The archaeological excavations of Papinniemi in Uukuniemi, Finland

The archaeological research project of Papinniemi in Uukuniemi, eastern Finland

At the archaeological site of Papinniemi in Uukuniemi, eastern Finland, a Greek Orthodox church, a cemetery and a village have been situated in the 15th-17th centuries. The settlement was completely deserted probably during a war between Sweden and Russia in the middle of the 17th century.

Papinniemi is one of the numerous Greek Orthodox settlements that existed in Karelia in historical times. These sites and their desertion are a proof of the competition of the Byzantine and Roman Christian churches. In certain areas of Finland this competition has continued until the 17th century and even after.

Papinniemi is an archaeological site protected by the Finnish law. Archaeological excavations at the site have begun in 1995 and are going to continue for many years. In charge of the excavations is the Archaeology Department of the University of Turku in cooperation with the National Board of Antiquities.

The exceptionally rich finds of Papinniemi make the site unique in eastern Finland, where the Orthodox culture or the historical period in general have not been archaeologically researched in any extent until recently.

The Chronicle of Uukuniemi Papinniemi

AD 1500 The village of Uukuniemi is mentioned for the first time in written sources. It is a part of the pogost (parish) of Kurkijoki in the Käkisalmi province, which is a part of Karelia, belonging to Russia. There are at least six houses in the village and the inhabitants are Orthodox. The exact location of the houses is unknown.

1580-97 The province of Käkisalmi is taken and held by the Swedes. Lutheran people start to move in to the area from the Swedish part of Karelia and Savo.

1589 Uukuniemi is mentioned to have an orthodox chapel church. It is situated in the village of Uukuniemi, probably already now at the Papinniemi site. There are now 16 houses in the whole village, some of them probably in the Papinniemi area.

1597-1614 Uukuniemi becomes an independent parish with an Orthodox parish church. The exact date is not known.

1611 Sweden reconquers Karelia and starts to lutheranize the inhabitants. Orthodox people start to move to the Russian side of the border.

1618 In a tax book, four houses are mentioned as being situated na pogoste or near the church. Most probably this refers to the Papinniemi area.

1638 Jaakkima, son of Terentti, is mentioned as the Greek Orthodox priest of Uukuniemi.

1642 Ilja, son of Jyrki, is mentioned as the Greek Orthodox priest of Uukuniemi.

A map from the 1650's presenting the two churches of
Uukuniemi. Top left is the newer Lutheran church,
and bottom right is the Orthodox church in Papinniemi.
The National Archives of Sweden, photo by Kurt Eriksson.

1651 According to the tax books the majority of the people of Uukuniemi are still Orthodox in the beginning of the 1650s.

1656-58 The so-called Rupture war between Sweden and Russia. Russia fails to take Karelia back, but a large part of the Orthodox population of the Käkisalmi province moves to Russia. Only one Orthodox family is left in the village of Uukuniemi.

1657 The last priest of the Orthodox parish of Uukuniemi, Ilja, son of Iivana, flees with his three sons to the town of Tihvin in Russia.

1694 By now almost all the inhabitants of Uukuniemi are Lutherans. There is still one Orthodox family in the village of Uukuniemi, and even in 1792.

1804 First map showing the Papinniemi area in detail. There are no longer any houses in the vicinity of the future excavation area.

1882 The Papinniemi site is mentioned in the archaeological literature for the first time as Kustaa Killinen visits the place. According to oral tradition there has been an orthodox church and a cemetery at the site, which is now a meadow. A huge pine-tree called the Altar Pine is growing at a place which is said to be the location of the altar of the Orthodox Church. The pine is said still to be worshipped by many people. Stone cairns and remains of houses are also mentioned. No further research takes place at the site however.

1935 There are 62 Greek Orthodox inhabitants in the parish of Uukuniemi, i.e. about 1% of the total population.

c. 1955 The altar pine is blown to pieces by the landowner, who doesn't like the amount of the people who come to see it.

1986 Olavi Ahokas, who was born in Uukuniemi, takes interest in the Papinniemi site, after having heard from his father stories of an orthodox church at the site. He finds and brings to the Finnish National Museum among others pieces of a bronze crucifix, nails, fragments of cloth, knives, window glass and ceramics.

1993 Olavi Ahokas finds around a thousand coins from the mid-1600s at the site. They were hidden half a meter under the ground, wrapped into birch bark. Other finds include the clapper of a Churchill, weighing 6 kilos, a piece of a crucifix pendant, an icon pendant of bronze, three finger rings, about a dozen of coins from the 18th-19th centuries, as well as many finds indicating settlement at the site (e.g. ceramics, a lock, nails, knives, a fish-hook). The site is inspected by Markus Hiekkanen from the National Board of Antiquities and defined as an archaeological site, protected by law. Hiekkanen concludes that since settlement finds are so numerous and come from a large area, there probably has been a whole deserted orthodox village at the site.

The icon pendant found in 1996.
Photo © Ville Laakso.

1995 Trial excavations at Uukuniemi Papinniemi begin under the supervision of Leena Lehtinen from the Provincial Museum of Savonlinna. Finds include ceramics, glass, nails and a Russian coin from c. 1700.

1996 The trial excavations continue under the Archaeology Department of University of Turku. Finds include ceramics, nails, glass, and an icon pendant made of bronze.

1997 Three weeks' fieldwork is completed in July. First house floor in the area is found and partially excavated. Lots of burnt clay, ceramics and some smaller metal artifacts are found.

1998 Another three weeks of excavation takes place in May-June. Among others two cross pendants and pieces of other two pendants are found in the house floor. One Russian and three Swedish coins dating from mid 16th century to mid 17th century are also found. Other finds include again ceramics, lots of burnt clay, and e.g. a fish hook. The cemetery is located as two graves of east - west orientation are found. Because of lack of time the graves are not excavated until 1999.

The cross pendants found in 1998.
Photo © Ville Laakso.

1999 The fifth season of fieldwork. In three weeks during May-June the house floor is excavated further and one of the numerous clearance cairns of the area is also excavated. Finds from the house floor include e.g. ceramics, a knife, a broze bead, a Swedish coin from the 16th century and a special axe used for carving wood. Ceramics is also found under the cairn. The first dendrochronological dating of the house is completed by the University of Joensuu. In July first of the graves is excavated and e.g. two coins, one Russian and one Swedish, are found.

2000 In May-July two separate excavations are organized in Papinniemi, lasting one month in all. In the house floor ceramics, coins, different kinds of small metal artefacts, and glass, e.g. pieces of a green bottle, are found. In the cemetery another grave is excavated.

2001 The seventh season of fieldwork. In February, a pollen sample was taken from a small lake called Kirkkolampi, c. two kilometers from the site, for palaeoecological analysis of the surroundings of Papinniemi. Analysis of the sample will bring new information on the settlement history of the Uukuniemi and Southern Karelia. In May-June the excavations continued and work on the house floor was finished, at least for now. Three graves were also excavated. The work continued in July with trial excavations that revealed a third house floor in the area.

2002 Excavations lasted for three weeks in July-August; the fieldwork was led by Hanna-Maria Pellinen, MA. Four inhumation graves were excavated and documented. Trial excavations of the area were also continued. Finds included ceramics, pieces of iron artefacts, and burnt clay.

2003 The ninth season of fieldwork. Part of the site of the Orthodox Church was excavated in June-July. This was the first ever excavation of such a site in Finland; e.g. coins, pottery and numerous fragments of bronze artefacts were found.

2004 The find location of the coin treasure from the year 2003 is excavated more closely. Several more coins are found.

2005 The excavations continue in July, in small scale.

2006 The excavations and general mapping of the area continue in October.

2007 The excavations and general mapping of the area continue in October.

Project publications

Ville Laakso: Ortodoksisuus itäsuomalaisessa maisemassa - arkeologinen näkökulma.
Olavinlinna, maisema ja monumentti. Suomen ympäristö 213:74–79 (1998).
Ville Laakso: Uukuniemen kolme ortodoksipappia. SKAS 3/1999:2–8.
Kristiina Korkeakoski-Väisänen: Röykkiöstä leukauuniksi. SKAS 3/2000:2–13.
Kristiina Korkeakoski-Väisänen: From Cairn to Oven: On the Use of Ethnological Documents in Interpreting
Remains of historical Structures. Eesti Arheoloogia Ajakiri 2002, 6/1:50–69.

Ville Laakso: Papinniemi i Uukuniemi och andra ortodoxa gravfält i östra Finland. Utgångspunkter och aktuell

forskningsproblematik. Kirkearkæologi i Norden. Hikuin 30:139–154 (2003).

Ville Laakso: Uukuniemen enkolpiorannerengas – lisä laatokankarjalaiseen arkeologiseen aineistoomme.

Mustaa valkoisella. Ystäväkirja arkeologian lehtori Kristiina Korkeakoski-Väisäselle,

s. 102–109 (2005).

Ville Laakso: Itäsuomalaisen kirkkoarkeologian vaiheita ja tulevaisuudennäkymiä. SKAS 2/2006:23–29.

Teija Alenius & Ville Laakso: Palaeoecology and Archaeology of the Village of Uukuniemi, Eastern Finland.

Acta Borealia.Vol. 23 (2006), No. 2:145–165.

Ville Laakso & Juha Ruohonen: Begrafningsplats i skogen – itäsuomalaisia hautapaikkoja nimistössä ja maastossa.

Maasta, kivestä ja hengestä. Earth, Stone and Spirit. Markus Hiekkanen Festschrift, s. 116–124 (2009).

Ville Laakso: Karjalan kyläkalmistot. Suomenlahdelta Laatokalle. Viipurin läänin historia III:356–357 (2010).

Ville Laakso: Uukuniemen Papinniemen kadonnut ortodoksikylä. Suomenlahdelta Laatokalle. Viipurin

läänin historia III:372–373 (2010).

Participating in the Archaeological Research Project of Uukuniemi Papinniemi are:

University of Turku, Department of Archaeology
National Board of Antiquities

Supporting the project:

The Orthodoxian Church of Finland

Some other links to archaeology, prehistory and history:

Byzantine & Medieval Web Links
The Finnish History Network
A short history of Karelia by Mauri Rastas

Comments and additional information e-mail to: vilaakso[at]utu.fi.
Last updated January 24, 2011.
Home page of V. Laakso (in Finnish)