ARCHAEOLOGIA MEDII AEVI FINLANDIAE XXVIII THE SOCIAL AND MATERIAL WORLD OF MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN (C. 1200– 1600) VILLAGES IN IN VILLAGES 1600) 1200– (C. MODERN EARLY AND MEDIEVAL OF WORLD MATERIAL AND SOCIAL THE THE SOCIAL AND MATERIAL WORLD OF MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN During the Middle Ages and early modern (C. 1200–1650) VILLAGES IN period, most of the people in Southern Fin- land lived in villages, but quite little has been known about their everyday life because of SOUTHERN FINLAND the scarceness of historical sources. However, the increasing archaeological material offers a great new opportunity to study the material culture in the villages, and at the same time Tuuli Heinonen discuss the social life of the inhabitants. This study examines medieval villages as a social and material environment through the examples given by five villages located in Uu- simaa, Southern Finland. By comparing the excavated buildings, objects, and historical sources, a nuanced picture is drawn of the dif- ferent sides of the everyday life in the villages. The studied villages clearly demonstrate that the villages were varied environments, and that the differences in the material culture SOUTHERN FINLAND between the farms were closely connected to the differences in social position and contact nets the inhabitants had. ARCHAEOLOGIA MEDII AEVI FINLANDIAE XXVIII THE SOCIAL AND MATERIAL WORLD OF MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN (C. 1200–1650) VILLAGES IN SOUTHERN FINLAND Tuuli Heinonen University of Helsinki Faculty of Arts – Doctoral Programme in History and Cultural Heritage Supervisors Georg Haggrén (University of Helsinki) and Antti Lahelma (University of Helsinki) Pre-examiners Eva Svensson (Karlstad University) and Timo Ylimaunu (University of Oulu) Opponent: Eva Svensson (Karlstad University) Doctoral thesis, to be presented for public examination with the permission of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Helsinki on the 12th of June, 2021, at 12 o’clock. The defence is open for audience through remote access. The Faculty of Art uses the Urkund system (plagiarism recognition) to examine all doctoral dissertations. Archaeologia Medii Aevi Finlandiae XXVIII The social and material world of medieval and early modern (c. 1200–1650 AD) villages in Southern Finland Tuuli Heinonen Helsinki 2021 Suomen keskiajan arkeologian seura – Society for Medieval Archaeology in Finland Editorial Board: Anders Andrén, David Gaimster, Georg Haggrén, Janne Harjula, Markus Hiekkanen, Jussi-Pekka Taavitsainen and Kari Uotila Layout: Maija Holappa Cover photo: Old village plots in Mårtensby, Vantaa, in July 2020. Back cover: A shard of wheel-turned low-fired earthenware ceramics from Mäkkylä. Photos: Tuuli Heinonen. Printed by Picaset, Helsinki, 2021 ISBN 978-951-51-7292-1 ISBN 978-951-51-7293-8 (PDF) ISSN 1236-5882 ABSTRACT The aim of this thesis is to study the material and social world of medieval and early mod- ern (c. 1200–1650 AD) villages in Uusimaa, Southern Finland. This is done by focusing on five case studies, which are all extensively excavated medieval and early modern villag- es: Mankby, Köklax, Mäkkylä, Mårtensby, and Västersundom. The material of this study consists of both archaeological material and written sources concerning the villages. These sources are used to study the different inhabitants living in the villages and their material culture. The main research questions of the thesis are: 1. What was the material culture of the medieval and early modern villages in Southern Finland like? 2. What kinds of social environments were found in the medieval and early modern villages, and how did the material culture interact with the social life? 3. How can written sources and archaeological material complement each other when the medieval and early modern countryside is the focus of the research? The three questions are approached along the lines of social archaeology. The villages formed a special social environment, where different social actors, both human and non-human, participated in the social life. Material culture was part of this world, and it also had a cen- tral role in constructing, maintaining, and communicating things like wealth and identities. The different research materials are used together in a detail-oriented way, as is typical of microhistory, microarchaeology, and sourcepluralism, making it possible to study the mate- rial culture and social world of the studied villages but also enabling discussion of medieval and early modern rural life on a wider level. As this study is founded on both archaeological and historical sources, the relationship between the two sets of sources and the source-critical problems that arise is discussed in detail. The main types of historical sources used in this work are tax books and court re- cords, which are supplemented with medieval sources and early 16th-century account books kept by Tallinn merchants. These sources are used to study the people living in the villages, with emphasis on their wealth, connections, and the trusted positions they held. All these can inform about the social standing of the inhabitants. The archaeological material consists of both objects and buildings excavated in the five villages. The development of building practices is studied by focusing on the buildings on a detailed level. The built environment is also studied on a more general level in order to investigate the changes that happened with the use of space over time. The physical environment interacted with the social life, being closely connected to the ways in which people moved around in the village, where and how different activities took place, and whom the inhabitants met during their daily life. The objects are compared between different farms and villages in order to establish differences in wealth, contacts, livelihoods, and social position. In addition, the use of space is studied based on the distribution of different objects. Based on the five case studies, the social life and material life in the villages are studied from different perspectives. The results of the study show that the medieval villages in cen- tral Uusimaa were a varied environment. The villages were established by both Finnish- and Swedish-speaking groups during the Early Middle Ages. They were dynamic environments where the building practices, use of space, and used objects changed throughout the studied period. The material culture of the villages was varied, and besides objects manufactured locally, imported items were used regularly. The villagers not only used imported tableware and personal items related to clothing for practical reasons, but also to communicate and negotiate their social position and identity. Besides agriculture, many villagers gained their livelihoods from varied sources, like handicrafts and trade. Because of the small number of towns in Uusimaa, peasant tradesmen who sailed regularly to Tallinn were important for the economy of the area, and they also transmitted material and social influences through their extensive networks. Besides the peasants, there were likely noblemen and soldiers living in the villages. In addition, the villagers included a large number of people like women, chil- dren, and servants, who are not easily visible in either archaeological or historical sources. The five villages offer a good example of the varied nature of medieval and early -mod ern villages as both material and social environments. By combining both archaeological and historical data, a more nuanced picture can be gained of the different sides of rural life than by using just one type of source. Although there are challenges in using the different types of sources together, the results are good, and in the best cases the life history of single farms can be studied in detail. The examples studied in this work clearly demonstrate how a detailed study of archaeological and historical sources offers new insights into the material and social world of medieval and early modern villages. CONTENTS Abstract Acknowledgements 1 1 Introduction 3 1.1 Research questions and the outline of the thesis 5 1.2 Geographical and temporal framework 8 1.3 Studying village life – some key concepts 10 1.4 Historical archaeology in Finland – from monuments to common people 14 2 The stage – Uusimaa in the medieval and early modern periods 18 2.1 Finland and the medieval and early modern Sweden 18 2.2 Settlement history of Uusimaa from the Iron Age to the early modern period 22 2.3 Medieval and Early Modern rural settlement in Uusimaa 27 3 Social and material aspects to life in the villages – the theoretical framework 31 3.1 Medieval and early modern society 32 3.2 Villages as social environments 33 3.3 Material culture and the social world 35 3.4 Social groups and identities 38 4 History, archaeology, and historical archaeology ­ 40 4.1 The challenging relationship between archaeology and history 40 4.2 Microarchaeology and source pluralism – ways to approach the source material 43 4.3 Contexts – a relational approach from the micro level to the macro level 46 5 How to study the different aspects of village life 48 5.1 People in the written sources 48 5.2 Built environment and the use of space 53 5.3 Material culture in the villages 56 5.4 Source critical challenges 64 6 Mankby – a village turned into a royal demesne 66 6.1 The village and its inhabitants 67 6.2 Buildings and the built environment 70 6.3 Material culture 74 6.4 Medieval and early modern settlement in Mankby – a summary 82 7 Köklax – the home of a länsman 83 7.1