Military supply, everyday demand, and reindeer

Zooarchaeology of Nazi German Second World War military presence in Finnish Lapland, Northernmost Europe

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12371220
AutoresOula Seitsonen (0000-0003-3792-0081, Archaeology, History, Culture and Communications University of Oulu Oulu Finland, autor de correspondencia), L G Broderick (0000-0002-8020-8164, Oldham Council), Iain Banks (0000-0001-6095-6707, Centre for Battlefield Archaeology University of Glasgow Glasgow UK), Mari Olafson Lundemo (History University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland), Sanna Seitsonen (Arkteekki Ltd. Hyvinkää Finland), P Herva (0000-0002-5925-4406, University of Oulu), Vesa‐Pekka Herva (Archaeology, History, Culture and Communications University of Oulu Oulu Finland)
Año2021
Volumen32
Número1
Páginas3-17
Fecha de publicación2021-09-03
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Journal of Osteoarchaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1047-482X • E-ISSN: 1099-1212
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/oa.3039
OpenAlexW3198498235
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas14

During the Second World War, in 1941–1944, Nazi German troops held the frontal responsibility of the Arctic front in Finnish Lapland. In this paper, we present the first zooarchaeological study of the wartime faunal remains from German military camps in Lapland. This illustrates the supply situation of both the German soldiers and their multinational prisoners. The official military supply was substantially supplemented with local food sources, namely, with the local semi‐domesticated reindeer that dominates the bone assemblage. Bones of cattle, ovicaprines, and pig occur in lower numbers and appear to represent the German long‐distance supply chain stretching from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Ocean. The remains of reindeer and wild species remind of the close interactions with locals and of the prisoners' hunting activities to supplement their meager diet. Even if the reindeer bones dominate both the soldiers' and prisoners' faunal assemblages, there are notable differences in the body parts, with bones from meatier portions always found in the soldiers' food waste. Besides highlighting a tension between the military supply and everyday demands, the faunal remains can draw attention to wider anthropological questions that reach beyond the information available in historical documents, such as adaptations into an alien northern environment. This emphasizes the importance of zooarchaeological analyses of recent past faunal materials from superficially familiar contexts

Ancient history · Archaeology · Assemblage (archaeology · Biology · Domestication · Ethnology · Fauna · Faunal assemblage · Geography · German · Military Base · Nazi Germany · Nazism · World War II · Zooarchaeology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Ecology