Market Square Town Excavations in Turku, Finland, in 2018-2022

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Poverty And Plenty In The North", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Large scale (c. 2 hectare) town excavations were carried out at the Market Square in Turku in 2018-2022. The excavations in revealed well preserved layers and structures more than 20 different town plots inhabited by mainly merchants, craftsmen and military and civil officers. The excavation area is mainly moist clay and organic material is preserved.

The area was planned and settled in 1650-1670´s. In the beginning of 18th century Turku and specially this part of town was deserted and return to fields and meadows for some decade.

From 1730-40´s inhabitants move back and it start to grow very intensively in next decades. More than 95 % of all excavated houses were wooden and change to stone- and brick living- and warehouses was ongoing in 1810-1820´s.

Turku was destroyed in the Great Fire of Turku in 1827. In 1830’s area was covered and turned in to a large marketplace.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Poverty And Plenty In The North   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow