Archaeological Survey on Finnish/Russian Border

根据美国国家科学基金会的一项名为“高风险探险补助金”的考古项目，埃兹拉·祖布罗博士和米尔顿·努涅斯博士及其合作者将在芬兰和俄罗斯边境的芬兰一侧勘测一条500米宽的狭长地带。出于安全目的，两国清理了边界两侧类似区域，直到现在，随着国际紧张局势的缓解，芬兰部分才可用于科学研究。由于芬兰中部这一地区的大部分地区植被茂盛，茂密的森林将迅速再生，因此出现了一个时间窗口狭窄的独特机会。该小组将进行系统的地面调查，以确定尽可能多的地点。将使用全球定位系统仔细记录这些事件，并将特别注意发生的群集性事件。将使用磁强计搜索地下地物，并记录地面材料。根据这些遗骸，应该可以确定遗址的年代和大致的时间间隔，并确定基本的生存模式。芬兰的这一地区在公元前8000年左右更新世末期冰川消退后被殖民。最早的居民是中石器时代的狩猎采集者。后来，人们既放牧驯鹿，又从事自给自足的农业。该项目的长期目标是研究这一环境边缘地区的人类生态和生存适应。研究人员希望了解这三种不同的生存生活方式是如何相互作用的：它们是以线性方式相互跟随，还是以更复杂的方式共存和交替。他们还希望确定这些适应与调查区域内不同环境地带的关系。这项研究很重要，因为它将提供关于一个在考古上几乎未知的地理区域的基本考古信息。它解决了人类生态学中的一个重要问题，并有望为更大规模的研究工作奠定基础。

Under a NSF Archaeology Program `High Risk Exploratory Grant` Drs. Ezra Zubrow and Milton Nunez and their collaborators will survey a 500 meter wide strip on the Finnish side of the Finnish - Russian border. For security purposes both countries cleared similar areas on each side of the border and only now, with the easing of international tensions is the Finnish portion available for scientific research. Since much of this region in central Finland is heavily vegetated and dense forest will regenerate quickly a unique opportunity with a narrow time window has presented itself. The team will conduct a systematic surface survey to locate as many sites as possible. These will carefully recorded with a global positioning system and particular attention will be paid to clusters of occurrences. A magnetometer will be employed to search for underground features and surface materials will be recorded. On the basis of these remains it should be possible to date the sites to a general time interval and to determine basic subsistence mode. This region of Finland was colonized ca. 8,000 BC after the retreat of the terminal Pleistocene glaciers. The earliest inhabitants were Mesolithic hunter gatherers. Later peoples practiced both reindeer herding and subsistence agriculture. The long term goal of the project is to study human ecology and subsistence adaptation in this environmentally marginal area. The investigators wish to understand how these three distinct subsistence lifestyles interacted: whether they followed each other in a linear fashion or co-existed and alternated in a more complex way. They also want to determine the relationship of these adaptations to the different environmental zones located within the survey area. This research is important because it will provide basic archaeological information on a geographic region which is almost archaeologically unknown. It addresses a significant question in human ecology and hopefully will lay the groundwork for a larger scale research effort.