The entire very short paper, Between earth and water: a wooden snake figurine from the Neolithic site of Järvensuo 1 can be read by clicking the hyperlink, although the abstract is available below:
Abstract
Figurines made of wood, bone, amber, clay and lithics are occasionally discovered in prehistoric contexts in Fennoscandia, but the discovery, in 2020, of a unique wooden snake figurine during the excavations of a Neolithic wetland site in Finland broadens our understanding of the worldview of northern peoples 4400 years ago.
Figurines made of wood, bone, amber, clay and lithics are occasionally discovered in prehistoric contexts in Fennoscandia, but the discovery, in 2020, of a unique wooden snake figurine during the excavations of a Neolithic wetland site in Finland broadens our understanding of the worldview of northern peoples 4400 years ago.
The 21" (53.3cm) long staff was unearthed roughly 75mi (120km) northwest of Helsinki, at a prehistoric wetland site. Personally, I've always been irked at the tendency to pigeonhole every relic that we don't know the purpose of as being "for ritualistic purposes." But that's a complaint for another time.
I'm fascinated by artifacts that survive intact far longer than they ever should. Often, as is the case here, an anaerobic setting played a key role. The lack of oxygen prevents many types of fungi and bacteria from forming that normally assist in the wood's decomposition.
For instance, about five years ago, a 3000 year old bronze sword was found in Denmark that was in such immaculate condition that the blade was still sharp!
Here's the account of another bronze sword, 3300 years old, unearthed in the Czech Republic two years ago, although it isn't in as great a shape as the Danish sword.
And around the time that the Danish sword was dug up an underwater survey of the Black Sea came across numerous ship wrecks dating from Byzantine to Renaissance times. What astounded the researchers was how intact the rope rigging on these ships were considering how such ropes usually completely disintegrate in about a century. Once again the solution appears to lie in the anoxic (low oxygen content) state of the water.
And low oxygen environments not only preserve artifacts from long gone ages, it helps to preserve various organisms, from plants to animals, from decaying (and in the latter case, also prevents scavenging in that anything entering that environment quickly perishes as well).
For instance, a fish can wander into anoxic waters (whether in a lake or at sea) and suffocate because the water lacks oxygen and sink to the bottom. Since there is nearly no oxygen the remains won't be disturbed by either scavengers or bacteria and thus stay intact for quite a long time. The fact that such waters tend to be dead calm also means that the body won't be disturbed by currents and the like.
In fact, a partially buried whale skeleton slowly being covered by deposition has been studied off the coast of California in the Santa Catalina Basin at 1240 meters (4068') underwater demonstrates just how such fossilization can occur.
Comment