Valter Lang

After larger waves of arrivals from the east during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, a more intense traffic along the connecting Southwestern Passage of Contacts seems to diminish.

With regard to the material culture, the coastal zone of Finland, Estonia and Latvia began to form from around 1500 BC (in Estonia from 1200 BC) onwards, where monumental aboveground stone graves were built and in some places also field systems with st

The prehistoric dialect of South Estonian was the first to diverge from the Finnic linguistic unity (viide).

Demographic processes have an essential and direct influence on the development of languages. The strong growth of a population in a certain region often leads to overpopulation and this, in turn, can be the cause of emigration.

From the point of view of Finnic ethnogenesis, one type of remains of key significance are the early tarand-graves.

850–500 BC.

The spread of the Late Proto-Finnic language and cultural tradition began in North Estonia during the first centuries of the Common Era, where the prior path of development had led to an economic growth and cultural flourishing, but also certainly to overgrowth.

After the beginning of the Common Era, contacts between North Estonia and tribes living on the south and southeast coasts of the Baltic Sea became invigorated.

The first language to diverge from the Finnic linguistic unity was the South Estonian tribal language (cf. 1.2.4.), followed by Livonian.

What is meant by the so-called second coming of Finnic is the long-term habitational and cultural process, during the course of which a language that developed in a limited region – that we call Late Proto-Finnic – and a culture spread everywhere where Finnic nations are known to have lived in th

There are still only a few known early settlements containing pottery of the southwestern group of the Tapiola type – those that were founded before fortified settlements of the 9th century BC.

At least three asynchronous waves can be differentiated in the visible phenomena of archaeological materials from Estonia, the beginning of which lies in the forest zone of East Europe (mostly the Volga-Oka region), having spread to the Baltic Sea and which can be corre

We currently know the ancient DNA of people buried in Estonian, Finnish and Latvian Bronze Age stone graves only from Estonia – the remains of nineteen individuals from the Iru, Jõelähtme, Muuksi, Napa, Rebala, Väo and Vehendi graves have been st

The oldest Estonian, Finnish and Latvian stone(-cist) graves are generally characterised by inhumation, although the custom of cremation likewise has a surprisingly long history. Thus, the oldest cremation burials of the Finnish so-called burial cairns date back to c.

When did the construction of stone barrows (Estonian 'hiiukerised') along the Finnish coastlines begin, is not known for certain, although so far the oldest grave goods found in them belong to the second period of the Nordic Bronze Age (1500-1300 BC).

The distribution of the cultural tradition emanating from the west, i.e.

Reasons for the reduction of population density and collapse of the level of culture during the Early Bronze Age can be, in addition to hostile activities from neighbours and lethal diseases, also natural disasters.

Artefacts made out of raw copper that originated from Karelia spread in Fennoscandia and the Baltic already during the Neolithic. One such artefact – a copper chisel – was found at Betooni street in Tallinn in 2020 (close to the former sea coast).

At the end of the Stone Age, there were two groups of people with different cultural traditions living in Estonia and its vicinity – people of the Comb Ceramic and Corded Ware cultures.

In comparison to the abundance of artefacts that are known from Estonia, southern Finland and northern Latvia from the III millennium BC, and that of the 13th-12th centuries BC, the interim centuries are characterised by a significant scarcity of findings.

Many an event and process fits in the ten thousand years of Estonian prehistory that has constantly changed the ethnic makeup of our land's populace.