Abstract

This talk explores a remarkable Iron Age burial from Pukkila in western Finland, dating to around AD 700, where a cremated individual was laid to rest in a boat alongside weapons, ritual objects, and artefacts from across Scandinavia, eastern Europe, and the north. Rather than fitting neatly into a single cultural or ethnic category, the burial reflects a world shaped by long-distance trade, mobility, and cultural change.

Using the concept of cultural creolization, the talk shows how identities, beliefs, and ritual practices emerged through the blending of different traditions. The Pukkila burial challenges simple labels such as “Scandinavian”, “Finn,” or “Sámi,” and instead reveals how power, religion, gender, and cultural belonging were actively negotiated in the Baltic Sea region.
More broadly, the talk demonstrates how creolization offers a useful way to bring archaeology, linguistics, and religious studies together when interpreting the past.

Anna Wessman is a professor of archaeology at Bergen University, Norway. Her research focuses on the Late Iron Age in Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltic countries, Burial Archaeology and death rituals, Avocational Metal-detecting, Citizen Science, Ethnographic methods, Community Archaeology, Museum Studies, Digital Humanities, and Archaeological databases.