Pages: 295-308
Archaeological evidence of the use of animal hides in burials have recently become known in the Late Iron Age and the Middle Ages (800—1300 AD) in Finland and Karelia (Russia). The purpose of the article is to interpret the ritual of wrapping the dead in hides of Eurasian elk and reindeer. For the first time, the authors use a combination of innovative methods of archaeozoological analysis to study the remains of fur, and the method of ethnoarchaeological reconstruction to study the burial rite.
Wrapping bodies in hides of wild animals is a widespread long-term tradition, which was practiced in Northern Europe by the Stone Age hunters. This funerary rite was supposed to ensure the “transformation” of a person into an ancestor animal. Reminiscences of hunting religious beliefs were preserved in the ideology of Northern Europe after the transition to agriculture.
Keywords: Finland, Karelia, Iron Age, Middle Ages, ritual, cemeteries, burials, skins
Information about authors:
Nataliia Mykhailova (Kyiv, Ukraine). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Heroiv Stalingradu Ave., 12, Kyiv, 04210, Ukraine
E-mail: [email protected]
Tuija Kirkinen (Helsinki, Finland). PhD. University of Helsinki. PO Box 50, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland.
E-mail: [email protected]
Kristiina Mannermaa (Helsinki, Finland). PhD. University of Helsinki. PO Box 50, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland.
E-mail: [email protected]