Search

This article examines the industrial wastes and environmental effects of Soviet technological development through the history of the Karelian Isthmus, a border territory that had previously been Finnish. Focusing primarily on the history of two large enterprises – the Svetogorskii (former Enso) and Sovetskii (former Johannes) pulp and paper making plants, the authors illustrate the polluting nature of the Soviet economy in the 1940s–1980s. We contend that from the very beginning, important as they were for the USSR, the enterprises of the Isthmus were built into a system of shortages of techniques and materials that contributed to the hectic fulfilment of the plan. Producing pulp and pulp-based products remained a priority during the whole Soviet period. On the level of industrial enterprises, the Soviet system revealed itself as incapable of solving the problem of pollution and wasting. After waste treatment facilities developed by Soviet engineers in the 1960s turned out to be inadequate for dealing with increasing pollution, the Soviet authorities called on Finnish companies to carry out substantial modernisation of a few enterprises on the Isthmus. This helped the modernised plants remain functioning in the age of economic crisis at the end of the Soviet epoch. Old problems, however, such as shortages and lack of expertise, remained pivotal, while new sources of pollution, such as carbon emissions, appeared. As a result, the level of contamination was still high and led to negative environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In June 1944 the Red Army achieved a strategic surprise on the Karelian Isthmus although Finnish forces had previously made several observations indicative of an attack. The paper presents a number of drivers underlying the Finnish intelligence failure. First, Soviet forces succeeded in concealing the extent of the build-up, causing defenders to underestimate the size of opposing forces. Second, Finnish military intelligence suffered from fragmented collection and analysis. Third, military decision-makers failed to understand the significance of Soviet preparations and Soviet tactical improvements due to a combination of situational constraints, group processes, and organizational stagnation. These generated a predominant view that within the limited options available, sufficient preparations had been made to repel a potential Soviet attack on the Karelian Isthmus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estonian Journal of Archaeology is the property of Teaduste Akadeemia Kirjastus and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The area under study is located in the south-eastern periphery of the Fennoscandian crystalline shield. At present this is a tectonically quiet region without large seismic events. But it is well known that in post-glacial time the Fennoscandian shield was an arena of active postglacial tectonics and large earthquakes. The evidence for such events was found in various parts of Fennoscandia. The traces left by some paleoearthquakes show an undisputed character of large post-glacial faults some tens of kilometres long and of a few meters in displacement. However, some other features left by earthquakes are under discussion. Numerous deformations in bedrock and in soft sediments which can be considered as being due to earthquakes were found in the Russian Karelia. Interpretation of some of these deformation structures can lead to different conclusions about their origin, for example, weathering, cryogenic, glacial, and gravitational factors. One possible way to overcome these difficulties is an integrated study of different types of deformations at key sites, comparison of these with each other and with the tectonic features of the region, and the search for common structural and kinematic features. Another problem is the estimation of parameters of paleoearthquakes. This problem includes the determinations of their location, intensities, magnitudes, and age. The key site under study is located in the northern part of the Karelian Isthmus in the re-activated (during post-glacial time) tectonic zone (the Vuoksi Fault Zone), whose signature in the relief is seen in the form of the straight-line valley of the Vuoksi River. We studied different types of post-glacial seismogenic deformations at this locality. There are seismically induced gravitational and vibrational deformations in solid rock, as well as folds and ruptures in loose sediments. The key site of large deformation examined here includes three zones: 1) the main zone of deformations or the Central Fractured Massif (CFM); 2) the seismically induced colluvial zone; 3) the outer zone of deformations in loose sediments. We have established that all types of deformations are kinematically similar in the CFM and around it (at distances of a few kilometres). A detailed examination of deformations and their spatial and temporal relationships allows us to distinguish three generations of earthquake-induced deformations: 1) Late Glacial, 2) Early Holocene, and 3) Middle to Late Holocene. We estimate the intensities of the respective earthquakes as I=IX, IX, and VII-VIII. Clearly, the intensities decrease from post-glacial to present time, but the recent level of seismicity is unclear and may be much higher than hypothesized. In addition, the evidence for shear kinematics of the fault shows that earthquakes were not only caused by post-glacial rebound, but also resulted from a different tectonic mechanism possibly related to plate tectonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of chironomids (Diptera: Chironomidae) as indicators of changes in natural and climatic settings allows one to reconstruct paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental conditions. Based on the results of lithological and chironomid analyses, the loss on ignition (LOI) values, as well as the results of radiocarbon dating (14C AMS), new data on the paleoclimate in the Karelian Isthmus, in particular the quantitative reconstruction of the mean July temperature (TJuly, °C) in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene and the evolution of the ecosystem of Medvedevskoe Lake have been obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article challenges the notion of leisure space as apolitical by investigating why the Karelian Isthmus dacha settlements, located in the Grand Duchy of Finland, served as preparation grounds for clandestine political activity. Using memoirs, newspapers and Russian archival sources, this article reveals how Finland's legal position in the Russian empire, combined with the particularities of dacha life, enabled revolutionary activity in places primarily associated with leisure. Far from being innocuous vacation destinations removed from political problems, the dacha settlements in Finland exposed the diminished capacity of tsarist authorities' actions on the fringes of the Russian empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Up until recent years, Corded Ware has remained poorly studied in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland, located in north-eastern Europe. Traditionally, this region has been considered marginal in terms of Corded Ware, but new research has started to change this view. This paper presents the Corded Ware material known up to the current date (2016) from the eastern area of the Gulf of Finland, i.e. the Karelian Isthmus and Ingria (western Leningrad oblast, Russia); currently ca. 30 sites and ca. 60 stray finds are known in the research area. Based on this and previously published data from the adjoining regions, features related to the material culture, the contact networks, and the chronology of Corded Ware are discussed. Even though focusing the research may skew the picture, there are good grounds to propose, that there was a distinctive Corded Ware sphere of interaction in the eastern area of the Gulf of Finland, also including areas in north-eastern Estonia and south-eastern Finland. Due to its particular cultural background, local preferences, and consequently, development trajectories, the area had a clear regional character. Further, populations inhabiting it also maintained active contacts with other Corded Ware groups in the sphere of Baltic Sea and further to the east, as well as with non-Corded Ware settlers of north-eastern Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the Sovietization of Finnish Karelia, i.e. Ladoga Karelia and the Karelian Isthmus ceded by Finland to the USSR in 1940 and 1944, as a multifaceted and contradictory process that produced feelings of national loss and erasure which Finnish visitors experience when they travel to the region today. Ironically, the Sovietization process in this region also had the seemingly opposite effect of creating and preserving a general impression of Karelia as a foreign territory in the minds of the Soviet citizens who moved there and whose descendants still inhabit the region. These seemingly contradictory outcomes of the Sovietization of Karelia can be traced to the political climate of the post-war era in the region, when nationalization discourse to some extent promoted a union between Karelians and Finns. The ceded area around the Ladoga Lake became part of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic and maintained its Finnish place names despite the fact that the migrants who resettled the Ladoga Lake region after the war spoke neither Finnish nor Karelian and knew nothing about the territory's history. Ladoga Karelia preserved what appeared to be an exotic character to its new residents from throughout the USSR. Relying on the published and archival materials from the 1940s and 1950s, the author focuses on the production of a new socio-territorial identity of this space and addresses the historical legacy of the region, its appropriation in the official Soviet narrative, and aspects of Soviet migration there. By analysing the oral history of the local inhabitants, the keystones of local memory in the region are discerned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentration and distribution of trace elements across the sequence of the Late Pleistocene sediments from the lake Medvedevskoye suggest the addition of materials other than those from a common source for the lake sediments of the region. The sediments of the lake Medvedevskoye carry some geochemical fingerprints which could be related the ET event that occurred at ca. 12.9 ka. Because such fingerprints are extremely subtle, the NW Russia can be considered to be the most remote eastern region of the extent of the Late Pleistocene airborne ET material. The sediments of the lake Medvedevskoye can also contain volcanic material from the eruption of the Laacher See (Germany) volcano and probably from other Late Pleistocene volcanoes of Western Europe and/or Iceland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses an archaeological investigation of the Fortress of Kivennapa on the Karelian Isthmus in Russia. Topics include the historical background of the fortress, an archaeological research on the site location, and the discovery of four grave pits. Also mentioned is a study on the remains of Finnish military personnel during the World War II.

Karelia, the borderland between Finland and Russia, has been a "land of quarrels" for centuries. The Swedish kingdom, the Novgorod realm, and the Russian Empire, one after another, have colonized the area. In 1812 the southwest part of Karelia, the Karelian Isthmus, was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Finland. This incorporation was practical: for hundreds of years the area had already been a region of Finnish-speaking people. After Finland's declaration of independence (1917) and civil war (1918) and the birth of Soviet Russia (1917), political tensions sharpened in the Karelian Isthmus. In those days, the borderline between Finnish Terijoki and Russian St. Petersburg became the most important ideological barrier between revolutionary Russia and Finland, where the right-wing Whites had won the civil war and begun an unequalled campaign against the Bolshevist power. In 1939 and again in 1944, Soviet troops occupied the Karelian Isthmus, and the area ever since has been a part of the Soviet Union /Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper all the Stone Age and Early Metal Period (ca. 8600 cal BC - 300 AD) radiocarbon dates from the Karelian Isthmus, Russia, are compiled and their archaeological usability assessed using a set of evaluation principles. The quality of radiometric dates from such a large area has rarely been methodologically examined in Finnish or North-West Russian archaeology, and is applied here for the first time on the present material. Special attention is given to the discussion on the deficiencies and limitations of the current data. Based on the 81 dates evaluated as useful, a tentative radiocarbon chronology is presented for the study area. This is generally in sequence with the chronologies of the nearby areas, but suggests some differences especially towards the end of Stone Age, as well as the presence of biases caused by taphonomic and research-related factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method for simultaneous determination of the rate of ammonification and nitrification in natural water is proposed. It is based on the presentation of these processes as two successive first-order reactions, the use of field data on the concentrations of different N forms, and the laboratory modeling of the processes under study. The values of rate constants and reactions rates that are determined by the above method generally coincide with the relevant values obtained by other methods for Karelian water bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Newly obtained pollen and diatom data controlled by radiocarbon measurements shed new light on the connection of the Ladoga Lake with the Baltic Sea via a strait on the Karelian Isthmus. It emerged ca. 11,500cal BP, and remained in action for ca. 7000years, forming a major waterway for early human migrations. The transgression of the Ladoga Lake started ca. 5000cal BP and reached its maximum ca. 3000cal BP (ca. 1100–1000cal BC). The formation of a new outlet via the Neva River led to a rapid regression of the lake that stimulated the spread of farming populations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Karelian Isthmus has played a central role in understanding Finnish Stone Age and Early Metal Period. This is because of its topographic position with waterways which are connecting several large water basins – the Gulf of Finland, Lake Ladoga and Lake Saimaa. During the Stone Age and Early Metal Period several changes have taken place in the water connections and elevations of all the basins which have influenced the topographic setting of dwelling sites. The Karelian Isthmus has also been the route for people to reach each other in the large areas in the west and east. A central objective of the paper is to elucidate the long research history of the Isthmus particularly in the light of Finnish archaeology. Until the end of the World War II the area belonged to the most important research areas for Finnish archaeologists. After the long period of silence, the fieldwork has quickly increased during the 1990s and particularly in the Early 2000s. For these reasons also this latest period of research will be discussed. The position of sites in the neighbourhood of waterways is discussed, although it is not possible to do detailed examinations of their position. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Terijoki resort area is located on the Karelian Isthmus, close to St. Petersburg. Its tourism industry experienced three separate life cycles: the Czarist Russian (pre-1917), the Finnish (1917-1939), and the Soviet/Russian (post-1944) cycle. The cycles were separated by major political upheavals or wars. Finland gained independence in 1917, and Terijoki had its second golden age of tourism. The number of Finnish guests rose to c. 20,000, while there had previously been 60,000-100,000 annual Russian guests. Terijoki was a significant holiday resort for the Finnish middle class and artists. The reputation of Terijoki was based mainly on natural beauty, and its services and entertainments were not inferior to foreign alternatives. Tourism served the political aims of Finland, although there is no evidence that the Terijoki tourism was particularly supported by the Finnish government. Therefore, it was ultimately a local tourism industry endeavour. The name "Riviera" was used as a template of something attractive in the sphere of tourism. However, Terijoki could not attract large European clientele, as it was distantly located. Tourist information on Finland was not very developed either. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative analysis of the structural organization and functioning of phytoperiphyton in rivers flowing over the territory of the Karelian Republic and subject to anthropogenic load resulting from urbanization is presented. The effect of changes in the hydrological and hydrochemical regimes on the species composition and biomass of periphytic algae is discussed. The possibility of using phytoperiphyton as an indicator of the ecological state of small river ecosystems is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lintula Larch Forest, also called the Raivola Larch Forest, is one of the most magnificent cultivated forests in northern Europe. It has had a major impact on the cultivation of larch throughout the world, and it became part of the Unesco's World Heritage list in 1991. This article summarizes for the first time to an international audience the establishment, administration and management, stand development and research carried out in Lintula Park. It is based on Russian and Finnish papers and earlier unpublished results. The forest is located 63 km north-west of St Petersburg in the Karelian Isthmus. It was established by order of Peter the Great to supply the Russian fleet with timber for shipbuilding. Ferdinand Gabriel Fockel, a German forest expert, established the oldest stands in 1738–1750 with seed from the Province of Arkhangelsk. Since then the area of the forest has expanded and now the total area of larch stands is 55.9 ha; 23.5 ha of the “old stands” established in 1738–1851 still remain. The Lintula larch stands were famous for their high yield, but part of the reputation was based on small sample plots that were not representative of the stands. However, the high volumes of different tree stands are impressive. For example, in a 255-year-old stand with 339 trees ha -1 the volume of growing stock was 1284 m 3 ha -1 . In small sample plots much higher volumes are found. The average annual growth of the oldest larch stands has never exceeded 6.2–7.2 m 3 ha -1 . The volume increment was, however, long-lasting, and annual growth started to decrease only after 148–166 years. Some plots had an increase in yield even at the age of 257 years. The yield of the larches clearly surpassed that of Norway spruce and Scots pine in nearby stands. The Lintula Larch Forest has provided valuable experience on the cultivation of larch. The root system of larch is relatively weak, and it is therefore susceptible to wind damage and rot fungi. An important conclusion drawn from the development of the Lintula Larch Forest is that the cultivation of larch is worthwhile only when grown as pure stands using intensive growing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The national memory is often signified by means of monuments erected in the landscape, while commemorative historical sites always carry a story from the past, and it is not a matter of indifference how this story is told. Karelia, and particularly the areas of the Karelian Isthmus, the shores of Lake Ladoga and the Karelian Borderlands that were ceded to the Soviet Union as a consequence of the Second World War, are places where the commemorative sites have been objects of dispute for the last 60 years. Memories of Finnish Karelia have been erased, transformed and brought to life again: erased and transformed by the post-war masters of the area, for whom it was ideologically most appropriate to replace the Finnish narrative with one telling of victory in the Great Patriotic War and alluding to new sites commemorating the region's Russian history. The more recent revival of Finnish memories has been brought about not only by the Finns but also by Russians who have wished to tell the present-day inhabitants of Karelia about the forgotten and suppressed details of its more recent history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the origin and development of the Russian image of the Vyborg province or "Old Finland" (the Karelian Isthmus and Northern Ladoga region) from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century. This region aroused the interest of Russia from three viewpoints. Firstly, the area had a developed economy and it was located not far from St. Petersburg. That was why its economic potential attracted Russian scientists. Secondly,the Vyborg province was of interest due to its military-strategic position. The territory was the most important bridgehead close to St. Petersburg. That was why the territory was subjected to close scrutiny by the Russian military officers. Thirdly, from the middle of the 19th century the Russian middle class citizens considered its area to be the part of Europe located nearest to Russia. The Ladoga region became an attraction for Russian tourists. Accordingly, the image of Vyborg province in 19th-century Russia was not homogeneous. The area aroused interest and was of importance for Russia due to various reasons and aspects. The formation of the image underwent considerable deformation after 1917. Nonetheless, it should still be stated that the variety of images of Vyborg province, which were formed during 19th century, did not disappear but continue to develop even at present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the correlation between the functions of landscape, its dynamics under its human influences and the dominant images of its terrain. A great deal of attention is given to Vyborg Karelia -- the part of the Karelian Isthmus ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union in 1940. The author considers the consequences on the landscape of population exchange and settlement after 1944, alterations in landscape due to increased recreation, forest protection, the abandonment of agricultural lands, bog drainage and open-cut mining. The conclusions reached concerning the landscape imagery of the region are based chiefly on an analysis of texts and pictures from between the 1950s and the 1980s, and the author's observations and research data. Predominantly examined is the perception of the residents of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) as being the widest human cross-section vis-à-vis Vyborg Karelia at the period under examination. The radical changes in its imagery during the post-war period were wrought by: 1) great alterations in landscape functions and land use; 2) the loss of historical recollection of past landscapes in the present population; and 3) the strong ideologization of landscape perception during the Soviet period. An integral image, dominating up to now, embodies the principally "recreational model" of landscape development, one which is not completely adequate to the present state of the landscape. During the post-Soviet period, regional imagery becomes more complex and contradictory in regard to the increased transitional function of the Isthmus as a bridge between Russia and the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In historical sources the Karelians appear in the 12th century although archaeological excavations suggest that the amalgamation of groups of Baltic Finns, centered on the Karelian Isthmus, that came together from east and west respectively to form them originated in the late Iron Age and early Viking Age. Accordingly they were from the start recipients of impulses from both east and west, a phenomenon that continued throughout the medieval period and ended with their physical division between what became a politico-religious division of Europe between east and west, lasting until today. The article concentrates on the role played by the landscape, situated on an important passageway of international trade and close to two growing neighbouring powers, Sweden and Novgorod, that profited from this trade route but at the same time became ever more opposed to one another as result of the crusading movement of the Latin Church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sediment sequences retrieved from Lake Medvedevskoye (60°13'N; 29°54'E) and Lake Pastorskoye (60°13'N; 30°02'E), Karelian Isthmus, northwestern Russia, were analysed for lithology, pollen and diatom stratigraphy, total organic carbon content and mineral magnetic parameters. Age control for both sequences was provided by AMS [sup 14]C measurements and the Vedde Ash tephra. The reconstructed climatic and environmental development shows the deglaciation of the sites and the establishment of sparse shrub and herb/grass vegetation before 12650 cal. yrs BP ('Allerød'; GI-1a). Steppe tundra and cold, dry conditions prevailed until about 11000 cal. yrs BP, i.e. throughout the 'Younger Dryas' (GS-1) and the earliest Holocene. The establishment of open Picea-Pinus-Betula forest around the lakes at about 11000 cal. yrs BP coincides with the first distinct change towards gradually warmer and more humid climatic conditions. Boreal forest with Picea, Pinus, Betula, Alnus incana and Corylus was present at the lower altitude site between c. 10700 and 10200 cal. yrs BP, while open Betula-Pinus forest continued to dominate the vegetation around the higher altitude site. After a short, possibly colder, phase around 10200-10000 cal. yrs BP, which is expressed by a marked reduction in vegetation cover and decreased lake productivity, climatic conditions became significantly warmer and possibly more humid. Boreal forest with Pinus, Betula, Picea, Alnus incana, Corylus and Ulmus became widespread in the region after 10000 cal. yrs BP. The delayed environmental response of the lakes and their catchment to hemispheric warming at the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary may be explained by a sustained blocking of westerly air masses due to the presence of the Scandinavian ice sheet and associated strengthened easterlies and anticyclonic circulation and/or extensive permafrost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]