Acknowledgements

To begin with, my thanks are due to the great number of islanders with whom I have had some very interesting discussions. If I were to give here a complete register of their names, the list would become far too long. Therefore I don’t want to give precedence to any one of them; instead I would like to thank them all jointly for the information I have received and for their positive attitude towards my work.

In the Preface it becomes evident of what significance Professor Emeritus Unto Salo (University of Turku) has been for this work, and particularly its early phases. He deserves my special gratitude because without his support and positive attitude it would have been hardly possible to accomplish this work. Professor Milton G. Núñez (University of Oulu) guided the accomplishment of my assertation and provided me with valuable ideas. I am also grateful to the leader of the research group at Åbo Akademi University, Professor Nils G. Holm for the support I have enjoyed. My coworkers at the Department of Comparative Religion and Folkloristics created a free and warm feeling of togetherness. It was easy to work in such an atmosphere, and at the same time feel that your own field of research was appreciated and relevant even if it was very much different from the rest of the research conducted at the department. I want to thank them all!

Ph.D. Tarja Formisto has kindly made the osteological analyses whose results I have been able to exploit in this study. Leif Lindgren, the project planner at the Finnish Forest and Park Service, Nagu, initiated the field work in the area of combined activities of the Southwestern Archipelago National Park, and assisted my work in the terrain; I wish to thank him and the rest of the staff of the National Park. I am also very grateful to all the archaeologists, students of archaeology, and those interested in archaeology for the work they have done during the excavations needed for this work – their names appear in chapter 4 where the excavations are discussed. Without their contribution essential parts of my material would be lacking.

I have had the opportunity to take lodgings at the field stations on Själö, Nagu, and Lohm, Korpo, which are part of the Archipelago Research Institute, University of Turku. The staff at the Laboratory of Computer Cartography, University of Turku, has kindly provided me with access to computers and software which were indispensable for the study. Finally, I want to thank the Humanistic Faculty at the University of Oulu for accepting this work into the publication series of the university, and Ella och Georg Ehrnrooths stiftelse for awarding a scholarship for the finishing touches of this work. The translation and revision work of this study has been financially supported by a grant from the Alfred Kordelin foundation, which is gratefully acknowledged. Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7 were translated into English by Heli Virtanen, M.A. and Maija Núñez, M.A. and the other chapters by Erkki S. Makkonen, M.A. And, in conclusion, thank you Anja!

Lundströmska torpet, Houtskär, March, 2001

Tapani Tuovinen