Satu Koivisto

University of Helsinki | HY

SylFish aims to investigate the effects of human exploitation and environmental change on marine fauna in the coastal waters of Lolland from the Late Mesolithic to the Bronze Age (c. 5500–600 BC). The project will focus on the ecology and economy of prehistoric societies and their relationship with the sea by addressing landscape changes, subsistence economies, and self-perceptions through the analysis of aquatic and terrestrial faunal remains, fishing structures, and patterns in the exploitation of marine fauna. Qualitative and quantitative measures will help us understand the relevance of aquatic resources to prehistoric communities, provide information on human impacts on the environment in the past and peoples’ reactions to changing ecological and economic conditions.

With this pre-project study, I aim to further our understanding about the history of a prehistoric settlement site (Järvensuo in Humppila, SW Finland, c. 3500–500 BCE) situated in a dynamic wetland landscape. The unusual preservation conditions for organic materials within this site under humid, saturated sediments yield valuable sources for investigating past populations and their environment. The existing materials accumulated via drainage operations in the 1950s and onwards and the preliminary excavations in the 80s will be thoroughly analysed, catalogued, and reported within this study, which will form the basis for the assessment of research potential and state of preservation of the site for the planning of the implementation project and archaeological fieldwork.

Archaeological sites can be discovered and recorded in a high-resolution and non-invasive manner using geophysical methods. These measure the spatial variation of a range of physical properties of the soil which may be representative proxies of the subsurface archaeology. Less-invasive and cost-effective field procedures have become top-priority to mitigate the destructive effects on our cultural heritage from intensified land use, climate change and the current conflict panorama. At a time when many organisations are investing in advanced geophysical equipment, a major problem is that our ability to fully interpret the information available from geophysical datasets is still very limited. This deficiency prevents geophysical survey moving beyond basic prospection and becoming a significant tool for answering nuanced questions about archaeology and their host landscapes. This limitation arises from an incomplete understanding of the relationship between soil properties and geophysical measurements. Bridging this gap requires multi-disciplinary teams, testing novel methods, plus scholarly discussion to collate the outcomes of projects on this topic. Overcoming these challenges is a prerequisite for maximising the cost-effectiveness of geophysical methods, realising the expected benefits of technological investment and allowing broader utility of geophysical methods in the cultural heritage sector. SAGA will build an international network of geophysicists, archaeologists, soil scientists and other experts to develop our capability to interpret geophysical data and promote research collaborations. Our vision is that after four years, SAGA will have created an environment within which emerging field procedures, enhanced data interpretation and a broader understanding of integrated geophysical methods can flourish.