complex archaeological phenomenon. Finds made at rock art sites, especially when found in stratified contexts, can thus provide clues concerning its age. In Finland, so far only seven radiocarbon-dates have been obtained from such material, most of them in association with the present PhD project (Fig 21).

Textile Ware pot-sherds found in front of the Valkeisaari painting were recently radiocar-bon-dated to 3100 ±50 BP (Hela-1127), or 1370 calBC (see Paper III). The dating was made from the soot attached to the inner surface of the rim sherds. A second ¹⁴C-dating (Hela-1177) made from two bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) seeds found deep in the cultural layer at the same site gave a result of 740 ± 40 BP (or ca. 1258 calAD). Unfortunately, the significance of this dating is unclear because of the possibility (however slim) of modern contamination

4 All ¹⁴C-dates in this essay were calibrated using the OxCal v. 3.10 computer program (one sigma or 68.2%

probability), with atmospheric data from Reimer et al. (2004).

Figure 18. Finds associated with Finnish rock painting sites: a) unburnt bones of elk and water-birds from Kotojärvi; b) a fragment of an even-based projectile point from Saraakallio; c) four amber pendants found at Astuvansalmi. Photo by Antti Lahelma, drawings by TA/Finnish National Board of Antiquities (b) and Charles Marin (c).

(see Paper II). A third dating (Hela-1128) from Valkeisaari, made from a sheep bone, turned out to be recent (90 ± 30 BP), probably from the 18^th or 19^th century AD.

Two datings have also been obtained from unburnt bone material found in front of the Kotojärvi painting. These bones (Fig. 18a), recovered from a test-pit made in shallow water (ca. 1 m deep) immediately in front of the painting, belonged to elk and various bird species (Ojonen 1973). Only after writing Papers II and III, where these finds are briefly discussed, did I have the opportunity to actually date one of the finds. A bone of a woodcock (Scolopax rusticola, NM 18428:11) found at Kotojärvi produced a result of 3275 ± 35 BP (Hela-1434), or ca. 1555 calBC. A second ¹⁴C-dating was already obtained three decades ago from an elk bone found in the same test-pit, but is only now being published (Taavitsainen in press).⁵ Its result, 3300 ± 100 BP (Su-775), conforms perfectly with the dating of the bird bone. The nature of the bone finds has sometimes been questioned - the animals might in theory have drowned out of natural causes in front of the cliff. However, in the light of these two datings - which show that the different bones are contemporary and date to a period when rock paintings were still

5 I thank Prof. Jussi-Pekka Taavitsainen for sending me the mansucript of his paper and allowing me to publish the result.

Figure 19. A final photo of the small test trench dug at the foot of the Astuvansalmi painting in 1968, and the two arrow points found in the trench (small photo). Today the trench lies under a wooden platform built for visitors. Photo: Pekka Sarvas/Finnish National Board of Antiquities.

made - the deposit can be safely as-signed to the beginning of the Early Metal Period and its ritual nature and relation to the painting is now clear.

Jukka Luoto’s excavations in front of the painting Kalamaniemi II produced a small number of finds, including a few flint and quartz flakes, and a wood char-coal sample (NM 31547: 5) was collected for future dating. The charcoal was found in a concentra-tion ca. 30 cm below ground level but, according to the excavator (Luoto 1999), its association with the painting was uncertain as no actual cultural layer was observed.

It should be pointed out, though, that because the soil at the site is coarse, perhaps no clear staining of the soil can be expected. With Luoto’s permission, I had the sample dated (Hela-1436) and received the result of 400 ± 30 BP, or ca. 1530 calAD. The result is interesting and shows that some sort of activity was still taking place at the site in the Late Middle Ages or Early Modern Period. However, although the terrace in front of the painting is narrow, it is conceivable that the charcoal could derive, for example, from a hunter’s temporary fireplace and thus have nothing to do with the painting.

Unfortunately, one initially interesting find associated with the painting at Astuvansalmi turned out to be recent. A worked piece of reindeer antler (NM 26331:5) found in Juhani Grönhagen’s excavations from the same underwater depression as the famous amber objects (Grönhagen 1994, and see Fig. 18c) gave the result -1270 ± 25 BP (>MODERN). According to Markku Oinonen (email message 13.7.2007), head of the radiocarbon laboratory of the University of Helsinki, the so-called absolute percent Modern (pM) value of the radiocarbon was so high (116,3) that the antler probably postdates the era of atmospheric nuclear testing (1945-1963). Nothing in the sample preparation procedure suggested the possibility of con-tamination and all the other results in the batch of forty samples produced the expected results.

Its deposition at the rock art site, a rather well-known tourist attraction, may therefore be a simple prank.

Some of the finds associated with rock paintings can be dated on typological grounds.

These include two projectile points found in 1968 at Astuvansalmi (Sarvas 1969: 24, see Fig.

19). One of them is a Late Neolithic slate point (Pyheensilta or Volosovo type), according to present knowledge dated to ca. 2400-2000 BC. The other is a fragment of a straight-based quartz point, a type dated mainly to the first part of the Early Metal Period (1800 BC - 500 BC) but which is sometimes also found in Late Neolithic contexts. A fragment of what is probably also a straight-based point (Fig. 18b) made of porphyrite has been found in front of the painting of Saraakallio (NM 21744).⁶ The four amber pendants (Fig. 18c) found in the underwater excavations at Astuvansalmi (Grönhagen 1994) also offer a chronological clue.

Their typological dating is uncertain, as relatively few anthropomorphic amber pendants have been found in the entire Baltic Sea region (Iršėnas 2001). However, nearly all finds of amber in Finnish archaeology have been found in Typical or Late Comb Ware contexts, strongly suggesting a Subneolithic dating for the Astuvansalmi finds also. The closest datable parallel

6 NM refers to the catalogue numbers of the Finnish National Museum.

F^igure 20. A cobblestone with a painted net-figure from the Late Comb Ware site of Nästinristi near Turku in south-western Finland.

Photo: Markku Haverinen/Finnish National Board of Antiquities.

comes from a richly equipped red ochre grave in the Stone Age cemetery of Kukkarkoski in South-Western Finland (Torvinen 1978). Among the numerous grave goods were dozens of different amber objects, including one that resembles a human head (fig. 11 in Torvinen 1978;

NM 19727:481). Carbonized wood found in the bottom layers of the grave was radiocarbon-dated to 4890 ± 150 BP (Hel-832) or 3725 calBC. The dating, which falls in the latter part of the Typical Comb Ware period, is confirmed by the discovery of a small Typical Comb Ware pot in the same grave.

A few stone objects that seem relevant to the study of the rock paintings may also be mentioned. A carved stone sinker found in the Aapiskoski rapids near Rovaniemi, Northern Finland, has a ring-headed human stick-figure that resembles those of rock art (Äyräpää 1953b).

However, the stone is a stray find it is therefore of not much use in dating. Various bored stone discs or maces, sometimes decorated with geometric markings such as oblique crosses and zigzag-lines (e.g., Kivikäs 2000: 20-21, and NM 25770, 2084:274) that resemble those of rock art, may also be mentioned. Alas, these finds are fiendishly difficult to date, as they were in use throughout the Finnish Stone Age and often appear to have been accidentally or intentionally deposited in bodies of water.

More interesting than the engraved objects is the painted stone (Fig. 20) from Nästinristi, found in the excavations of a large Late Comb Ware site in South-Western Finland. The stone (NM 20606:82, size 16.0 x 12.0 x 10.5 cm) is an unmodified, water-worn cobble that has a red ochre painting of a net figure on one side. It was deposited in fine sand ‘face down’ and was not found in a cultural layer, but there is no reason to doubt that the stone is somehow as-sociated with the Subneolthic site, as red ochre graves were found only ca. 10 m from the find spot. The ¹⁴C-datings obtained from pit hearths and graves at Nästinristi ranged from 4910 ± 130 BP (Hel-1349) to 4460 ± 130 BP (Hel-1348). It seems very probable that the stone is of a similar date, that is, between ca. 4000 and 3000 calBC.