such as bronze bars and scrap metal for casting, raw-glass, glass and mosaic beads, small
whetstones, amber and small pieces of German and Anglo-Saxon silver coins for the
production of jewellery. The workshop seems to have been in operation at the end of
the eleventh century.
On the other hand, the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland and the province of
Uusimaa appear almost deserted during the Viking Age. It has been suggested that the
great trade route to the east that followed the southern coast of Finland was actually
detrimental to settlement near the coast, and that the lively traffic along the route made
the coast a dangerous place to live. This could explain the abandoning of the previously
rich Iron Age villages in Karjaa, western Uusimaa, around ad 800. On the other hand,
the new finds from Hiittinen show that the coastal farmers could also form productive
relationships with the voyagers on the Eastern Route. Both parties were astute enough
to take advantage of the Viking Age economic boom.
In this connection one should recall that in the Old Norse sagas of both Njáll and St
Óláfr the coastline of southern Finland is called ‘Balagårdssidan’. The name refers to the
custom of lighting fires on high rocks to warn the population against enemy attacks. In
the saga of St Óláfr it is described how he sailed to Finland after returning from a
plundering expedition to Saaremaa in Estonia, the Nordic Eysyssla.
In the south-western part of the province of Ostrobothnia, so rich in archaeological
remains during the earlier periods, all signs of permanent occupation disappear at the
beginning of the Viking Age, c. ad 800. So far, archaeologists have not come up with a
satisfactory explanation for this phenomenon. Some have seen it as the result of the
struggle between the realms of Kaleva and Pohjola described in Finnish folk epics,
others have discussed the possible role of the Justinian plague in emptying the province
of inhabitants. In fact, however, the settlements were not struck by a sudden catastrophe
but rather were gradually abandoned as a result of the rapid land rise in the region –
some 100 cm every 100 years – which, in combination with the province’s flat
topography, turned the formerly lush coastal meadows into useless bog. Consequently,
the economic boom that is evident elsewhere as a result of the intensified trade activity
in the Baltic Sea region did not reach Ostrobothnia, but then again the region was a
rather remote corner far from the main trade highways of the day.
A new settlement area arose in Savo around the present-day city of Mikkeli, which
became a provincial population centre over the following centuries. Both the grave types
and the artefact forms of the early period were clearly western Finnish in origin, and it is
obvious that the region was colonised by settlers from Tavasthia. A new silver coin hoard
with some 140 Anglo-Saxon and German coins was found in the area at the end of the
1990 s. Contacts with Ladoga Karelia intensified during the eleventh century and
became predominant during the following centuries. The development of permanent
settlement in Savo and Karelia seems to have been primarily related to a notable increase
in the market for frontier products, especially furs.
Western Finnish influence can also be discerned in the Iron Age culture of Ladoga
Karelia. Whether this was due to an actual influx of westerners or to the original
population adopting a western-style material culture is not clear. The settlements on the
western and northern shores of Lake Ladoga might perhaps best be seen as a counterpart
to the villages on the lake’s southern and south-eastern sides, where the Scandinavian
influence on the local Iron Age culture is notable. This Scandinavian expansion can be
seen as a bid to establish a bridgehead on the Eastern Route.
–– chapter 35: The Viking Age in Finland––