Archaeologists 'surprised' by 6,500-year-old Stone Age site near Arctic

Rick Schindler 20 hours ago





Researchers have examined a mysterious prehistoric site in Europe’s far north, shedding new light on what they believe is a large Stone Age cemetery.

The site, known as Tainiaro, is in the Lapland region of Finland, about 50 miles south of the Arctic Circle. This is an “unlikely” location for a large hunter-gatherer cemetery from this period, says a study published in the journal Antiquity This provides the first comprehensive overview of the site.

In the study, a team of researchers suggested that the site was most likely – although not certain – a large Stone Age cemetery dating back to about 6,500 years ago. If this hypothesis proves correct, it would be one of the largest sites of its kind ever discovered in Northern Europe from this period. Furthermore, it would be the northernmost major cemetery of this period.

“I think the real impact is on our cultural compass,” said Aki Hakonen, an archaeologist at the University of Oulu in Finland and an author of the study Newsweek. “We expect that further north we will find less interesting things. But the north is a magical place and holds many surprises – Tainiaro is just one of them.”

“If archeology refocused itself and viewed the north not as a periphery but as a core site of importance in its own right, we would gain access to a much more thorough understanding of humanity’s past,” he said.

Many questions a
https://worldtimetodays.com/archaeologists-surprised-by-6500-year-old-stone-age-site-near-arctic/