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Maisterintutkielma keskittyy pronssikautiseen Jamnaja-kulttuurin hautauksista kerättyjen radiohiiliajoitusten analysoimiseen erilaisilla menetelmillä. Muun muassa ajoituksia käsitellään OxCal 4.4, CalPal ja ArcGIS ohjelmissa. CalPal:in oiva Chronology composer-toiminto järjestää ajoitukset kronologiseen järjestykseen, kun taas OxCal 4.4.-ohjelmassa radiohiiliajoituksia käsitellään tilastollisesti seuraavaa tutkimusvaihetta varten. Jamnaja-kulttuurin määritelmä on ollut pitkään keskustelun alla. Tutkijat ovat pitkään olleet hyvin eri mieltä siitä, minkälaiset hautaukset kuuluvat Jamnaja-kulttuuriin ja millaisia ne ovat olleet tätä aikaisemmin. Hyvin usein kivikautisia hautauksia luokitellaan jamnajaksi, vaikka niillä ei näyttäisi olevan mitään yhteyksiä siihen. Tutkielmassa on tärkeää rajoittaa jamnaja-kulttuurin määritelmää niin, että tulisi selväksi, mitä hautauksia otetaan mukaan seuraaviin analyyseihin, ja mitä hautauksia jätetään tutkimuksen ulkopuolelle. Työtä varten hautauksia on jaettu neljään ryhmään niiden keskeisten piirteiden perusteella. Tutkielman varsinainen osuus keskittyy ArcGIS-ohjelman tarjoamaan Kriging interpolointitoimintoihin. Näistä analyysiä varten on valittu Empirical Bayesian Kriging-malli, jonka avulla pystytään seuraamaan muita tuloksia kuin lineaarista ekspansiota. Kyseisessä metodissa arvioidaan tunnettujen pisteiden perusteella, minkälaisia arvoja tuntemattomat pisteet tutkimusalueella saisivat. Metodia yleensä käytetään korkeusmallien rakentamiseen, mutta tässä tapauksessa korkeuden arvot on korvattu radiohiiliajoituksilla. Metodilla suoritetaan kahdenlaista tutkimusta: yhdessä aineistoa on käsitelty laadullisesti, kun taas toisessa ei. Koska radiohiiliajoitukset yleensä kalibroinnin jälkeen esitetään kahden arvon välinä, ne täytyy analysoida tilastollisesti. OxCal-ohjelman Tau_Boundary-funktio mahdollistaa välien pienentämisen, jotta ajoituksien painotettuja ja tavallisia keskiarvoja voidaan käyttää. Metodi perustuu oletettuihin Jamnaja-kulttuurin ilmestymiseen ja loppumiseen. Radiohiiliajoitukset aiheuttavat kyseisessä analyysissä paljon virhemarginaaleja, joten niiden laatua tulee käsitellä tarkasti. Samalla tavalla kuin hautauksien tilanteessa, ajoitukset on jaettu neljään ryhmään, joissa on huomioitu perinteisen ja AMS-ajoittamisten ero, ”vanhan puun vaikutus”, allaseffekti sekä erilaisten laboratorioiden tuottama tieto. Kiovan laboratorio on pitkään säännöllisesti tuottanut virheellisiä ajoituksia, joten niitä käsitellään tutkielmassa harkiten. Tulevaisuudessa tutkimusta voi yhdistää sekä isotooppeihin että genetiikkaan. Yhteisellä panoksella Jamnaja-ekspansiosta syntyy täydennetty kuva, jota voidaan käyttää tulkitsemaan 5000 vuoden takaisia tapahtumia. Lisäksi tutkimusta voi laajentaa sisällyttämällä lisää eroavia piirteitä. Kuitenkin kattavaa tietopankkia varten tarvitaan lisää hyvänlaatuisia radiohiiliajoituksia, etenkin Ukrainan alueelta.

This thesis proposes polyphonic interpretations of the short film Birds in the Earth (Eatnanvuloš Lottit, 2018) by Sámi artist Marja Helander. The thesis investigates and develops a method to decentralise the research of Sámi art conducted by non-Sámi art historian’s perspective. The artwork addresses discourses about the Sámi history, culture and current matters. This raises the question of which kind of interpretation a non-Sámi art historian can form employing traditional art historical methods such as researching literature. The thesis examines how including perspectives of Sámi interviewees influences the comprehension and therefore decentralises interpretations of Birds in the Earth. The base of this thesis lays in the tradition of art historical analysis and interpretation. Additions include writings on decolonisation and Indigenous art by Kerstin Knopf, the term of polyphonic history by Peter Burke and inter/view as exchange of gazes following Alessandro Portelli. In order to formulate decentralised interpretations, three open-ended interviews with Sámi spectators are conducted about their experience and understanding of the short film. Thoughts and stories articulated by the interviewees are woven into the interpretation which proceeds by the categories of choreography, costumes, props and scenography. With the short film as point of departure, Sámi discourses are discussed such as landownership, tourism and appropriation, togetherness with nature and Sámi identity. Input from the interviews is combined with research insights from literature, seminars and documentaries. Both the interviews and the art historical research are presented alongside each other without competing or excluding each other. Adding Sámi interviewees’ perspectives decreases the distance between a non-Sámi art historian’s interpretation and the Sámi artwork which would have formed through merely employing research from literature, seminars and documentaries. The interpretation is enriched and comes alive by the interviewees’ elaborated experiences. The decentralised and therefore decentralising narratives come closer to the substance of the artwork as the art historian is formulating while self-reflecting. This implicitly demands the acknowledgement of historical and cultural references of art history itself and a reflected positioning of the non-Sámi art historian’s role in relation to Sámi discourses alongside researching and writing. Developing the methodology of non-Sámi art historians writing about Sámi art proofs necessary and purposive due to the growing importance of and interest in Indigenous art.

The sex/gender model used in biological archaeologies to investigate human remains and past lives is one that relies on the epistemological and ontological separation of sex and gender. Despite this separation the model ends up treating these concepts synonymously due to the taken-for-granted binary nature of sex which in a deterministic manner eventuates into an equally binary gender. This thesis develops a theoretical framework for an archaeological concept of gender that operates without the division, binarism and determinism implicit in the sex/gender model. Pursuing answers to the questions whether it is possible to approach both sex and gender in archaeology in a nonbinary way, and if so, what is an archaeologically feasible alternative, it seeks to devise a method to approach sex and gender in mortuary archaeology beyond the deterministic binary. This thesis is firmly theory-oriented and the writings of various authors within the discipline of archaeology, feminism and queer studies comprise the necessary material. The theories pertaining to the field of feminism are intersectionality and queer theory, which eschew normativity and essentialism and call for gender diversity. Respective to archaeology, the theories influencing this thesis derive from new materialisms to whom the rejection of divisions and dichotomies is characteristic. In this regard, of particular note are the writings of new materialist and feminist theorist Karen Barad. Applying her theories concerning the relational, entangled and mutually constitutive nature of matter and meaning to the topic of sex and gender is central in devising a nonbinary new materialist perspective to be used for the purpose of a more open and inclusive mortuary archaeology. This thesis reveals that the dualistic division between nature and culture has resulted in a separate conceptual development and different strategies of engagement concerning sex and gender. The reason why sex is seen as a biological fact and gender as a cultural meaning proves false when both are affected equally by nature and culture, with the body serving as a nexus-point in which these two forces converge. Applying Barad’s insight reveals that binary sex is not an inherent quality of the body, but one that is produced through a scientific biomedical apparatus. Sex and gender exist in a state of inseparability when undetermined, but when subjected to a determination process, they become mutually exclusive phenomena, thereby disrupting sex-to-gender determinism. In their separate state, both are constitutive of matter and meaning, which is why gender made determined through intersectionality can be used to study gendered understandings through the materiality of the body, exempt from binary views. Analysing a topical bioarchaeological publication concerning a female Viking warrior through the approach that does not depend on the sex binary reveals that a scientific biomedical apparatus is subject to criticism on multiple fronts. Though the case study should be credited with rejecting gender role stereotypes, it demonstrates determinism and binarism as well as homogeneity and universalism in terms of categories. Failing to imagine possibilities beyond a fixed binary also results in the exclusion of alternate ways of knowing and being. The open-ended approach proposed in this thesis not only seeks to grant these possibilities opportunities to exist, but counsels cognisance towards the exclusions apparatuses enact. Embracing speculation, it also holds ambiguity and vagueness to be meaningful qualities pertaining to gendered archaeology. Regarding the mortuary setting, binary sex determinations need not be abandoned, but they should be used alongside this nonbinary approach.

This work stems from the various debates of the definition, authenticity and plurality of yoga traditions both among yoga practitioners and scholars. The work has two aims: to move away from these debates by constructing a new theoretical perspective, and to study yoga as a lived, non-ascetic practice in India because based on ethnography, because such ethnographic study has not been done properly. The material of this work is based on official field work in the city of Bangalore, in Karnātaka state, India, from the end of October 2005 towards the end of February 2006. This thesis then seeks to map the social reality of yoga as it existed in the mid 2000’s among the of middle-aged, middle-class Hindu practitioners. In this work, it is analyzed how they narrate yoga. Overview of yoga history is presented as a frame that both provides an intertextual library and guides interpretation as an authoritative voice of “past in the present”. Similarly, the traditional sources of authoritative knowledge in India, the Sanskritic textual canon and the institution of the guru are discussed. The yoga narratives gathered in Bangalore essentially informs the re-theorizing of yoga, shifting focus from tradition to knowledge. Knowledge is taken as the main analytical category of the discussion. The dialogic relationship of theory and practice is at the core this work which then translates into exploring yoga knowledge as two interconnected categories: objectified knowledge, that is theory and philosophy of yoga, and embodied knowledge, meaning not only the practiced techniques of yoga but essentially all yoga knowledge that is performed. Yoga classes and narratives are observed as knowledge performances. Lastly, practitioner narratives are analyzed by using the concepts of objectified and embodied knowledge, hierarchies of knowledge and participant roles in addition to exploring the narratives in their ethnographic context. As a result, the work concludes: each performance has the potential to integrate the theory and practice, and despite all the differences, all yoga is yoga.

Word2vec on menetelmä niin sanottujen sanavektoreiden, tai sanaupotusten, laskemiseen luonnollisen tekstin pohjalta. Sanavektorit ovat sanojen kontekstien tiivistettyjä esitysmuotoja, missä kontekstit ovat alkuperäisestä tekstistä. Tällaisille vektoriesityksille on luonnollisen kielen käsittelyssä monia käyttökohteita. Ne sisältävät runsaasti informaatiota kunkin sanan kontekstista suhteellisen tiiviissä ja helposti käytettävässä muodossa. Sanavektoreita voidaan käyttää joko suoraan sanojen kontekstien tutkimiseen tai alkuperäisten sanojen informatiivisempina esitysmuotoina erilaisissa sovelluksissa. Tässä työssä tarkastelen word2vecin teoreettista pohjaa, word2vecin soveltamista käytännössä ja sen tulosten arviointia, sekä word2vecin käyttöä sanojen kontekstien ajan yli tapahtuvien muutosten tutkimiseen. Esittelen myös joitakin muita word2vecin ja sanavektoreiden käyttökohteita sekä muita samanlaisiin käyttötarkoituksiin kehitettyjä ja myöhempiä algoritmeja. Word2vec-algoritmi on matemaattiselta pohjaltaan suhteellisen suoraviivainen, mutta algoritmi sisältää useita optimointeja jotka vaikuttavat yhtäältä sen teoreettiseen tarkkuuteen ja toisaalta käytännön suorituskykyyn. Tutkin näitä optimointeja ja niiden käytännön vaikutuksia tarkemmin. Lopputulos on, että word2vec on hyvin suorituskykyinen algoritmi, jonka tulokset ovat kuitenkin riittävän vakaita ollakseen laajasti käyttökelpoisia. Kerron työssäni word2vec-mallien sovittamisesta ja arvioinnista käytännössä, käyttäen vapaasti saatavilla olevaa avoimen lähdekoodin gensim-kirjastoa Python-ohjelmointikielelle. Sovitan useita malleja eri hyperparametrien arvoilla ja arvioin tuloksia eri tavoin selvittääkseni mallien sopivuutta. Lähdemateriaalina näille malleille käytän kahta eri suomenkielisten uutisartikkeleiden tekstikorpusta, STT:ltä (vuosilta 1992-2018) ja Yleltä (vuosilta 2011-2018). Kerron myös käytännön ongelmista ja ratkaisuista suomenkielisen tekstin käsittelyssä word2vecillä. Lopuksi, käytän word2veciä sanojen kontekstien muutosten tutkimiseen ajan yli. Tämä tehdään sovittamalla useita word2vec-malleja Ylen ja STT:n materiaaliin, vuosi kerrallaan, jolloin annetun sanan kontekstia voidaan tutkia ja vertailla eri vuosien välillä. Kohdesanani on "tekoäly"; tutkin myös muutamaa muuta siihen liittyvää sanaa. Tuloksena on vertailu sanan "tekoäly" ja muiden liittyvien sanojen lähimmistä naapureista eri vuosina kullekin korpukselle, ja siitä nähdään että kyseisten sanojen kontekstit ovat havaittavasti muuttuneet tutkittuina ajanjaksoina. Jos sanan merkitys oletetaan jollakin tasolla samaksi kuin sen konteksti, voidaan todeta että sana "tekoäly" on eri aikoina tarkoittanut eri asiaa. Word2vec on kvantitatiivinen metodi, mikä tarkoittaa että mainittu semanttinen muutos on sen avulla mitattavissa. Tämä muutos voidaan myös kuvata visuaalisesti, kuten olen tehnyt. Word2vec on stokastinen menetelmä, joten sen suppenemisen yksityiskohdat ansaitsevat huomiota. Kuten totean työssäni, word2vecin suppenemisominaisuudet ovat jo varsin hyvin tunnetut, sekä teoreettisten tarkastelujen pohjalta että useisiin onnistuneisiin käytännön sovellutuksiin perustuen. Vaikka tämä ei yleensä ole tarpeen, toistan oman analyysini tutkiakseni word2vecin suppenemista ja stabiiliutta tässä nimenomaisessa tapauksessa. Johtopäätös on että tulokseni ovat vakaat. Word2vec is a method for constructing so-called word embeddings, or word vectors, from natural text. Word embeddings are a compressed representation of word contexts, based on the original text. Such representations have many uses in natural language processing, as they contain a lot of contextual information for each word in a relatively compact and easily usable format. They can be used either for directly examining and comparing the contexts of words or as more informative representations of the original words themselves for various tasks. In this thesis, I investigate the theoretical underpinnings of word2vec, how word2vec works in practice and how it can be used and its results evaluated, and how word2vec can be applied to examine changes in word contexts over time. I also list some other applications of word2vec and word embeddings and briefly touch on some related and newer algorithms that are used for similar tasks. The word2vec algorithm, while mathematically fairly straightforward, involves several optimisations and engineering tricks that involve tradeoffs between theoretical accuracy and practical performance. These are described in detail and their impacts are considered. The end result is that word2vec is a very efficient algorithm whose results are nevertheless robust enough to be widely usable. I describe the practicalities of training and evaluating word2vec models using the freely available, open source gensim library for the Python programming language. I train numerous models with different hyperparameter settings and perform various evaluations on the results to gauge the goodness of fit of the word2vec model. The source material for these models comes from two corpora of news articles in Finnish from STT (years 1992-2018) and Yle (years 2011-2018). The practicalities of processing Finnish-language text with word2vec are considered as well. Finally, I use word2vec to investigate the changes of word contexts over time. This is done by considering word2vec models that were trained from the Yle and STT corpora one year at a time, so that the context of a given word can be compared between two different years. The main word I consider is "tekoäly" (Finnish for "artificial intelligence"); some related words are examined as well. The result is a comparison of the nearest neighbours of "tekoäly" and related words in various years across the two corpora. From this it can be seen that the context of these words has changed noticeably during the time considered. If the meaning of a word is taken to be inseparable from its context, we can conclude that the word "tekoäly" has meant something different in different years. Word2vec, as a quantitative method, provides a measurable way to gauge such semantic change over time. This change can also be visualised, as I have done. Word2vec is a stochastic method and as such its convergence properties deserve attention. As I note, the convergence of word2vec is by now well established, both through theoretical examination and the very numerous successful practical applications. Although not usually done, I repeat my analysis in order to examine the stability and convergence of word2vec in this particular case, concluding that my results are robust.

This thesis aims to examine and contextualize the histories, meanings, and the messages behind a number of the most significant classical structures in Helsinki, looking in particular at who erected these buildings and why they did so, along with what the planners and architects were trying to emphasize through their architectural design choices. The legacies of these builders and their buildings are also to be analysed. Specifically, this thesis does not aim to answer why Finland has classical architecture, but rather what it means for this young nation to have it, especially so in such significant abundance and considering that a great many of the nation’s most important buildings have been designed in this particular style.

Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract Street art interferes in urban life and communicates directly with people. My thesis focuses on examining the meaning of place in the political street art. I study the existence of a street art world and the specific characters of it. Street artists act most of the time outside the traditional art world and aim at challenging the existing art institutions. Therefore, numerous street artworks have political character. Holly Eva Ryan defines political street art as art which has orientation towards society and engages with power. Street artworks exist in a physical location. However, people interact with place as humans create and use places. Therefore, the concept of place includes also psychological and social dimensions. Consequently, people produce meanings of place and different social groups produce multiple meanings. Defining place is a process that never ceases. The concepts of sense and identity of place clarify the human interaction with place. The specific aim of my thesis is to examine the impact of political street art on place. The research material consists of Banksy’s Brexit mural in Dover in the UK and four of his artworks in the West Bank in the Middle East. In addition, I analyse ludo’s street artworks in Paris and Berlin. The analysis covers the presentations of the artists, the descriptions and the interpretations of the political street artworks including analyses of place and its history. On the base of the research material, street art is a part of the defining process of place. There are also extreme cases in which the defining process has partially stopped and some members of the society have limited possibilities to participate in the production of the meanings of place. Street artist with political ethos can find support and inspiration in the city areas of political activism as pasting an artwork is an act of participation in the political dialogue. Street artworks can also change meaning of the place by softening or bringing new elements to the identity of place. Social together with traditional media are the instruments for producing place even after the street artwork has ceased to exist. It seems that the debate on place will continue and take further steps in research of digital production of place.

The Demoniana series is the most researched of all of Mikhail Vrubel's work, yet the origins of the series' imagery remain neglected. Scholars have attributed Demoniana's imagery to a literary origin - the poem Demon by Mikhail Lermontov. Focusing on the relationship between the painted material of the series, Demon seated (1890), Demon in-flight (1899), Demon downcast (1902), and Six-Winged Seraph (Azrael) (1904) in addition to the illustrations to the poem in the Jubilee edition of Lermontov's poetry published in 1899-1891, my research challenges the assumptions of the continuity of the Demoniana series and shows that the basis for its imagery can be found in Vrubel's earlier works. In his Demoniana series, Vrubel is searching for a new kind of hero, one that he felt certain would make his name immortal. The character of the fallen angel, in Vrubel's view, a tortured soul, not necessarily evil, was an interesting choice considering the influence of the church in the society at that time. In many ways, the artist identified personally with this character. Demoniana was not only a quest for artistic immortality but also an attempt to determine a contemporary representation of a kind of spirituality, a search for the path to salvation. Setting the Demoniana series imagery in the context of a broader field of Vrubel's works, I am planning to contrast his borrowed and invented imagery from earlier sketches and murals with the literary inspiration of Lermontov's poem in the illustrations. I shall argue that Mikhail Vrubel’s version of the character of the Demon is different from Mikhail Lermontov's. Exploring issues of Vrubel's religious painting tradition and the origins of his unique technique I attempt to show how the artist accomplished his own interpretation and embodiment of the character of the Demon.

Maaperän sedimenttejä tutkittiin maatutkaluotauksilla sekä sedimentologisilla tutkimuksilla Kersilön alueella, Sodankylässä, Suomen Keski-Lapissa, alueen sedimentologiaan ja stratigrafiaan liittyvän tiedon tuottamiseksi, sekä maaperän glasiaalisten ja postglasiaalisten kehitysvaiheiden selvittämiseksi. Tutkimusalue kattaa noin 150 km2 laajan alueen Kitisen joen ympärillä. Maaperää hallitsevat karkearakeiset irtomaalajit, joiden keskimääräinen raekoko vaihtelee hiekasta soraan. Tyypillinen maaperän paksuus vaihtelee 5–15 metriin, ylittäen paikoin 20 metriä. Alueen itäistä osaa peittää Viiankiaavan Holoseenin aikainen turvekerros, jonka alapuolella on klastisia lajittuneita sedimenttejä sekä moreenia. Itäistä joenpengertä luonnehtivat lajittuneet sedimentit, joiden on tulkittu edustavan muinaista palmikoivan joen ympäristöä. Joen länsipuolella esiintyy laajoja lajittuneita kerrostumia, joiden on tulkittu edustavan ekstramarginaalisia purkaussedimenttejä ja palmikoivan joen sedimenttejä. Moreenikerrokset ovat hallitsevampia läntisellä puolella jokea. Tutkimusalueen koekaivannoissa havaitaan enimmillään kolme moreenipatjaa, joiden arvioidaan olevan Varhais-, Keski- ja Myöhäis-Veikselin aikaisia. Moreenipatjojen välisten lajittuneempien fluviaalisten sedimenttien arvioidaan olevan peräisin Varhais- ja Keski-Veikselin sekä Holoseenin ajalta Keskim-mäisestä lajittuneiden sedimenttien ryhmästä tehdyt absoluuttiset ikämääritykset viittaavat Odderade Interstadiaaliin Varhais- ja Keski-Veikselin jäätiköitymisvaiheiden välissä. Maatutka 50 MHz ja 100 MHz antenneilla osoitti soveltuvuutensa fluviaalisten sedimenttien tutkimiseen runsaasti karkearakeisia sedimenttejä sisältävässä proglasiaalisessa ympäristössä. Tutka-aineiston laatu mahdollisti sedimenttiyksikköjen sisäisten ja välisten litologisten rajapintojen erottamisen. Seitsemän maatutkafasiesta ja -fasiesseuruetta on tunnistettavissa, ja ne luokitellaan orgaanisiin, glasiaalisiin ja fluviaalisiin sedimentteihin. Fluviaalisiin sedimentteihin sisältyy viisi fluviaalisille sedimenteille luonteenomaista maatutkafasiesta ja -fasiesseuruetta. Sedimentit indikoivat sarjaa, jolla glasiaaliset kerrostumat vuorottelevat fluviaalisten, jäättömiin jaksoihin viittaavien, lajittuneiden sedimenttien kanssa. Fluviaalinen toiminta on ollut toistuvaa ja erityisen voimakasta viimeisen deglasiaation aikana, aiheuttaen mahdollisesti moreenien osittaisen erodoitumisen. Orgaanisen turpeen muodostuminen alueella alkoi Skandinavian jäätikön viimeisen vetäytymisen jälkeen. Deglasiaaliseen ja Holoseenin aikaiseen syntyyn viittavat klastiset pintasedimentit ovat osittain tuulen ja tulvavesien muokkaamia. Subsurface sediments were investigated by radar acquisition campaigns and sedimentological investigations in Kersilö area, Sodankylä, central Finnish Lapland, in order to provide information about the sedimentology and stratigraphy of the area, and to construct the succession of events related to the glacial and postglacial development of the subsurface sediments. The study area covers an about 150 km2 area around Kitinen river. The subsurface is controlled by unconsolidated coarse-grained sediments with a mean grain-size ranging from sand to gravel. Typical thickness of the overburden varies from 5 to 15 metres, exceeding 20 metres in places. Eastern part of the study area is covered by Holocene peat of Viiankiaapa mire, underlain by clastic sorted sediments and till. Eastern river bank is characterized by sorted sediments interpreted to represent an ancient braided-river environment. Western side of the river presents extensive sorted sediment deposits, interpreted to represent extramarginal-outwash and braided-river sediments. Till beds are more dominant in the western side of the river. Stratigraphy of the Kärväsniemi test site comprises three sandy till beds, estimated to represent Early, Middle and Late Weichselian glaciations. The till units are interbedded by more sorted fluvial sediments, estimated to have Early and Middle Weichselian and Holocene origin. Absolute age determinations from the middle sorted sediment assemblage suggests Odderade Interstadial between the Early and Middle Weichselian glaciations. Ground penetrating radar, utilising 50 MHz and 100 MHz antennas, proves its suitability for investigation of fluvial deposits of a proglacial environment, with abundant coarse-grained sediments. Quality of the data enables identification of lithological interfaces within and between sediment units. Seven radar facies and facies associations are identified, and classified as organic, glacial and fluvial sediments. Fluvial sediments include five radar facies and facies associations characteristic of fluvial deposits. The sediments indicate a succession where glacial deposits alternate with fluvial sorted sediments indicating ice-free events. Fluvial activity is estimated to have been repetitious and especially intensive during the last deglaciation, possibly causing partial erosion of the till beds. Formation of organic peat started in the area after the final retreat of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet. Clastic surface sediments indicating deglacial to Holocene origin have experienced partial reworking by wind and floodwaters.

Geochemistry of stone tools and sources remains largely unknown in Finnish archaeology, but the potential is promising. Most formal Finnish stone tools beside quartz are made from ground metamorphic stone, which often has a specific source of collection. Geochemistry can reveal compositional and trace element links between the sources and tools found in various Stone Age settlement sites. Discoveries about technological properties of the stone types can be a helpful comparison, since many geochemical methods can produce data that has inconsistencies. In this thesis both geochemical and technological aspects of two lithic material sources are examined. Samples were collected from two lithic material sources: Rakkaviita and Rieskapaikka in Tervola, Southern Lapland. The 62 collected samples were measured with a Bruker S1 Titan portable x-ray fluorescence device as a preliminary method. Three samples from Rakkaviita and two samples from Rieskapaikka were chosen for the primary method, which was the PANalytical Axios mAX 4 kW, Wavelength Dispersive X-Ray fluorescence spectrometer in the Department of Geosciences in the University of Helsinki. The data from these measurements is evaluated and plotted to reveal geochemical properties of the stone. In this study, the properties of these stone materials are documented for the first time, so it can also be considered as a mapping study. The measurements revealed differentiation between methods, especially on the SiO2 percentages. The WD-XRF measurements are done without sample specific calibration, which obscures the quantitative proportions of some elements. The content of the stone revealed various components in different proportions. The result of major components was a coarsely qualitative definition of stone from both sources, which can be used in further material studies of stone tools. The trace element comparison between yttrium (Y) and strontium (Sr) revealed clear similarity between sources, excluding one sample that had significantly different tool production properties than others. According to this study, methods that handle trace elements well like ICP-MS are best suited for provenance studies on this type of stone. With trace elements it’s likely that these types of stones can be successfully sourced by geological region. The technological properties of the material are studied to find out the potential of the raw material as a stone to make and use tools with. Differences in the technological properties of the two sources is reflected in the composition and formation differences. Rieskapaikka included more mafic, porphyritic and fine-grained samples while Rakkaviita stones were more foliated and deteriorated.