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Teemu Mökkönen NEOLITHIC HOUSEPITS in the VUOKSI RIVER VALLEY, KARELIAN ISTHMUS, RUSSIA – CHRONOLOGICAL CHANGES in SIZE and LOCATION

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Teemu Mökkönen NEOLITHIC HOUSEPITS in the VUOKSI RIVER VALLEY, KARELIAN ISTHMUS, RUSSIA – CHRONOLOGICAL CHANGES in SIZE and LOCATION Fennoscandia archaeologica XXVI (2009) Teemu Mökkönen NEOLITHIC HOUSEPITS IN THE VUOKSI RIVER VALLEY, KARELIAN ISTHMUS, RUSSIA – CHRONOLOGICAL CHANGES IN SIZE AND LOCATION Abstract Since the discovery of the first housepits on the Karelian Isthmus in 1999, intensive surveys in the research area of the Vuoksi River Valley have revealed 82 housepits dispersed among 24 dwelling sites. Most of the housepits date to the Neolithic Stone Age. During the time the housepits were in use, the sites were located on the shores of Ancient Lake Ladoga. The first part of this article deals with pattern recognition: chronological variation in housepit size and shape, and in the placement of pithouses. The clearest change in tradition in pithouse placement is observed in the Typical Comb Ware Period, when pithouses appeared in large numbers in the archipelago. This change is accompanied by an unprecedented increase in pithouse size and numbers. The second part of this article attempts to infer what motivated the observed changes. This paper argues that there was an increase in sedentism during the first half of the 4th millennium cal BC, in the Middle Neolithic. This is reflected in the development of pithouses and pithouse sites, in shifts in site placement to settings favouring other than winter-only habitation, and in logistical mobility based on water transportation. The article is based on survey data mostly gathered during the Kaukola-Räisälä Project (2004–2005). Keywords: Neolithic, Stone Age, housepits, ancient Lake Ladoga, Karelian Isthmus, Finland, Russia, hunter-gatherers, survey data, sedentism, water transport Teemu Mökkönen, Institute for Cultural Research, Archaeology, P.O. Box 59, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland, E-mail: [email protected] INTRODUCTION here by their Finnish names4, a convention also followed in previous articles (see Lavento et al. This article is the first comprehensive presenta- 2001; 2006; Mökkönen et al. 2006). tion of the Stone Age housepits discovered over The first housepits in the research area were the last ten years in the Kaukola–Räisälä region discovered in 1999 (Lavento et al. 2001). At the in the northeastern part of the Karelian Isthmus, moment, known housepits number 82, divided Russia (Fig. 1). Archaeologically, this is the most among 24 dwelling sites5 (Appendix 1). Most of intensively studied area of the Karelian Isthmus, the housepits date to the Neolithic6 Period, with with a history of research extending back more a few exceptions (see Mökkönen et al. 2007). than a hundred years.1 Regardless of the long During the Stone Age these sites were located by research history, the majority of the data used Ancient Lake Ladoga (ca. 7800/7000–1350 cal in this study was gathered during the Kaukola– BC), the water level of which lay at ca. 21 meters Räisälä Project2, which included several surveys above sea level, i.e., about 16 meters higher than and small-scale excavations. As a result of the sur- at present. veys, the number of known Stone Age and Early The central question of this paper deals with Metal Period sites doubled.3 Sites are referred to chronological variation in the housepits. The 133 LIMITATIONS OF CHRONOLOGICAL TOOLS When the number of excavated sites is low, the presumed chronological distribution of the sites is usually not based on radiocarbon dates. Chrono- logical tools often employed in such cases include shoreline displacement chronology and pottery typology. Land uplift is an active natural force on the Karelian Isthmus. However, sites in the research area cannot be dated accurately by shoreline displacement chronology. Likewise, the pottery typology of the area is still poorly studied and presents a number of unique characteristics. The limitations of these tools are presented in the Fig. 1. The research area is located in following. the River Vuoksi Valley, Karelian Isth- mus, Russia. The maximum size of the Shoreline displacement research area is 30 x 40 kilometers. The Ancient Lake Ladoga Phase covers the span from the isolation of the lake from the Baltic Sea absence of excavated housepits has directed the Basin (ca. 7800–7000 cal BC) to the formation of analysis towards information available through the River Neva (ca. 1350 cal BC). During this period archaeological surveys. In boreal forest that the lower Vuoksi River Valley was a large bay of has never been agricultural land, housepits are Ancient Lake Ladoga, reaching far into the interior still clearly observable. Therefore, it is possible of the Karelian Isthmus (see Fig. 10). The research to measure the size and depth and examine the area is located approximately on the same land uplift shape and alignment of the housepits without isobase as the former outlet channel at the Heinijoki excavation. threshold east of the town of Vyborg (Saarnisto & Other issues also examined here are the distri- Grönlund 1996; Saarnisto 2003; 2008). bution of housepits with respect to environmental The Heinijoki threshold, which was active zones, the housepit sites’ immediate environment, during the whole Ancient Lake Ladoga period, and the pottery types associated with housepits. split the ancient lake into two areas: (1) the north- The development of housepits and changes in western area with a higher land uplift rate and site location provide information, for example, regressive water level, and (2) the south-eastern about the degree of sedentariness and the mobility area with a lower land uplift rate and transgressive strategies of the groups that inhabited the shores water level. The water level in the research area, of Ancient Lake Ladoga. which is located on the same land uplift isobase This article commences with a discussion of as the threshold, was nearly stable. the problems with chronological accuracy regard- Around 4000 cal BC, the formation of the ing the Neolithic material found on the Karelian Vuoksi River, a new outflow channel of Lake Isthmus and the general development of house- Saimaa running into Lake Ladoga, accelerated pits with emphasis on the areas in the vicinity of the rise of the water level in the latter, including, the study area. The article then focuses on the of course, the research area. The maximum water housepits in the lower Vuoksi River Valley and level was reached just before the formation of describes the observed changes: the chronologi- the current outflow channel, the River Neva (ca. cal trends in housepit shape and size as well as 1350 cal BC), the opening of which caused a ca. changes in the housepit sites’ environmental and 10-meter drop in the water level. Nevertheless, topographic setting. Finally, the observations are the fluctuation of the water level in the research discussed with emphasis on questions relating to area during the Ancient Lake Ladoga Phase was the degree of sedentism, mobility, and the house- minor, within a limit of two meters7 (Saarnisto & pit sites’ suitability for year-round habitation. Siiriäinen 1970). 134 In addition to slight water level fluctuations, fluctuation and the ancient population’s habit of there is another factor that complicates the dating occupying locations with steep shore profiles. At of dwelling sites on the basis of their elevation. the moment, our knowledge of Middle and Late During the Stone Age there was a clear tendency Neolithic ceramics on the Karelian Isthmus is to occupy locations with a steep shore profile insufficient for understanding the chronological (Mökkönen et al. 2006: 116). These sites were variation in all its details. There are numerous not affected at all by small water level fluctua- similarities with the Stone Age ceramics found tions and could consequently have been occupied within the current borders of Finland, but on the throughout the Ancient Lake Ladoga Phase. other hand, similarities with materials found in nearby Russian areas are highly likely, although Pottery typologies at the moment this is poorly understood. I suppose that the Finnish pottery typology and chronology, A detailed pottery typology for the Karelian for the lack of something better, can be used on Isthmus does not exist as of yet. On the basis the Karelian Isthmus as a directional device, yet of typologies created for nearby areas, it can be keeping in mind the limitations of its accuracy. assumed that the Early Neolithic on the Karelian Isthmus was rather similar as regards dating and CHRONOLOGICAL TRENDS IN NORTHERN ceramic types (see Piezonka 2008). Later, during EUROPEAN HOUSEPITS the late Middle Neolithic and the Late Neolithic8, regional variation in ceramics increases (Fig. 2). Another approach to understanding the chronol- This is evident when comparing the chronologies ogy is to analyse the sizes and shapes of the of areas adjacent to the Karelian Isthmus (see housepits. A certain developmental trend may be Carpelan 1999; Zhul’nikov 1999; 2003; 2005; observed taking place quite simultaneously in the Lang & Kriiska 2001; Pesonen 2004). Therefore, Northern European forest belt. A preference for it is probable that none of the pottery chronologies larger, deeper, and more oblong housepits (a.k.a. used in the nearby areas will automatically work semi-subterranean houses) appears during the on the Karelian Isthmus. late 4th millennium cal BC, continues universally Discrepancies in dating certain types of ceram- during the 3rd millennium cal BC and sporadically ics are suggested by comparisons of AMS-dates in some areas up to the early 2nd millennium cal from the Karelian Isthmus with Finnish dates. BC (Norberg 2008: 159–60). For example, Kierikki Ware found in Finland In Finland, the larger and deeper housepits dates to ca. 3350–2900 cal BC (Pesonen 2004) with surrounding embankments and with en- while an AMS-dated piece of Kierikki Ware from trances or antechambers visible on the surface the Johannes Väntsi site, located by the seashore predominantly date from ca. 3500 cal BC to the on the Karelian Isthmus, dates notably older, beginning of the Bronze Age ca.
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