Mysterious ANCIENT sites in Finland 

I know Finnish is hard and no one here is actually bothered by mispronunciations, but just a tip on pronouncing "Ä": It's like the A sound in hat, bat or cat, not just a longer A. "Ö" is like the "ir" in girl. Thanks for the videos, actually finding out a lot I never knew :) Always cool to see the country through a fresh pair of eyeballs.

Iam Dutch in Finland nowadays! Hopefully I can visit some of these places. Iam moving in permanently.

Finnish history is underrated topic in history. It is incredible how we walked here from the Urals, defended against the Vikings and fought the Russians.

"you just don't build a fort for no reason." 8-year-old me: "we'll see about that"

I live close to Astuvansalmi. The paintings were recently vandalized with graffiti which annoys the heck out of me.

Hey. Actually that ukonkivi is now forbidden from tourism. It is a very old sacriface place and it's holy to sámi people. And because it is holy, nobody are not allow to go there. Remember to respect the indigenous people when you are visiting in their land.

There is a couple of rock painting sites here in Laukaa: Saraakallion kalliomaalaukset and Halsvuoren kalliomaalaus (which is rare being, unlike the other paintings, quite far from lake). Also here is Hitonhauta ravine and many other places. I agree with you that Kummakivi has most definitely being holy place for ancient finns. Or as they called holy places, it has been a Hiisi.

My family immigrated from Finland, possibly Vippuri, in the early 1900s. Some years later around 1910/1915 they purchased a farm of over 100 acres in the Northeastern United States. Fast forward to 2020 and I became aware a deceased cousin wrote a book telling of the troubles of alcoholism in the family and life on the farm. All the children used to play at an area on the farm they dubbed "rocking rock". The book described it as a large Boulder on top of ledge protruding from the ground. I had a deep feeling within to try and locate this area, sit where all my ancestors did. I went to the old farm which now an industrial area with few forested segments left. After driving around for 5 minutes something internal led me to an area in the back corner of the property. I exited my truck, walked to the woods edge from a factory parking lot and there it was, "rocking rock" in it's full glory. In astoundment I took pictures to show my few remaining family members, that I had found my families "historic" site on the old farm. The same astoundment came when seeing your wild card site, rock on rock, a larger Finnish version of my family's Finnish American farm site. Things that make us say hmmm. Thank you for your videos, continue with your good work, we appreciate you my friend. Update! When researching this site more and finding out it is located in Ruokolahti...well my family's last name is found within Ruokolahti. The last half, a one letter difference in the spelling due to a change made at time of immigration. Lahti was the original spelling of my family's name.

The island opposite our summer cottage has so many of these ice-driven rocks that they cover large areas and these boulder-mountains are usually covered with forest. Because of this, there are many cavities and caves in the moss. As a child, I crammed into one hole and swam 15 meters between the rocks. I looked down with a flashlight from the slit at the back of the cave and the bottom was not visible. I never thought, "what if these stones roll on me?". The ice age has given many people and bears a home.

I'm pretty sure some of the hill forts - or maybe all of them - had multiple purposes. Like, besides forts, they were likely sites of justice, negotiations, meeting places, maybe religious ceremonial centers as well.

There are a lot of Bronze Age burial cairns along the coast, and there even still seems to be undiscovered (by the museum authorities) ones. My 10yo nephew even found one in our hometown. One of the more impressive sites I've seen was Sammallahdenmäki in Rauma. Fun fact: the Finnish word for cairn, röykkiö, seems to be cognate with the Irish word cruach.

Ukonkivi is a sieidis (seita), which is a holy place in traditional sámi spiritual practice. You could make a video about all the different stone structures that have a special meaning in Finnish paganism. Many of them have a Finnish name that has something to do with hiisi, which is both a sacred place and a mythological creature. To name a few stone structures from Finnish paganism: - Glacial erratic (hiidenkivi), which are big rocks like the kummakivi rock. These rocks are so big that ancient Finns though that hiisis or giants had thrown the rocks. One pretty cool one is "Tapion alttari", a big rock balancing on top three smaller rocks at Muurame. - Giant's kettle (hiidenkirnu), which were believed to be made by hiisis. Some of these round holes in rocks are so deep that you could stand inside them. - Pre-historic cairn graves (hiidenkiuas) were also believed to be made by hiisis. They're basically big piles of rocks, but still quite impressive when you happen to come across one in the woods. - Kuppikivi or kuppikallio (I couldn't find an English word for this) are these stones or rocks with small manmade intendentations on them where you would put a sacrifice, like grain. There are about 500 of them in Finland. - Giant's garden or giant's road (jatulintarha) are these old manmade stone labyrinths that you can find close to the sea. They aren't quite as sacred as many of the others on this list, but they were probably still used in different pagan rituals. - Finnish rock art pictographs (kalliomaalaus), like Värikallio, which can depict shamanistic journeys to the land of the dead (manala), and the shaman can turn into an animal to help with the crossing of the worlds. There are probably others, but these are the ones that came to mind. Great vid! Keep them coming.

Another great one bud. Your content the past few weeks has been killing it. For me it has been anyway. Really enjoyed this one. Would love to see more on the Finnish tribes also. Well done my friend

I just visited kummakivi at early august. It was about 10 o'clock in the evening and weather was really grey and foggy. The forest was totally silent, it was a haunting feeling to walk the path to the rock. I thought I couldn't have picked a better timing.

I live next to Rapola or Rapolanharju. It was there before christians came to finland. It is in really perfect spot to fight against Novgorod. Those lakes and rivers are a gateway to nothern Finland. I was walking there at summer, and one can see the frames of the old stonecastle. In the middle of everything is natural well. Those people could have been surrounded by weeks or even months! At nighttime fog spreads all over the well and ancients believed there lived fairys and other spirits. Temperature at the well level is 5 degrees colder than next to wall. EDIT: The boss was called King of Rapola. It was like a big city. Church is there because christians wanted ancients away. The church is incredible inside, I have been in two weddings in there in middle of 1000 years old wooden statues and ceiling paintings.

susiluola (Kristiinankaupunki), pirunpesä (lyttylä), and western Finlands Hiidenkiukaat (burial sites). Northern mountains like Saana and Malla. Kuninkaanhauta (the King's grave)

Well you just keep covering the most interesting topics! This also serves as a badass list of places to visit in Finland.

I am 98% Finnish and 2% Inuit. My family came from the island of Hailuoto for 400 years. They still live there. My family tree goes back to the year 1170 on the island of Gotland. The history of Gotland is fantastic

I noticed that the place you were speaking of at first is named Saksmäki, which probably stands for seax hill or knife hill. A seax is a large knife or even a small sword that was used as a tool/weapon in ancient and mediveal times.

Another great episode! Thank you so much! Really wonderful to be able to get this information in English, since I do not speak Finnish.

Giant's churches in Ostrobothnia region (3500-2000 BC)

Ah nice, i'm actually from Valkeakoski, a small city that Rapola and Sääksmäki belongs to (well i live in Tampere now but grew up there). The place is super interesting to me as well. I'm fascinated by the finnish war god Turisas and his origins, which all seem veiled in mystery. Turisas seems to be mainly known by the Hämäläiset (but also Karelians, there's stories of a Tyriän Vuori in Äyräpää where Turisas has been worshipped) and i've always wondered if you could find something about Turisas in the Rapola and near areas, maybe through archaeology etc. Coincidentally, there is a place called Tursiannotko in Pirkkala, near Tampere that is a fairly recent archeological site. The name seems to point towards Turisas as well, which again is interesting.

Thanks so much for making this video

I visit Astuvansalmi almost once a year. It's magical place.

Rapolan harju is such a magical place. Visited last summer. One still can see parts of the old walls on the hill. It is a place which one could defend for months since it has own well in the middle of the kettle hole. And the walls surrounded the kettle hole from every corner. I was walking around the area and suddenly a fox jumped on my path. It had a mouse on his mouth and started to eat it. I was watching it a half a minute or so before he noticed me and run away. Also another place to visit is Hakoisten Linnavuori in Janakkala. It's similar to Rapola, but it's smaller. When you stand in the top of that hill, you can see everywhere around you. So one can definately think why they choose this place to build a fortidied castle. It has also a special athmosphere 💞

I am so excited to be visiting a few of these places in a couple of weeks! Coming all the way from America's west coast, where it's difficult to find anything so ancient

There are also a lot of bronze age burial rock mounds, one in my home village too. They have served as religious places as well as their actual purpose was lost throughout the decades.

Been living near rapola atleast from the mid 16th century & nothing gonna change anytime soon :) Its peaceful to watch over the lake view.

You have of course visited Jättiläissaaren jätinkirkolla. Not far from Oulu(some 30km), nice about 5km hike and good scenery. Half way this jätinkirkko.

I really enjoy your videos about ancient finnish culture and mytology. Always something new to learn. Kiitos!

There have been 80 remains of buildings found within Rapola's walls along with 13 oven and or forge remains, meaning it was likely more than just a place where the folk from the surrounding area would go to in times of war for protection with it being left abandoned in times of peace. Another interesting feature of not just Rapola, but also most other iron age hillforts in Finland, was that their entrances were designed so that you would have to enter in sideways, meaning you would have to choose will you go shield or weapon first, limiting either the ability to attack or defend or both depending on how narrow the entrance corridor was. The fighting at these forts was brutal. The defenders would shoot arrows, throw spears/javelins and large rocks and boulders on the attackers downhill. During the winter, when it was freezing cold, buckets of water would be thrown on the enemy leading to hypothermia and death. Horses would be used to pull down the wooden parts of the wall structure to create openings in the walls. Prolonged sieges were uncommon though, since the hillforts were not designed for that nor did the attacker want to risk heavy casualties from the well dug in defenders. This usually led to the surrounding countryside, villages and farmsteads to be looted and sacked, as is described in the Novgorodian sources from the time.

Wow! Im so happy I found your awesome channel. I love Ireland and history of ugric tribes so its perfect match👍🏻

Visiting Jatulinlinna (castle of Jatuli/Jotunn) would be an unique video. I think there are at least two of them near the sea up north. They are like large arenas made out of rock-pile walls.

Great video. This is pretty much how I spend my free time, finding old settlements, single homesteads etc. while enjoying nature and taking photos.

Really cool ancient places.

My aunt in Hollola said there is a sacrificial stone tablet at the top of the hill on the peninsula behind her kesämokki

I live in hämeenlinna... Theres the castle and some forts and some ruins of a fishing village... Theres also a nature preserve forest which is cool to walk around in if you like nature

This topic is my absolute favorite

there are several ancient forets in huge islands of Päijänne for example.. where there are literally boulders size of a 2story house.

Nice job, can see you put in a lot of research

There's Kastellin jätinkirkko (giant's chuch) in Raahe not far from Oulu. It's interesting place to visit.

A good list. Have been to see the paintings and they really are quite fascinating.

Good video, just one lil thing I wish you would have included with each entry, a map of FInland showing the rough location of these places, doesnt have to be precise, just an approximate location so you get an idea

Thanks!

Have you visited Hämeenlinna?

There is some controversy surrounding Wolf Cave. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Cave

In Hämeenlinna, near the city center, there is a place called Varikonniemi. It has been inhabited since the Iron Age. It was an ancient trading place where even the Vikings traded (not exactly proven, records of trade with the people of Häme have been found in the Viking runic writings of the same era). The residence was found in 1988 when a boy moving in the area found an old sword. There were remnants of some kind of defensive wall and pier in the area. The fortress was built in the 13th century on the other side of Vanajavesi near that ancient trading place. This fortress later became Hämeen linna (fortress/castle).

I have heard that there is a belief tied to kummakivi. That it will falling will signal the end of the world

Kummakivi is obviously put there by a giant.

Kummakivi actually tranlates to weird rock if you did not know im from finland

You probably know it already but kummakivi literally translates to strange rock or odd rock.

There's the 'wolfcave' in Ostrobothnia. Supposedly the biggest cave in Finland and possible artifacts up to 120 000- 130 000 years old, making those artifacts if true the only neanderthal artifacts in the nordic countries.

I’ve only been to Kummakivi out of these. It was a bit confusing to find because you come to a T junction with a sign to the rock pointing at both directions. 😅 I’d love to visit more ancient sites. While nowhere near as ancient, some cool places I’ve visited are the old fortresses of Hamina, Luumäki (literally “bone hill”), and Lappeenranta. I’ve also been to Salpalinja (the last line of defence against the Soviet Union) around Luumkäki area. Cool stuff. I heard the plan was that around that area they would have use pd the lake to flood everything if the Soviets made it that far, making it impossible for tanks to advance.

I'd like to know more about the paintings there's stories told and I think that languages have changed so much but so much is held in the paintings I'd like to learn more

My family roots on father's side are around Rapola. People still knew deep in Kalevalaic age, like 17th and 18th centuries that there used to be a fort. One of my ancestors was buried under the church of Sääksmäki. The really interesting thing is that many old churches have 33.3 km distance from each other. Now, the metric system that was invented later than those churches is derived from the distance of North pole to the Equator, 10000 km, so it was something like a third of a gradian? It is mystery to me how they measured distances other than north-south.

Yeah that balanced Kummakivi Rock could be a strange pagan activity or alien thing

Lot of these are sami sites. Sami lived all around finland even in southern finland before agricultural finns started to migrate to north from estonia and near areas. Old sami village ruins can be found everywhere in finland. Know a couple in jyväskylä. In west finland there is town called Lappajärvi and top of small mountain near there is old sami village ruins and such. But some of these sites are also older than sami from the previous people the "jatuli". Sami ancestor tribes cames from north side of volga river to finland 3500 years ago maybe. The original north europeans the "Jatulis" disappeared culturally by mixing to siberian people the uralic ancestral tribes of sami coming from behind ural mountains 4500 years ago. First to Volga and then to finland later. Finland was pretty much entirely sami populated starting from about maybe 3000-3500 years ago to year 500. So sami era lasted almost couple thousand years even. If you had time maghine and traveled back to that era and saw the local people you would probably think you must be in north asia not in north europe. It might be confusing but in old texts finn means sami not the finns. Finns became called finns later because of speaking language related to sami the actual finns. So no one really knows whats the real name of finns is. Sami called finns, karelians, bjarn with name tsude. I think it means stranger or thief or something like that. Theres old adventure movie from 1980s called Ofalas Pathfinder. Its from sami point of view of times when finns were coming to sami lands and the enemy are i think finns, karelians or bjarm. Name Finn propably comes from norse word meaning "to find, the finders" meaning hunter gatherers. Sami lived back then from hunting wild reindeer packs, picking berries, bird eggs, fishing etc, finding food and materials from nature so norse salled sami "finders". Thats why the name finn. The finns were pretty much just farmers back then in estonia so yeah the finn is most definately meaning sami people originally. Would be interesting to find the real name of finns because it cant be finn.

Please show where these ancient sites are located on a current map of Finland. Thank you.

Keep in mind that lots of "finnish" ancient sites are in reality sami. Average Finn knows nothing about pre history of finland unfortunately. Finland was basically just mostly sami populated up to year 500 even in southern finland. Lots of finns still cant accept it and want to think finns have always been in finland, when its not even possible. Finns came from estonia after year 1. The previous era the sami era of finland has been swiped under table. Finns want to keep it secret that the land was taken by destroying sami peoples way of living. But,,, some of those findings and places are older than sami also. Sami era started 4500-3000 years ago. Before us sami coming from east, finland was populated by mostly "jatuli" old european people. They may have speaked basque type language because of some old place names and some influence like words etc. Jatuli were already going towards extinction almost before sami arrived because earlier jatuli were assaulted by some indo european people that brough war and some virus. This indo european folk later left finland because their farming was not succesfull due to climate at the time, so finland became pretty empty as they swiped off the jatuls and later siberian people arriving from east, last of the surviving jatulis villaged disappeared by mixing to sami.

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Hakoisten linnavuori. Janakkala

Kummakivi = bizarre rock .

värikalliot yes

unfortunately in karelia and around saintpetersburg russia - and to the north - nobody digg anything - like there was nothing - yes they knew that there is a piramides on penensula and in sybiria - but noone digg......these r as old as egyption ones. how about finland - do they digg?

Here in North Karelia is Koli National Park and there's Pirunkirkko (Devil's Church); about 30 m long cave that's rumored to have the church vault in it with a few rows of benches. On Koli, there are also Käräjäkivet (the Court Stones) where courts happened. Courts on whether or not someone's a criminal, a witch or something like that. If someone was deemed guilty, they were thrown down from Käräjäkallio (the Court Cliff) which is a cliff located in Loma-Koli, north from Ukko-Koli. Paha-Koli has also been used in the same way. But these are mere stories as there are no scientific proof; no bones of people falling down. A very powerful wizard named Ukko Kinolainen lived in Koli. He was the most powerful wizard in the area. He was so powerful that he could sing snakes to appear

i am from lohja

Kummakivi isn't only balancing boulder in Finland but it's largest. You can find them in multiple locations in Finland. And yes, people have tried to roll it but it's almost impossible. Nobody really knows weight of Kummakivi but it has been estimated to be around 500 tonnes. So, it could still be possible with a lot of heavy equipment but we finns wouldn't be happy about destruction of beautiful forest that surrounds it.

suurlohja

Why the hell Irish guy is so interest of Finland? I don't know yet are you find out our medival castles.. like about Hämeen linna. There you can even go in the medival prison .. so cool. Turun linna in Turku and Olavin linna in Savonlinna is both cool too.

I got to tell you, brother, that your blood heritage is not Irish, like mine is not Finnish. We both have Gothic blood, and you have a TON of Danish (or Dane). My dad's beard was red and mine is a blend of blond and red (now grey of course). ;)

You should checkout Harjavalta findings and fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huittisten_hirvenp%C3%A4%C3%A4 Where some veryfirst Finns lived and also maybe last of western hunter gatherers. Another interesting topic and mythology might be Hiisi. And stories around.