Ancient Monuments in Finland
Aune Rummukainen
Antiquities and ancient relics are the traces and remains of past generations that have been preserved in the earth or under water. The Antiquities Act protects automatically without separate measures antiquities as reminders of Finland's past settlements and history. According to the Antiquities Act, antiquities are artefacts that are at least 100 years old and that do not have a known owner. It can be coin, weapon, tool, ornament, vessel or transport equipment. According to the Act, an ancient monument also includes the area that is essential for the preservation of the monument. This area around the ancient monument is called the protected area. Without permission granted under this act it is prohibited to dig, cover, modify, damage, remove or physically interfere with antiquities. If an ancient monument is discovered during earth excavation, the Act prescribes that work be immediately suspended and the find be reported to the National Board of Antiquities or the provincial museum. Basic data of ancient monuments in the mainland of Finland are in the Ancient Sites register. At Ahvenanmaa county government keeps on data of ancient monuments on their area. The information in the Ancient Sites Registry is available through the cultural environment registry portal and the Paikkatietoikkuna geographic information service. Lot of ancient monuments in Finland are not mapped and researched and many of them are marked only as a dot to the Ancient Sites Registry. With modern measuring systems mapping of monuments would be more effective. Nowadays ancient monument can be adopted by associations, groups, hobbyists and clubs, which looks after monument, collects garbage away and makes little maintenance at monument area.
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