New Data on Jaani Stone Graves at Vao, Northern Estonia/Uusi Andmeid Vao Jaani Kivikalmetest

Abstract

Introduction In 1982, one of the authors of this paper excavated three conjoined stone graves on the bleak alvar at Jaani farm in Vao village (Lang 1983b; 1996, 134 ff.). These were the last of the numerous stone graves around the hill site at Iru and the lower reaches of the Pirita River (Fig. 1) that were rescue excavated due to vibrant economic development on the doorstep of the capital city Tallinn. The majority of the graves in the area had been rescue excavated in the 1970s and in 1980 (Lougas 1975; 1976; 1981; Jaanits & Lavi 1978; Deemant 1993; see also Howen 1900; Spreckelsen 1907; 1927; Vassar 1936). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Now, more than thirty years later, we scrutinized the site's osteological assemblage and ordered radiocarbon dating for a selection of human bones. The study was undertaken as part of a radiocarbon dating programme for stone-cist graves in Estonia (see Laneman 2012; Laneman & Lang 2013). In the current paper we publish the results of this investigation, adhering to a rather plain form of describing and discussing different elements of a single site (grave structure, human and faunal remains, artefacts, etc.). In an ideal world, most of this information, particularly osteological analysis, would have been available shortly after the excavation. In the real world, however, one has to deal with the remarkable paucity of properly excavated, osteologically analysed and (radiocarbon-)dated grave sites. Filling in essential gaps and re-interpreting the record--which is what we do in this paper--is thus a necessary and unavoidable part of archaeological practice. Furthermore, it is only detailed information on single sites that provides the basis for a broader and deeper insight of the past in general. Discussion of the Jaani graves in their wider context, however, is the subject of a separate study. Structure of the site The site under review comprised a ship-shaped stone grave, a stone-cist grave (B), and half of another stone-cist grave (A) fitted tightly between them (Fig. 2). This is a rather unusual arrangement, since stone-cist graves usually occur as clearly defined separate structures, and ship graves are altogether rare in the eastern Baltic region. The ship at Vao is one of the three stone ship graves currently known in the territory of Estonia; the remaining two were excavated at Lulle, Sorve Peninsula, Saaremaa (Lougas 1970; Lang 2007a, 164 ff.). [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] The roughly 10.5 m long ship-shaped grave in the eastern part of the structure was edged with large granite stones, which in places were situated in two adjacent rows. It was not possible to definitively establish whether this was the original arrangement of the stones or if they had initially been placed on top of each other; in any case it seems that there has been no top wall of limestone slabs (unlike with the other graves). The gunwale line was partially destroyed, and thus revealed no indications as to which end of the ship was the stern and which was the stem (cf. Lang 1983b; 1996, 135). The cist, also of granite boulders, was preserved only partially, but its original dimensions may have been ca 60 x 50 x 40 cm. The space between the gunwales was filled with limestone, except for the surroundings of the cist where relatively small sparsely situated granite stones were found. The limestone fill included slabs collapsed from the ring wall of grave A, and stones from a later field clearance above them. The thickness of the original limestone fill was therefore difficult to determine, but it was estimated to have been approximately a couple of dozen centimetres, so that the fill did not reach the tops of the framing granite stones. The stone-cist graves were bordered by two-layer ring-walls with a foundation of granite stones (which in at least grave A were placed in two adjacent rows) and a top wall of limestone slabs; the limestone walls, however, were fully disintegrated. …