Archaeology - Estonian Roots: Centre of Excellence

The group of archaeology is based on the Archaeology Department of University of Tartu which is the central research institution of the discipline in Estonia. Our research covers all archaeological periods – from the Stone Age until the Early Modern Times, extending, especially concerning more ancient periods, far beyonds the borders of Estonia. The archaeological record is studied considering landscape geography and natural conditions. The aim of the research is to shed light upon the genesis of the people and population of Estonia in the frameworks of interdisciplinary cooperation based on archaeological source material.  

The central research question is the genesis of prehistoric provinces of Estonia and the formation and the reflections of their identities in the archaeological record. „Lands“of „provinces “, mentioned in the chronicle of Henry of Livonia, were the highest-level regional units of identity in the final phase of prehistoric Estonia. Since the presence of these identities was clear from an outsider’s perspective in the early 13th century – otherwise they were not so distinctly expressed in the written data – they might be expressed also in the archaeological source material.