Eighteenth-century visions of the Stone Age: Stone artefacts and the concept of the furthest past in theses published at the Academy of Turku in 1700–1828

Liisa Kunnas-Pusa

doi:10.7557/4.5905

Authors

Liisa Kunnas-Pusa University of Helsinki https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4621-9529

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7557/4.5905

Keywords:

Historiography, History of archaeology, Stone Age, Enlightenment, History of science, Finnish history, Conceptual history

Abstract

Archaeological concepts of prehistory and the Stone Age are rooted in nineteenth-century scientific discoveries, which extended the human past much further back in time than was previously thought. Without this deep past, the disciplines of archaeology and history would not be what they are today. However, when the division of prehistory into the ages of stone, bronze, and iron was introduced in 1836, it was already an old idea. Stone Age artefacts and the initial phase of human history were discussed in the eighteenth-century academic world, even though the periodisation of history was constructed differently. In the philosophy of the Enlightenment several ideas surfaced which were essential to the formation of archaeology as a scientific practice, and which still affect the way the prehistoric past is imagined. This article examines the concept of a prehistoric, furthest past in Finnish scientific texts, within the framework of eighteenth-century Swedish traditions of science and historiography. How did the scholars in the Academy of Turku view Stone Age artefacts that had a multi-faceted nature in the antiquarian tradition? In what way did their visions of the earliest phase of the Nordic past set up later nationalistic narratives about prehistory?

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

Anttila, Tero, The Power of Antiquity: The Hyperborean Research Tradition in Early Modern Swedish Research on National Antiquity (Oulu: Oulun yliopisto, 2014).

Baudou, Evert, ‘Drivkrafter och tolkningar i arkeologisk forskning’, in Från Worm till Welinder: Åtta essäer om arkeologins disciplinhistoriska praxis, ed. by Joakim Goldhahn (Göteborg: Göteborgs universitet, 2005), pp. 1–32.

Blinkenberg, Carl, The Thunderweapon in Religion and Folklore: A Study in Comparative Archaeology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1911).

Bourgault, Sophie & Sparling, Robert, ‘Introduction’, in A Companion to Enlightenment Historiography, ed. by Sophie Bourgault & Robert Sparling (Boston: Brill, 2013), pp. 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004251847_002

Calmet, Augustin, Dictionnaire historique, critique, chronologique, geographique, et litteral de la Bible. Tome troisième (Paris, 1730).

Catalogue raisonné des Antiquités & autres Curiosités du Cabinet de feu M. Picard (Paris, 1779).

Daston, Lorraine & Park, Katharine, Wonders and the Order of Nature 1150–1750 (New York: Zone Books, 1998).

Ellis, Henry, A voyage to Hudson's-Bay by the ‘Dobbs Galley’ and ‘California’ in the years 1746 and 1747, for discovering a North West Passage (London: H. Whitridge, 1748).

Fewster, Derek, ‘The Invention of the Finnish Stone Age: Politics, Ethnicity and Archaeology’, in Dig it all: Papers dedicated to Ari Siiriäinen, ed. by Matti Huurre (Helsinki: The Finnish Antiquarian Society, 1999), pp. 13–20.

Fewster, Derek, Visions of Past Glory. Nationalism and the Construction of Early Finnish History (Helsinki: SKS, 2006).

Gadd, Pehr, Satakunnan kihlakuntain pohjoisosan taloudellisen kuvaamisen yritys (Tampere: Tampereen Historiallinen Seura, 1946 [1751]).

Gamble, Clive & Moutsiou, Theodora, ‘The Time Revolution of 1859 and the Stratification of the Primeval Mind’, Prehistoric Minds: Human Origins as a Cultural Artefact 1780–2010. Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 65:1 (2011), pp. 43–63. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2010.0099

Goldhahn, Joakim, Bredarör på Kivik – en arkeologisk odyssé (Kalmar: Linnéuniversitetet, 2013).

Goldhahn, Joakim, ‘Att låta stumma stenar tala – om formandet av ett nytt arkeologiskap under 1700-talet’, in Arkeologi och kulturhistorie fra norskekysten til Østersjøen: Festschrift til professor Birgitta Berglund, ed. by Ragnhild Berge & Merete Moe Henriksen (Trondheim: NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, Institutt for arkeologi og kulturhistorie og Museumsforlaget, 2019), pp. 40–57.

Goodrum, Matthew. R., ‘The Meaning of Ceraunia: Archaeology, Natural History and the Interpretation of Prehistoric Stone Artefacts in the Eighteenth Century’, British Journal for the History of Science 3 (2002), pp. 255–69, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007087402004776.

Goodrum, Matthew R., ‘Questioning Thunderstones and Arrowheads: The Problem of Recognizing and Interpreting Stone Artifacts in the Seventeenth Century’, Early Science and Medicine 13:5 (2008), 482–508. https://doi.org/10.1163/157338208X345759.

Gräslund, Bo, The Birth of Prehistoric Chronology. Dating Methods and Dating Systems in Nineteenth-century Scandinavian Archaeology (Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987).

Hukantaival, Sonja, ‘Ukonvaajojen monet kasvot – Luokittelu- ja tulkintakysymyksiä’, in Puukenkien kopinaa: Henrik Asplundin juhlakirja. Karhunhammas 19, ed. by Janne Harjula, Visa Immonen & Juha Ruohonen (Turku: Turun yliopisto, 2019), pp. 345–81.

Jensen, Ola W., Forntid i historien: En arkeologihistorisk studie av synen på forntid och forntida lämningar, från medeltiden till och med förupplysningen (Göteborg: Göteborgs universitet, 2002).

Jensen, Ola W., ‘Resenärer i forntiden – fornforskningen i 1700-talets Sverige’, in Från Worm till Welinder: Åtta essäer om arkeologins disciplinhistoriska praxis, ed. by Joakim Goldhahn (Göteborg: Göteborgs universitet, 2005), pp. 33–62.

Johanson, Kristiina, ‘Missing Interpretations: Tracing Natural Artefacts in Estonian Archaeological Material’, Fennoscandia Archaeologica XXXV (2018), pp. 87–106.

Juslenius, Daniel, Aboa vetus et nova (Helsinki: SKS, 2005 [1700]).

Kalm, Pehr, Matka Pohjois-Amerikkaan, ed. by Anto Leikola (Helsinki: SKS, 1991 [1753]).

Kemiläinen, Aira, ‘Valistuksen historiankirjoitus’, in Historiankirjoituksen historia, ed. by Päivi Setälä, Pekka Suvanto & Matti Viikari (Helsinki: Gaudeamus, 1983), pp. 49–60.

Kinnari, Inkeri, Hyödyllisiä ja mielekkäitä oppeja kotiin vietäväksi: H. G. Porthanin väitösteesit ja akateeminen kasvatus (Turku: Turun yliopisto, 2012).

Klinge, Matti, Knapas, Rainer, Leikola, Anto & Strömberg, John, Kuninkaallinen Turun Akatemia 1640–1808: Helsingin yliopisto 1640–1990 I (Helsinki: Helsingin yliopisto, 1987).

Klinge, Matti, Knapas, Rainer, Leikola, Anto & Strömberg, John, Keisarillinen Aleksanterin yliopisto 1808–1917: Helsingin yliopisto 1640–1990 II (Helsinki: Helsingin yliopisto, 1989).

Koselleck, Reinhart ‘Social History and Begriffsgeschichte’, in History of Concepts: Comparative Perspectives, ed. by Iain Hampsher-Monk, Karin Tilmans & Frank van Vree (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 1998), pp. 23–36.

Koselleck, Reinhart, Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004).

Kunnas-Pusa, Liisa, ‘Kivikauden kuvia: Kaukaisimman menneisyyden representaatiot Suomi-kuvaa rakentamassa’, Ennen ja nyt – Historian tietosanomat 3(2018), online publication: https://journal.fi/ennenjanyt/article/view/108878/63873.

Kunnas-Pusa, Liisa, ‘Function Follows Form? The Role of Analogies in Discovering the Stone Age’, in Archaeology and Analogy: Papers from the Eighth Theoretical Seminar of the Baltic Archaeologists (BASE). Interarchaeologia 6, ed. by Marko Marila, Marja Ahola, Kristiina Mannermaa & Mika Lavento, (Helsinki: University of Helsinki, 2020), pp. 119–134.

Kunnas-Pusa, Liisa forthcoming, ‘Kieli ja käsitteet tieteen ja tiedon historian peilinä: Esimerkkinä kivikautisten esineiden nimitykset 1700–1800-luvuilla’, in Tiede ja tieto historiantutkimuksen kohteena, ed. by Mikko Myllykangas, Annastiina Mäkilä, Johanna Skurnik & Veli Virmajoki.

Mahudel, Nicolas, ‘Sur les pretendues Pierres de Foudre’, Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres avec les Mémoires de littérature tirés des registres de cette Académie, depuis l'année M. DCCXXXIV, jusques & compris l'année M. DCCXXXVII (Paris: L’Imprimerie Royale, 1740), pp. 163–9.

Manninen, Juha, Valistus ja kansallinen identiteetti: Aatehistoriallinen tutkimus 1700-luvun Pohjolasta (Helsinki: SKS, 2000).

Manninen, Juha (ed.) Porthanin monet kasvot: Kirjoituksia humanistisen tieteen monitaiturista (Helsinki: SKS, 2000).

Muhonen, Timo, ‘Kolme ajallista näkökulmaa ukonvaajoihin: Kivikauden kiviesineet myöhempien aikojen kuriositeetteina’, Kuriositeettikabi.net 3 (2006), http://www.kuriositeettikabi.net/numero3/Ukonvaajat.pdf.

Nicklasson, Påvel, ‘Johan Haquin Wallman, Sven Nilsson och den moderna arkeologins genombrott’, Fornvännen 2 (2008), pp. 102–10.

Nordlund, Christer, Det upphöjda landet: Vetenskapen, landhöjningsfrågan och kartläggningen av Sveriges förflutna, 1860–1930 (Umeå: Kungl. Skytteanska Samfundet, 2001).

Okkonen, Jari, Jättiläisen hautoja ja hirveitä kiviröykkiöitä: Pohjanmaan muinaisten kivirakennelmien arkeologiaa (Oulu: Oulun yliopisto, 2003).

Olivier, Laurent, ‘The Business of Archaeology is the Present’, in Reclaiming Archaeology. Beyond the Tropes of Modernity, ed. by Alfredo González-Ruibal (London & New York: Routledge, 2013), pp. 117–29. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203068632.ch9

Pohjola, Jari, Turunen, Jari, Lipping, Tarmo, Sivula, Anna & Marila, Marko, 'Introduction', in Historical Perspectives on Postglacial Uplift: Case Studies from the Lower Satakunta Region (Springer, 2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00970-0

Porthan, Henrik Gabriel, Valitut teokset, ed. and transl. by Iiro Kajanto (Helsinki: SKS, 1982).

Porthan, Sigfrid Henrik, Descriptio paroeciae Cuopio – Kuvaus Kuopion pitäjästä (Kuopio: Kuopion 200-vuotisjuhlien valmistelutoimikunta, 1982 [1775]).

Remy, Pierre, Catalogue des Curiosités qui composent le Cabinet de m. Le Duc de Caylus (Paris, 1773).

Rowley-Conwy, Peter, From Genesis to Prehistory: The Archaeological Three Age System and its Contested Reception in Denmark, Britain and Ireland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).

Sarviaho, Samu, ‘The Elusive Finn: Ethnic Identities, Source Criticism and the Early History of Northern Sweden in Seventeenth-Century Swedish Historiography’, Scandinavian Journal of History 46, 1 (2020), 21–41 https://doi.org/10.1080/03468755.2020.1788633.

Shryock, Andrew & Smail, Daniel L., Deep History. The Architecture of Past and Present (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2011). https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520949669

Smail, Daniel L., On Deep History and the Brain (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2007). https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520934160

Ticcander, Michael, Sysmän pitäjä, transl. by V. A. Nordman. (Sysmä: P. H. Bökman, 1942 [1792]).

Trigger, Bruce G., A History of Archaeological Thought (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006).

Urpilainen, Erkki, Algot Scarin ja gööttiläisen historiankirjoituksen mureneminen Ruotsissa 1700-luvun alkupuolella (Helsinki: Suomen Historiallinen Seura, 1993).

Vallinkoski, Jorma, Turun Akatemian väitöskirjat 1642–1828 (Helsinki: Helsingin yliopisto, 1967–1969).

Välimaa, Jussi, ‘The Academy of Turku During the Last Century of Swedish Rule (1720–1809)’, in A History of Finnish Higher Education from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century. (Springer, 2019), pp. 87–110. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20808-0.

Widenberg, Johanna, Fäderneslandets antikviteter. Etnoterritoriella historiebruk och integrationssträvanden i den svenska statsmaktens antikvariska verksamhet ca 1600–1720 (Uppsala: Uppsala universitet, 2006).