Kylmäkorvenkallio
Photo Jari Sorjonen · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Kylmänkorvenkallion hiidenkiukaat are a Bronze Age burial site on the rock of Kylmänkorvenkallio in the village of Vasaraiset in Rauma, Finland, and a registered archaeological site. The area contains 14 cairns, known locally in Satakunta as hiidenkiukaat, and five stone tables, loosely dated to the Bronze Age, 1500–500 BCE.
Both inhumation and cremation burials were made in the cairns during the Bronze Age.
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Article
Kylmäkorvenkallio
The southern group has ten cairns, of which five have been investigated, and the northern group has the remaining four, none of them investigated.
SettingSources for this section
Sources for this section
The cairns stand on fairly high, wooded rocks. The rock area is continuous and runs from south-west to north-east. The protected area measures 150×500 m, and the cairns lie in two groups. The southern group has ten cairns, of which five have been investigated, and the northern group has the remaining four, none of them investigated. West of the rock is low-lying clay land that has been cleared as fields; elsewhere there is managed forest, the northern part of which is called Kettunummi. No settlement sites connected with the burials have been found in the area.
Although the excavations have not produced precise dates, the highest-lying cairns are thought to have been built in the first half of the Bronze Age. The shore would then have lain below the rock area, covering the present fields, and the rocks formed part of an island in the archipelago off the mainland. The site became part of the mainland only later, in the Iron Age.
Research historySources for this section
Sources for this section
Volter Högman surveyed the rural municipality of Rauma in 1891 and 1893, but the sites he recorded were apparently not investigated further. In 1961 the site was included in a second survey by Kerttu Itkonen, who described it under the heading Kuusi varetta at site 35. According to her it had two large cairns, two smaller ones and two stone settings level with the ground. The large cairns had a depression at the centre, which she thought had been dug recently.
In 1983 M. Korolainen and T. Tiitinen of the University of Turku catalogued burial cairns of the coastal area, and the university then investigated the site in 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993. A search of the terrain led by Helena Ojala located 15 cairns and five offering tables, and test pits were dug in an attempt to find an ancient settlement area. Ojala excavated cairns 2 and 4. Seela Miettinen investigated cairns 3 and 8 in 1990 and carried out conservation work on the cairns. Jouko Pukkila investigated part of cairn 7 in 1991 and Ojala completed the work in 1993. The most recent survey was made by Tiina Vasko for the Satakunta Museum in 2014.
ExcavationsSources for this section
Sources for this section
The cairns are numbered 1 to 14. Cairns 1, 5, 6 and 9 to 14 are uninvestigated.
Cairn 2 was excavated by Ojala in 1989. It measured 6×4 m and was 0.3 m high, and lay 23 m above sea level. At its centre was a coffin-like area built of large stones, while the rest of the cairn was built of small stones. A ring of stones 0.4 to 1.0 m in size, with outer dimensions of 2.8×1.8 m, had been laid on the base. The cairn contained no finds.
Cairn 3 was excavated by Miettinen in 1990. The oval cairn measured 9×4 m and the base of the grave lay 23 m above sea level. Its oval shape resulted from a second burial made south-west of the first. The primary burial was built of stones half a metre in size, laid in a circle about four metres in diameter. Inside the ring were two interlocking stone-slab cists, each measuring 0.8×1.5 m, and both graves were without finds. The secondary burial to the south-west extended over 2 to 3 m and was built of smaller stones. The primary burial has been dated to Montelius periods III to IV, mainly on the basis of its height.
Cairn 4 was excavated by Ojala in 1989. It lay on a rock knoll about 25 m above sea level and measured about 5×7 m, with a height of about 0.3 m. A depression at its centre contained a coffin-like area of fairly large stones laid east-west (2.4×1.6 m), inside which were flat stones split from red sandstone. The rest of the cairn was built of small stones. The coffin-like structure was surrounded by a second stone ring, and north of it lay another ring one metre in diameter. The finds were modest: charcoal was found at the base inside the cist and the small ring, and also higher up. About one metre north of cairn 4 lay a separate secondary cairn of 3×3 m and 0.15 m in height, which also had a ring structure and, at its base, slabs split from red sandstone. Both were otherwise without finds.
Cairn 7 was described by Högman in 1891 as round and sharp-topped, with a ring of stones at its southern edge encircling the centre. It measured about 9×9 m and was 1.5 m high, and its base lay 29 m above sea level. When Pukkila investigated it in 1991 it measured 12×12 m and two pits had appeared at its centre, so that it had evidently been dug into recently. Earth had been piled under the cairn to level the ground. A pottery sherd found in this earth could not be dated. The edge kerbing, with an outer diameter of about 10 m, was carefully built and supported and was apparently meant to be visible; later digging in the grave hid this feature. The walls are therefore thought to have risen steeply to about a metre, with the top finished off with smaller stones. Burnt bone fragments in the centre of the ring marked the primary cremation burial, which was covered with sandstone slabs. A second cremation burial lay beside the first. West of the cairn was a separate stone setting whose purpose is unclear. The dating rests on circumstantial evidence, and it is fairly safe to place the cairn in the first half of the Bronze Age (period II or III).
Cairn 8 was excavated by Miettinen in 1990. The oval cairn measured 7.5–4.4 m and was built around a rectangular hollow in the bedrock (0.30–0.15 m). Although not even bones were found, the hollow may have served as an urn for the bones of the deceased. The stonework showed undefined structures. On the basis of its structure and size it was dated to period VI. The grave was otherwise without finds.
InterpretationSources for this section
Sources for this section
A stone table is a structure in which one flat stone is placed on a few smaller stones. Their meaning is uncertain, but it has been suggested that they were offering tables or altars connected with the worship of the dead. They are probably associated with the cairns: three lie between cairns 11 and 13 and the other two lie partly inside cairn 14. The tables have been conserved by cleaning their surfaces and by reassembling one of them, and the soil around them has been examined without revealing anything special.
Stone tables are also known in Finland from Uusimaa and, in particular, from Bronze Age burial sites in Sweden, which points to strong Scandinavian links across the sea.
ConservationSources for this section
Sources for this section
The immediate surroundings of the cairns belong to the care areas of the Museovirasto, where the aim is to keep the terrain around ancient monuments open and tidy so that the public can visit them easily. The care area at Kylmänkorvenkallio covers 2.5 hectares.
VisitingSources for this section
Sources for this section
The site is reached from the road between Rauma and Kodisjoki, Hakrintie (connecting road 2052). From the Vasaraiset junction the visitor continues south-east to the second junction in the village, where connecting road 12648 begins. This is followed for 150 m, and a right turn is made towards the east. After 800 m a left turn is made towards the east. A stopping place and a signpost to the site stand 400 m along this road.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Dolmens
A dolmen is a single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually made of two or more upright stones supporting a large flat horizontal capstone, or table. Most date from the Late Neolithic period, 4000 to 3000 BCE, and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus. In many dolmens the covering has eroded away, leaving only the stone skeleton. The word entered archaeology when Théophile Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne used it to describe megalithic tombs in his book of 1796.
Dolmens go by many names. In Portuguese and Galician they are antas, in Dutch hunebedden, in Danish dysser, in Swedish dösar, in Basque trikuharri, in Welsh cromlechau, in Cornwall quoits, and in Korean goindol, "propped stone". In Catalan-speaking areas folk names include cova (cave), caixa (crate or coffin), taula (table), arca (chest) and cabana (hut). The German Hünengrab and Dutch hunebed carry the word Hüne, "giant", and evoke giants buried there; that is an old explanation for monuments too large for ordinary people, and it is folklore, not evidence.
They are found in Europe, the Caucasus, the Levant, Korea and India. They are not all of one age or culture. In Europe most belong to the Neolithic, but in the Levant they are of the Early Bronze Age and in Korea they were built from the Bronze Age to the early Iron Age. The Levantine tradition is a different, unrelated one from that of Europe.
The Atlas uses this article for dolmens in countries that do not have their own article, such as Switzerland and Belgium. Dating is by typology, with absolute dates available only where a tomb has been excavated.
When visiting, look for the capstone and its supports, for traces of a mound or kerb around them, and for the direction in which the entrance faces.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Dolmen, Wikipedia: Portal dolmen, Wikipedia: Funnel beaker culture · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 500 CE
Rauhoitettu alue on kooltaan 150×500 metriä, jossa röykkiöt sijaitsevat kahdessa ryhmässä.
Source - 800 CE
Tietä ajetaan 800 metriä ja käännytään vasemmalle kohti itää.
Source - 1500
Alueelta tunnetaan 14 hiidenkiuasta ja viisi kivistä kivipöytää, jotka ajoitetaan väljästi pronssikauteen 1500–500 eaa.
Source - 1891
Volter Högman kävi inventoimassa Rauman maalaiskuntaa vuonna 1891 ja 1893, mutta havaittuja kohteita ei ilmeisesti tutkittu tarkemmin.
Source - 1891
Rauniot olivat tutkittaessa muuten löydöttömiä. Volter Högman kirjoitti rauniosta vuonna 1891 kertoen sen olleen pyöreän muotoinen ja terävähuippuinen kivikeko.
Source - 1961
Vuonna 1961 kohde sisältyi toiseen inventointiin, jonka suoritti Kerttu Itkonen.
Source - 1983
Tiitinen vuonna 1983 rannikkoalueen hautaraunioita, minkä jälkeen yliopisto tutki niitä vuosina 1989, 1990, 1991 ja 1993. Helena Ojalan johdolla etsittiin maastosta alueen raunioita ja niitä löydettiin 15 sekä viisi uhripöytää.
Source - 1989
Rauniot erotellaan toisistaan juoksevalla numeroinnilla 1–14. Tutkimatta ovat rauniot 1, 5, 6 ja 9–14. Muista tiedetään seuraavaa. Raunion tutki Helena Ojala vuonna 1989. Sen ulkomitat olivat 6×4 metriä suuri ja 0,3 metriä korkea.
Source - 1989
Primäärihautaus on ajoitettu Monteliuksen periodille III–IV lähinnä sen korkeuden mukaan. Raunion tutki Helena Ojala vuonna 1989. Se sijaitsi kalliokumpareella noin 25 metriä mpy.
Source - 1990
Seela Miettinen tutki rauniot 3 ja 8 vuonna 1990 ja suoritti raunioilla kunnostustöitä .
Source - 1990
Raunio oli tutkittaessa löydötön. Raunion tutki Seela Miettinen vuonna 1990. Soikean raunion ulkomitat olivat 9×4 metriä.
Source - 1990
Raunion ajoitus jäi aihetodisteiden varaan ja on melko turvallista ajoittaa se pronssikauden alkupuoliskoon (periodille II tai III ). Soikean raunion tutki Seela Miettinen vuonna 1990. Sen ulkomitat olivat 7,5–4,4 metriä ja se oli rakennettu kalliossa olevan suorakaiteen muotoisen kolon ympärille (kooltaan...
Source - 1991
Jouko Pukkila tutki osan rauniosta 7 vuonna 1991 ja Helena Ojala vei sen loppuun vuonna 1993 .
Source - 1991
Kun rauniota tutki Jouko Pukkila vuonna 1991, olivat sen ulkomitat 12×12 metriä ja sen keskelle oli ilmaantunut kaksi kuopannetta.
Source
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Photographs
8 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Where it stands
Finland
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 61°04′51″ N, 21°37′18″ EFor a GPS or map app: 61.08095, 21.62178
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Kylänpää2000–500 BCE
- DolmenLauri
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Kylänpää2000–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Ketunnummi2000–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Ketunnummi 22000–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Kestilä2000–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Uusitalo2000–500 BCE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Kulju2000–500 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
1 source behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q65038313wikidata.org
Image files
- Kylmäkorvenkallion pronssikautinen hautaröykkiö 04.jpgJari SorjonenCC BY-SA 4.0
- Kylmäkorvenkallion pronssikautinen hautaröykkiö 06.jpgJari SorjonenCC BY-SA 4.0
- Kylmäkorvenkallion uhripöydät Vasaraisissa 08.jpgJari SorjonenCC BY-SA 4.0
- Kylmäkorvenkallion pronssikautinen hautaröykkiö 01.jpgJari SorjonenCC BY-SA 4.0
- Kylmäkorvenkallion uhripöydät Vasaraisissa 04.jpgJari SorjonenCC BY-SA 4.0
- Kylmäkorvenkallion pronssikautinen hautaröykkiö 02.jpgJari SorjonenCC BY-SA 4.0
- Kylmäkorvenkallion uhripöydät Vasaraisten kylässä 01.jpgJari SorjonenCC BY-SA 4.0
- Kylmäkorvenkallion pronssikautinen hautaröykkiö 07.jpgJari SorjonenCC BY-SA 4.0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Kylmänkorvenkallion hiidenkiukaat" (Finnish), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors