The cemetery and the dwelling site Vaateranta in Taipalsaari, southeastern Finland
Abstrakti
This paper is based on the results of the latest excavation project (1997-99) carried out at the predominantly Typical Comb Ware dwelling site of Vaateranta in Taipalsaari. The site has yielded a Neolithic cemetery among the largest of its kind in Finland with more than 20 inhumations and a cremation as well. This presentation focuses on the cemetery, which has a variable and even remarkable find assemblage. The adjoining dwelling site in addition to subsistence and dating problems will be discussed as well. On grounds of the material available at present some conclusions differing from earlier ones will be put forward. In the concluding chapter some aspects of a Neolithic society are being sketched as reflections through the cemetery. This paper was written already in 2000-2001 and completed only in 2003 in connection with a new AMS-dating and an osteological analysis by ms. Eeva-Kristiina Lahti appended to this article.
