New Interpretations of Settlement Remains in Lake Valgjärv of Koorküla, Estonia

Abstract The article discusses the chronology of the lake settlement of Lake Valgjärv of Koorküla in Estonia, from the Neolithic onwards, with a more detailed survey of the dating problems of the settlement belonging to the second half of the first millennium AD. For decades the site has been regarded as a fortified settlement of the 6th–7th centuries AD. However, the finds recovered from the excavations, the 14C analyses and dendrochronological results suggest it to belong later, to the 7th–8th centuries AD. In addition, the problems of the purpose of the pile construction are discussed. It is argued that the pile construction of the later first millennium AD, whilst using the same location as the settlement site of the Stone Age, had a different function and social role.