Kola Oleneostrovskiy Grave Field: A Unique Burial Site in the European Arctic Anton I. Murashkin, Evgeniy M. Kolpakov, Vladimir Ya. Shumkin, Valeriy I. Khartanovich & Vyacheslav G. Moiseyev Anton I. Murashkin, Department of Archaeology, St Petersburg State University, Mendeleyevskaya liniya 5, RU-199034 St Petersburg, Russia: [email protected], [email protected] Evgeniy M. Kolpakov, Department of Palaeolithic, Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya nab. 18, RU-191186 St Petersburg, Russia: [email protected] Vladimir ya. Shumkin, Department of Palaeolithic, Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dvortsovaya nab. 18, RU-191186 St Petersburg, Russia: [email protected] Valeriy I. Khartanovich, Department of Anthropology, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 3, RU-199034 St Petersburg, Russia: [email protected] Vyacheslav G. Moiseyev, Department of Anthropology, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 3, RU-199034 St Petersburg, Russia: [email protected] Abstract The Kola Oleneostrovskiy grave field (KOG) is the main source of information for the physical and cultural anthropology of the Early Metal Period population of the Kola Peninsula and the whole northern Fennoscandia.1 Excavations were conducted here in 1925, 1928, 1947–1948, and 2001–2004 by A. Shmidt, N. Gurina, and V. Shumkin. Altogether 32 burials containing the remains of 43 individuals were investigated. During the excavations, also remains of wooden grave constructions were found. The site is exceptionally rich in burial goods, including numerous bone, antler, stone, ceramic, and bronze items. Grave goods differ slightly between male and female burials. There is some evidence of long-distance contacts between the local population and southern and western Scandinavia, most notably in the chemical composition of bronze items and in some types of bone tools. Anthropological data, including the analysis of paleoDNA, suggests that people from geographically more eastern areas took part in the genesis of the ancient population of the northern Kola Peninsula. These people belonged to a specific physical type associated with modern Siberian anthropological groups. NEW SITES, NEW METHODS THE FINNISH ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, ISKOS 21, 2016 Anton I. MURASHKIN, EVGENIY M. Kolpakov, VLADIMIR YA. SHUMKIN, VALERIY I. Khartanovich & VYACHESLAV G. MOISEYEV 1 Introduction antler artefacts, remains of wooden funerary structures, skeletal remains of buried people, The Kola Oleneostrovskiy grave field (KOG) and faunal materials. is currently the main source of information The first burials were found 90 years ago, about the burial rites of the Early Metal Period in 1925. Since then, excavations at the site population of northern Fennoscandia. This is have been carried out three times. Bilingual due to the unique preservation of bone and publication of the whole material is still pend- Figure 1. General map of the Kola Oleneostrovskiy grave field. Drawing: E. Kolpakov. 186 KOLA OLENEOSTROVSKIy Grave FIELD: A UNIQUE BURIAL SITE IN THE EUROPEAN ARCTIC . Figure 2. Kola Oleneostrovskiy grave field, map showing the areas and burials excavated in 1928, 1947–1948, 2001–2004. Drawing: E. Kolpakov 187 Anton I. MURASHKIN, EVGENIY M. Kolpakov, VLADIMIR YA. SHUMKIN, VALERIY I. Khartanovich & VYACHESLAV G. MOISEYEV Figure 3. Kola Oleneostrovskiy grave field, stratigraphy. Section of burials 14 and 15. Photo and drawing: E. Kolpakov. ing, and the present article is intended to pres- Russian Northern Fleet. During the construc- ent just some general conclusions based on tion of coastal fortifications on Bolshoy Oleniy recent excavations in 2001–2004. Island, sand quarrying was organised in the area of the KOG and a large part of the site 2 Research history was destroyed. At that time, military engineer A. Tsiplenkov collected archaeological and Bolshoy Oleniy Island (En. Big Deer Island), anthropological material from about 25 buri- on which the burial ground was discovered, is als. He sent four artefacts to the Museum of located in Kola Bay, 12 km from the mouth of Anthropology and Ethnography in Moscow, the bay and 2.4 km from the city of Polyarniy. but the fate of the rest of the collection is un- The burial field is located in the southern part known. of the island, between an inland lake and the In 1947–1948, an area of 56 m2 was ex- island’s southern shore, on a relic tombolo cavated and 10 burials were studied by N. composed of shell sand. The tombolo has an Gurina (Gurina 1953; 1997). In 2001–2004, altitude of 14–15 m a.s.l. and is located bet- excavations were carried out by the Kola ween two rocks (Fig. 1). Archaeological Expedition of the Institute for In the summer of 1925, two research- the History of Material Culture of the Russian ers working at the Murmansk biological sta- Academy of Science (KAE IHMC RAS), led tion, S. Yegorov and G. Rikhter, found and by V. Shumkin. Three excavation areas with excavated two damaged burials. Information a total area of 120 m2 were placed along the about the site and the finds was reported to southern edge of the sand quarry, and an ad- the Ethnographic Department of the State ditional 100 m2 were dug in an area covering Russian Museum. In 1928, an expedition led the southern part of Gurina’s trench and the by A. Shmidt excavated 94 m2 and investigated partially collapsed southern part of the quarry. 13 graves (including the burials unearthed by Altogether nine graves were investigated (Fig. Yegorov and Rikhter) (Shmidt 1930). In 1934, 2) (Shumkin & Murashkin 2003; Shumkin et Polyarniy had become the main base of the al. 2005; 2006). Thus, 32 burials containing 188 KOLA OLENEOSTROVSKIy Grave FIELD: A UNIQUE BURIAL SITE IN THE EUROPEAN ARCTIC Figure 4. Kola Oleneostrovskiy grave field, map of burial 19 at the level of caskets and grave goods. Orange – skeletal remains; light green – skeletal remains of a newborn child (19-6); grey – wooden constructions; blue – tar; light blue – lithic, bone, and antler artefacts, animal bones; yellow – pieces of ironstone. Drawing: E. Kolpakov. the remains of 43 individuals have been stud- Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), ied through archaeological excavations. In ad- St Petersburg, keeps artefacts collected by dition, the copy of Tsiplenkov’s letter contains Shmidt and Tsiplenkov (collection No 4082), a brief overview of about 25 skeletons. In the as well as a part of Gurina’s finds (collection following, we use the historically developed No 6152). The Murmansk Regional Museum notations of burials: RE-1–2 – discovered stores another part of Gurina’s finds (collec- and partially excavated by G. Rikhter and S. tion No 363, 364, 3133). Artefacts collected by Yegorov; I–X – investigated by A. Shmidt the KAE are housed in the Polyarniy Museum in 1928; 1–10 – investigated by N. Gurina of Local Lore and History. The location of the in 1947–1948; 11–19 – investigated by V. finds recovered by Rikhter and Yegorov is un- Shumkin in 2001–2004. known – according to Shmidt (1930: 122), the Archaeological materials from the excava- finds were given to the State Russian Museum, tions of the KOG are currently housed in four but their current location is unknown. museums. The Peter the Great Museum of 189 Anton I. MURASHKIN, EVGENIY M. Kolpakov, VLADIMIR YA. SHUMKIN, VALERIY I. Khartanovich & VYACHESLAV G. MOISEYEV 3 Stratigraphy are not visible in the dark brown organic-rich sand with iron oxides either. The grave pits The stratigraphy documented in different parts were filled with slightly charcoal-mixed shell of the relic tombolo is similar in general featu- sand, inhomogeneous in colour (Fig. 3). res. The uppermost peat soil (ca. 6 cm thick) is underlain by moderately well decomposed peat, 4 Burial rites (archaeological with a maximum thickness of 41 cm. Within the observations) burial ground area, a layer of shell sand, mixed with fine organic debris, separates these two Our excavations in 2001–2004 provided new layers – such a phenomenon was not observed data for the interpretation of the site. Based in any other area (Shumkin et al. 2005: 470– on this, the burial practices of the Early Metal 471). Fine quartz sand with an admixture of Period on Bolshoy Oleniy Island can be descri- feldspar grains was recorded below the peat and bed as follows. Apart from three cases of crema- has a maximum thickness of 11 cm and a sharp tion, all burials were inhumations with the de- lower boundary. Underneath the quartz sand, a ceased laid on their backs and with their heads thin (up to 6 cm) layer of dark brown organic- directed towards the east and north-east. There rich sand with iron oxide concentrations was were single, double (RE-1–2, IV–V, 2–3, 13), observed. The lowermost part of the sequence and collective burials (16, 17, and 19, including consists of medium- to coarse-grained shell four, five, and six deceased respectively). sand, with occasional concentrations of pebbles The dead were placed in rectangular or and stones in the upper part of the layer. In some oval pits, to a depth of approximately 0.5 m areas, organic-rich old soil was observed below under the ancient surface. All burials, except some of the stones. 14 and 18, included stone features in the form The shell sand often contains fragments of rows and other structures. These structures and intact shells of marine molluscs typical of are usually one or two stones high and wide, the so-called Trivia transgression, which start- although a feature on the north-eastern side of ed during the late Atlantic to early Subboreal burial 16 was four stones wide. The lower parts and terminated by the end of the Subboreal.2 of the stones sit on the shell sand and their up- In other words, the composition of the mol- per parts reach the brown turf – in fact, these lusc assemblage suggests that the tombolo was stones mark the original ground surface, from formed during the Trivia transgression.