A NEW TREATMENT ON SETTLEMENT ARCHAEOLOGY

Archaeological studies in Finland were recently supplemented by a comprehensive doctoral thesis on settlement archaeology in the Kemiönsaari region, written by Henrik Asplund (University of Turku). This region is located in south-westernmost corner of Finland and covers both the island of Kemiönsaari, which was called Kymittæ in early written sources, and some neighbouring municipalities on Finnish mainland. Archaeological research of the area was already started in the late 19th century; yet the most significant fieldwork belongs to the recent decades and was mostly carried out by the author. The author himself labels his main research method as settlement-archaeological. Although this branch of archaeology is already known for one hundred years, it has strongly altered and developed during this time and the term itself is rather complex (see more Lang 2006). Settlement archaeological research has had remarkable peculiarities both in different countries and in different times; its nature (e.g. research topics and questions) depends on local conditions (achievements of earlier research, specifics of archaeological material) as well as on general development of archaeo-logical theory (what are the questions to be answered). Therefore the settlement-archaeological research in south-western Finland cannot be similar to, and use the same methods as, that i