Finland’s prehistory

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This presentation isn’t an exact historical description, but raises issues about the birth of Finland and Finnish culture.

Prehistory is the period of time before written records.

People moved to Finland in small groups over a long period of time. There weren't any massive migrations.

This presentation is focused only on a few main issues.

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Introduction

Northern Europe was covered in ice about 22000 - 10000 years ago. The ice sheet thickness was around five miles.

When the climate became warmer the ice began to melt, plants started to grow and animals and people came to the area.

The first plants were Birches and Pines. The first animals were birds, fish, elk, bears, hares, foxes, beavers, seals and finally people and dogs.

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Ice Age

The Ice Age altered Finnish nature. It moved the rocks, modified cliffs and formed lakes.

Little by little the land rose, land area expanded and many lakes were born.

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Ice Age

Now you know why Finland is called the land of a thousand lakes!

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Modified nature

Potholes are born when meltwater tunnels rocks into the rock. Finns call them “Hiidenkirnu”

After The Ice Age, people first came to Finland from the east and south, around 8000 – 6500 B.C.

That time is called The Stone Age. During that period people learned to make objects of stone.

They were fishermen, hunters and gatherers.

They came to Finland in small groups. They didn't have permanent dwellings and they wandered after their food.

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Stone Age (8600 – 1500 B.C.)

In the last part of the Stone Age (3200 B.C.) new residents moved to Finland from the south across the sea (Baltic people.)

They had new types of weapons that were used in battles, Hammer-axes. Due to this they are called hammer-axe-people.

They cultivated corn and they had domestic animals. They had also permanent dwellings.

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Stone Age

Hi! My name is Jussi and I moved to Finland fromthe South. I like fishing. Pike are my favourite!

The current Finnish language has a few words that come from the Stone Age: veri, jalka, sappi, kivi, emä and peni

Emä newer word äiti

Peni newer word koira

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Stone Age

Try to match the words and images!

My favouriteword is emä, guess why?

Bronze casting was learned during the Bronze Age.

More residents arrived to Finland from the south and the west. They were Germans.

They occupied permanent places of living. They cultivated barley, wheat and rye. Their domesticated animals were dogs, cows, sheep, pigs and goats.

Gradually they created house-groups and villages. Near the coasts they made fishing villages.

Instead of huts their permanent dwellings were made of peat, reed and straw.

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Bronze Age (1500 – 500 B.C.)

My father was a blacksmith who forged fine swords and axes.

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Bronze Age

a scale model of a Bronze Age house

The current Finnish language has a few words that come from the stone age: aura, multa, niittää, nahka, ahjo, hauta, kansa, laiva, miekka, neula.

people, reap, leather, needle, forge, grave, ship, plow, mold, sword

Match the words

with the correct meaning.

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Grave Mounds

About 3000 years ago people moved to Finland from the west. They brought a culture that buried their dead under stone mounds. This tradition was popular on the west coast.

Thousands of these still remain in nature.

The first iron objects were imported to Finland from southern Europe. As a result, people learned to smelt iron from the lake ore.

Iron was easier to forge than stone and it was stronger than bronze.

People had been trading since the Stone Age but trade increased significantly during the Iron Age. Imports like glass and gold came from Central Europe. Finns paid for their purchases, for example, with furs.

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Iron Age (500 B.C. – 1150 A.D.)

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Iron AgeReconstruction of an Iron Age dress.

Compare the Iron Age outfit to the Finnish national costume.

Women played an important role in the

family. They took care of the home

and cattle, while the men were hunting

and fishing.

Former Finnish President, Tarja Halonen, wearing an ancient costume.

During the Iron Age people built temporary cabins in good hunting areas. These houses had no chimney, only a hole in the ceiling. In Finnish these houses are called savupirtti (Smokehouse.)

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Smokehouse

Do you see the similarities between this picture and the log construction later in Finland?

Our house has an earthen floor.

People became organized societies. In order to protect their communities they built hillforts, (muinaislinna) as a security system. From the hillforts they fought against invaders.

They also had court-circles where they decided communityaffairs and solved disputes.

Places of sacrafice were founded.

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Organized Society

By the end of the Iron Age, around 50,000 people lived in Finland.

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Population

Living areas

The Vikings were Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. Vikings made long forays, exploration and commercial tours, even to North America. Finns traded with the Vikings, but they also had reasons to be afraid of them.

During the Viking Age, Swedish people moved to Åland and it became a Swedish speaking region. People have spoken Swedish on Finland's west coast since the Viking period.

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Viking’s tours (800 – 1025 A.D.)

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Åland

Did you know that Åland(Island) has autonomy although it is part of Finland?

Åland’s official language is Swedish and on Finland’s west coast, Swedish is often still spoken. There are also cities whose official language is Swedish.

Hej, Jag tycker attsvenska är ett roligt språk.

Finland's National Epic is the Kalevala, it tells of the Viking era. The Kalevala was published in 1835-1836.

Heroes of the Kalevala made long forays like the Vikings.

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Kalevala

Kalevala Koru is a Finnish design Company that makes jewelry resembling original designs from the Bronze and Viking Ages.

Do you know what kindof instrument the Kantele is? I like to play it.