University of Helsinki, Archaeology / Helsingin yliopisto, arkeologia

We have had an incredible spring with exceptional defences and we would also like to congratulate this springs last but not the least defendant Nikolai Paukkonen on his defence on "Things Done, Things to Come - Photogrammetry and Laser Scanning in the Past, Present and Future of Archaeological Fieldwork"!

Few weeks ago we had the privilege to say congratulations to Rebekka Eckelmann on her defence on "Self and Society: Individual Life Histories within Communal Subsistence Practices at the Mesolithic Cemetery of Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov, NW Russia". Well done!

Arkeologisen inventointikurssin maastotyöt ovat päässeet hyvään vauhtiin Laukaassa.
Ensimmäisenä päivänä kävimme tarkastamassa Saraakallion kalliomaalaukset, sekä havainnoimassa kivikautista asuinpaikkaa.
Tuulenkaato palkitsikin etsivät arkeologit palaneella luulla ja keramiikalla.

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Arkeologian oppiaineen käytävällä tapahtuu! ✨️ Nimittäin Kaupunkiarkeologian kurssin posterit olivat tänään aamusta esittelyssä ja tilaisuudessa oli myös tarjolla kuplivaa simaa ja herkkuja osallistujille.

Tilaisuus on tullut päätökseen, m***a posterit pysyvät käytävällä kaikkien luettavissa ainakin koko toukokuun!

Tervetuloa lukemaan opiskelijoiden töitä mielenkiintoisista arkeologisista kaupunkikohteista Topelian F-rapun 1. kerrokseen.

Ps. Postereiden vierestä löytyy myös huima määrä ilmaisjaossa olevia kirjoja, joten muista tarkastaa samalla tämä nurkka!

Huge congratulations to Kaisa Autere on her defence on "Sociolinguistics in identifying patron-client relationships among the temple officials in late Middle Kingdom Lahun".

Congratulations to Wesa Perttola on his defence on "Sailing in the simulated SEA - Modelling Seasonal Patterns and their Relationship to Trade in Early Modern Southeast Asia".

Etsitkö vielä aihetta kandi- tai gradutyöhösi? Tai oletko kiinnostunut kuulemaan mitä Helsingin yliopiston arkeologian oppiaineessa tapahtuu?

Tule arkeologian oppiaineen ja yhteiseen Options fair -tapahtumaan kuuntelemaan tämänhetkisistä projekteista, uusimmista uutisista oppiaineessa ja tapaamaan henkilökuntaa ja tutkijoita matalallakynnyksellä!

Tapahtumassa on myös alkuun kahvitarjoilua, joten tule rohkeasti ajoissa paikalle DigiLabin puolelle ArlaPro:ta vastapäätä :)

Nähdään maanantaina 23.3. ArlaProssa (Unioninkatu 38 F, F115) kello 16.15!

Oletko jo käynyt arkeologian oppiaineen omilla verkkosivuilla? ✨️

Verkkosivuilta saat tietoa arkeologian oppiaineen henkilökunnasta, tiloista, tutkimuksesta ja opetuksesta niin suomeksi että englanniksi. Sivuilta löytyy myös linkit oppiaineen ajankohtaisiin projekteihin ja tapahtumiin.

Verkkosivut löytyvät osoitteesta: https://www.helsinki.fi/fi/tieteenalat/arkeologia

Seafaring Modelling Session in EAA 2026 – Call for Submissions Now Open!

Season’s greetings! We are happy to announce that we are organising a session ‘Seafaring Modelling as Part of Inter- and Intradisciplinary Inquiry’ at EAA 2026 in Athens (26–29 August). The session aims to move beyond the technicalities of model creation to explore what seafaring models can reveal about past societies and conditions through inter- and intradisciplinary perspectives. You can find the full abstract below this message. The topic can be approached in many different ways, and we warmly invite contributions that, taken together, span a wide range of fields and subfields of study. Papers from early-career scholars are very welcome.

The call of contributions is open from 19 Dec 2025 until 5 February 2026 on the EAA webpage https://submissions.e-a-a.org/eaa2026/login. The number of our session is 36 and you can find it under the theme ‘7. Interaction, connectivity and mobility’.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

Hope to see you in Athens!

Wesa, Elisabeth & Ermioni

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Organisers:
Wesa Perttola, University of Helsinki, Finland
Elisabeth Holmqvist-Sipilä, University of Helsinki, Finland
Ermioni Vereketi, NKUA, Greece/University of Cologne, Germany

Session format: Regular Session

Theme: 7. Interaction, connectivity and mobility

Keywords: Seafaring models, Maritime Movement, Connectivity, Interdisciplinarity

Seafaring Modelling as Part of Inter- and Intradisciplinary Inquiry

Seafaring represents the interplay of human endeavour, wind, and water, while seafaring models seek to computationally simulate these intricate relationships. Consequently, such models are inherently, and by necessity, inter- and intradisciplinary (i.e. involving multiple fields or subfields, hereafter IID) efforts, combining data from fields such as archaeology, history, GIS, and the environmental sciences. The maritime connections they simulate did not operate in isolation but functioned often as integral components of past societies, which makes it possible to utilise seafaring models as tools for other forms of scientific inquiry, further amplifying their IID character.

This session aims to bring together scholars who explore seafaring and maritimity — encompassing seas, rivers, lakes, and other aquatic landscapes — to showcase the diverse ways in which seafaring models can shed light on human interactions and/or the environmental conditions that underpin them. The reconstructed maritime connections are viewed as components of wider social, economic, and cultural networks, and by situating modelling within these contexts, the session will examine both its interpretative and methodological dimensions.

Particularly welcomed are submissions that look beyond the technical aspects of modelling and examine how seafaring models are used to build interpretative narratives within IID frameworks. The wide range of topics to be addressed in this session includes seafaring modelling in conjunction with, for example, artefact provenancing, maritime dispersal of humans and other species alongside them, trade networks, and economic calendars, among others. Papers that combine maritime and terrestrial mobility are also encouraged to submit. Overall, the session will highlight how seafaring modelling contributes IID perspectives to the current archaeological discourse in Europe and beyond.
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Today we had a great opportunity to learn how to make the most of our microscopes and new objectives at the Archaeology laboratory ✨️

GWB provided our researchers and students a hands-on training with new insights for example how to take professional snapshots of different kinds of archaeological samples.

Here in the video we see the extended focused imaging take place on a hair sample.

In the third picture you can see the difference between polarized and non-polarized images of the hair.

And fourth picture is a wood sample from archaeological excavations under the microscope.

Fascinating stuff!