Archipelago National Park

About

Archipelago National Park (Swedish: Skärgårdshavets nationalpark, Finnish: Saaristomeren kansallispuisto) is a national park in Southwest Finland. It was established in 1983 and includes 500 km2 (190 sq mi) of land area. Most of the land is on islands smaller than 1 km2 (0.39 sq mi). The park encompasses about 2,000 of the 8,400 islets and skerries within the cooperative area. The larger islands are mainly owned by their inhabitants. Archipelago National Park is part of the UNESCO biosphere reserves and received a PAN Parks certificate in 2007. The park encompasses most of the Archipelago Sea region east of Åland and south of the main islands of Korpo, Nagu, Pargas, and Kimitoön. The park is mainly situated in the (former) municipalities of Nagu, Korpo, Houtskär, Iniö, Hitis, and southern Pargas. The Archipelago Sea Biosphere reserve consists of the national park's cooperative area and the rest of the islands in the Åboland archipelago only accessible by boat or ferry. One of the objectives of the national park is to protect the archipelago's cultural landscape—such as the considerable areas used for traditional agriculture—in addition to the natural landscape. To this end, the cooperative area is an essential extension of the national park.

The archipelago of Southwest Finland has been populated since the end of the Neolithic (roughly 2000 BCE). The rich natural resources attracted people to the post-glacial archipelago during the Stone Age and Bronze Age. At the time, the Baltic Sea was saltier, thus offering large catches of fish, such as Atlantic cod. The area also supported large populations of grey seals and seabirds, the latter of which were rich sources of eggs, meat, and down for early humans. There were also good conditions for small-scale agriculture and cattle herding, thanks to a warmer climate at the time. Due to post-glacial rebound, the habitable islands in the Archipelago Sea have slowly risen over time. The ground still rises in the Archipelago Sea at a rate of approximately 3–4.2 mm (0.12–0.17 in) per year. During the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age, the archipelago's outermost islets were located around the present-day main islands of Nagu, Korpo, and Houtskär. Meanwhile, the outermost islets of the present-day archipelago were still 20–25 metres (66–82 ft) below sea level. As islands surfaced and grew in area, inhabitants moved farther out in the archipelago. Prehistoric sites illustrate this change in topography. For example, the Neolithic settlement of Bötesberget in the municipality of Dragsfjärd, dated from 6000 BCE, would have originally been on an isolated island in the middle of open water. Today, the site is 55 metres (180 ft) above sea level, on forested upland. The present national park area became inhabited during the Iron Age (500 BCE–800 CE, in Northern Europe). Remains of Iron Age settlements have been found in the park's cooperative area (so far, no Stone Age settlements have been found within this area). Two prehistoric fort islets have also been recognized in the archipelago, possibly dating back to the Iron Age. Sailing in the Baltic Sea region began at least by the Bronze Age. The southwestern archipelago became a part of the northern Baltic Sea region cultures, which had common means of livelihood, use of metals, and burial customs. Trade, handicraft, and navigation were also practiced. Pollen analysis has shown that agriculture along the coast has been continuous since the Iron Age.

The archipelago has many characteristic relics—dating from the end of the Iron Age until the 18th and 19th century—which are protected by the Antiquities Act. One of the most significant types of relics are burial mounds. About 40 burial mounds, called cairns, have been found throughout the cooperation area of Archipelago National Park. These are constructed from small, low heaps of stones. Most, if not all, date from the Iron Age. The diameter of some low cairns is a few metres, but some are tens of metres long and a couple of metres high. The Finnish folk-name for these cairns translates literally as "Devil's sauna stove". In the beginning of the Bronze Age, barrows were used to entomb dead bodies, sometimes with jewelry or weapons; later, cremation became customary. Most barrows were originally built on larger islands, which have since expanded due to land uplift. Often, the burial sites were chosen so as to stand out from the surrounding landscape, such as on rocky hills with a view to the sea, or near (but not atop) the highest place on an island. Other graves are near the shore, and some are organized in groups. Inside the park's cooperative area, most graves have been found on the large islands of Nötö and Hitis. During the Iron Age, these areas would have bristled with islets, and were close to fishing and seal hunting grounds in the outer archipelago. Given these favourable natural conditions, these areas may already have been inhabited.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.