Sacred Monuments and Practices in the Baltic Sea Region – New Visits to Old Churches (original) (raw)

Papers from the Conference on Church Archaeology in the Baltic Sea Region (26–30 August 2013)

2015

This issue of Mirator represents the outcome of the Conference on Church Archaeology in the Baltic Sea Region held on the 26th to 30th of August 2013 in Turku, Finland. The roots of this conference are in the long tradition of Scandinavian gatherings called Symposium för nordisk kyrkoarkeologi (‘Symposium for Nordic Church Archaeology’) started in 1981 in Moesgård, Denmark. The third symposium in the series was held 1987 in Turku. Over a quarter of century later, church researchers gathered in Turku for the second time – the eleventh time in the series of these events – with a wider scope. The event was an international conference with English as the language of discussion instead of the Scandinavian languages spoken in the earlier, smaller symposia. The 1987 symposium was organized by the National Board of Antiquities and Turku Provincial Museum. The central figure in arrangements and active in other church archaeology symposiums was Dr Knut Drake (1927–2013), at the time the head ...

Conference: Indifferent Things? Material and Ceremonial Church Practices in the 16th and 17th Centuries in the Baltic Sea Region 14.09.17–16.09.17

Conference: Indifferent Things? Material and Ceremonial Church Practices in the 16th and 17th Centuries in the Baltic Sea Region 14.09.17–16.09.17 Rahvusvaheline konverents: Vahepealsed asjad? Materiaalsed ja rituaalsed praktikad Läänemere regiooni 16. ja 17. sajandi luteriusu kirikutes 14.09.17–16.09.17 In co-operation with the: Art Museum of Estonia – Niguliste Museum Böckler-Mare-Balticum-Stiftung Estonian Academy of Arts – Institute of Art History and Visual Culture Tallinn University – Institute of History, Archaeology and Art History Conference Programme Committee: Professor Krista Kodres, Estonian Academy of Arts Dr. Anu Mänd, Tallinn University Merike Kurisoo, Art Museum of Estonia Professor Gerhard Weilandt, Universität Greifswald Dr. Janis Kreslins, National Library of Sweden Conference Organisers: Krista Kodres, Estonian Academy of Arts Merike Kurisoo, Art Museum of Estonia Anu Mänd, Tallinn University

Archaeological view of Christianization two sides of the Baltic Sea

2010

The written evidence gives us a view of the conversion of the peri‐Baltic area through the eyes of the successful Christianizers because, unfortunately, no other contemporary “eyes” are available. Sources from the 10th–11th century paint a pro‐ cess that was quick, historically necessary, and politically effective. Those especially active in spreading the Faith are naturally the focus of attention, hence the ac‐ counts we are dealing with refer for the most part to political elites and ruling dy‐ nasties in particular. Therefore, the historiography of Christianization is not much different from political history. Medieval Christian ‘historians’ dichotomized the past into two distinctive epo chs separated by decisive events which introduced divine order into ungodly chaos. This uniform vision makes us also think in terms of sharp contrasts be‐ tween “what was Christian” and “what was not‐Christian”, thus confronting the two “worlds” in order to achieve better focus and typological cl...

Archaeology and pre-Christian religion in Scandinavia

Current Swedish Archaeology, 2000

Archaeological research on pre-Christian religion has increased greatly during the last two decades. Studies of ritual and religion appear frequently in scholarly, popular and antiquarian publications of the 1990s. Selected publications in Scandinaviau archaeology are presented in order to characterise and discuss different approaches. Central theoretical and methodological questions are discussed, as well as the co-operation with other humanistic disciplines.

Reflections on Church Historians, Archaeologists and Early Christianity in Finland

There seems to be a continuous difference of opinion between historians and church historians on one hand and archaeologists on the other regarding possible influence on early Christianity in Scandinavia from the Eastern Church. This calls for a discussion of the different scholarly traditions in interpreting the source material that will lead up to some reflections on the roots of early Christianity in Finland.

Atypical burials and variations in burial customs in the church of Renko, Finland

Entangled beliefs and rituals: Religion in Finland and Sápmi from Stone Age to contemporary times. MASF 8., 2020

Moilanen, Ulla & Hiekkanen, Markus 2020. Atypical burials and variations in burial customs in the church of Renko, Finland. In: Entangled beliefs and rituals: Religion in Finland and Sápmi from Stone Age to contemporary times. T. Äikäs & S. Lipkin (Eds.) Monographs of the Archaeological Society of Finland 8: 35-53. The stone church of Renko was built in the 16th century, abandoned and ruined in the mid-17th century, dismantled, and finally rebuilt in 1783. It was preceded by one or perhaps two consecutive wooden churches built at the same location since the beginning of the 15th century. Extensive archaeological excavations were conducted inside the church in 1984 when the wooden floor was replaced with a stone floor. Seventy-one graves dating from the 15th to the 18th century were found during the excavations. Grave sites under the church floor were expensive and usually reserved for individuals of high social status, such as priests, officials, and wealthy landowners. There is usually little variation in church burial customs, as they follow Christian traditions and contemporary legislation. However, the graves in the Renko church include a few distinctive burials in terms of burial position and treatment of the corpse. This chapter analyses these burials and explains them in the wider contexts of church burials and non-normative graves. The early 1980s can be described as a time of transition in church archaeology, which was officially acknowledged as a specific branch of archaeology in 1981 (Crabtree 2001: 336). Until then, excavations at churches in Finland were almost exclusively carried out by art historians and architects, while scholars with an archaeological background and experience in fieldwork techniques were absent. This was part of a wider European phenomenon, but in Finland, the situation had its roots also in the complex structure of antiquarian work and the indifferent attitude towards medieval and historical archaeology-apart from building archaeology in the strictest sense-since the early 20th century. 1 In the summer and early autumn of 1984, an archaeological excavation was carried out in the stone church of Renko in southwestern Häme (Tavastia) (Fig. 2.1) in connection with plans to replace the wooden floor with a stone floor. It was one of the first church excavations carried out by professional archaeologists in Finland, and because of the exceptional history of the church, it was also one of the first excavations to focus on the careful excavation of historical graves located inside a church.

Archaeologia BALTICA

Ogresgala Čabas Cemetery and horse sacrifice, 2009

Briefly presented in this paper are the results of the 2007 and 2008 excavations at the complex of ancient sites at Ogresgala Čabas. Particularly significant discoveries were made in the Liv cemetery site, which presented a surprising diversity of burial practices, among which particularly significant are the peristaliths surrounding the burials, the offerings of artefacts, the sacrifice of a horse and possible sacrifice of a woman. Considering the horse burial at Ogresgala Čabas and the offerings of horse body parts at cemeteries in the Lower Daugava area, it seems that the horse played a greater role in Liv mythological belief and ritual than has been assumed hitherto.