Today was the second day of our ten day long project to excavate and document a burnt down underground shelter on the Hanko front. Hanko is a lovely seaside resort and todays weather couldn´t have been better for an archaeological excavation.
A lone discarded finger ring, the glass inlays in the eyes have been lost to time.
We continued cleaning the first excavation level of the shelter and extended our research area to the nearby two larger shelters and a dugout full of cartridge shells and other assorted war debris. Amidst all of the finds that spoke of the horrors of war we found a beautiful brass fingerring. Possibly a memento from a girlfriend at home, a broken engagement engagement vow... we will never know.
Charred wall and other stuctures have been uncovered on every side of the shelter.
Inside the shelter the traces of fire become more abundant hour by hour. Tomorrow the excavation will be visited by a fire investigator. Perhaps he can share his knowledge with us in order to investigate where the fire started and why.
Part of a French projectile, fired from the Finnish side that landed close to one of the larger shelters manned by around 20 Finnish or Swedish soldiers.
One of the more interesting finds of today was part of a french projectile close to one of the larger shelters and shot from the Finnish side. This is the first proof that not only Soviet artillery hammered these positions but that also incidents with friendly fire occurred.
Conflict archaeology interests people of all ages.
Today the dig was visited by a lot of people of very different ages. All of them keen to learn more about battlefield- and conflict archaeology. It is also very nice that our excavation team includes five youngsters accompanied by a parent or a grandparent.
We will continue our research again tomorrow. Stay tuned for the next update on July 15th or visit us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/364312290705639