“The Sole You Found was the Soul of the Festival”
Archaeological Study of a Rock Festival in Seinäjoki, Finland
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.v3i1.24485Keywords:
festival archaeology, function of place, memories, rock festivalsAbstract
In 2010, we carried out archaeological fieldwork during a rock festival in Seinäjoki, Finland. We had two aims: first, to investigate what material culture tells about how people experience the place where a rock festival is held and second, to popularize archaeology. Our methods included test pits, mapping garbage with RTK-GPS and interviews. This article addresses the questions of transience, temporality and place attachment as witnessed by archaeological finds from a festival. Our results emphasize both the long- and short-term changes in the function of this place. In addition, the material culture reveals traces of people’s behaviour that were too mundane to be remembered. It also shows that the places which people choose for their actions are not always those selected by the organizers. Archaeological research at a rock festival was an important arena for meeting people who otherwise might never have come across archaeologists.
References
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Ahonen, E. and L. Saksala. 2000. Yleisön Provinssirock – aikansa lehdistön ja muistitiedon kuvaamana 1980-luvulla. Unpublished master’s thesis. Cultural history, University of Turku.
Äikäs, T., T. Kuokkanen, W. Perttola, R. Mönkkönen, O. Kunnas and J. Okkonen. 2011. “‘The Sole You Found was the Soul of the Festival’—Paikan muuttuvat merkitykset Provinssirockin festivaalialueella.” Etnomusikologian vuosikirja 23: 54?80.
Ala-Kulju, R. 1983. Seinäjoen kirja: Kuvaus Seinäjoen vaiheista. Seinäjoki: Seinäjoen seurakunta.
Alanen, A. J. 1970. Seinäjoen historia Volume 1. Seinäjoki: Seinäjoen kaupunki.
Beck, A. S. 2007. “Popular Archaeology as Archaeology of Modern Popular Culture?” In Public Archaeology, edited by T. Heinonen and N. Latvakoski, 33?40. Kontaktstencil 46. Helsinki: Fællesnordisk Råd for Arkæologistuderende.
Beck, W. and M. Somerville. 2005. “Conversations Between Disciplines: Historical Archaeology and Oral History at Yarrawarra.” World Archaeology 37(3): 468?483. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00438240500204403
Casey, E. S. 2001. “Body, Self, and Landscape: A Geophilosophical Inquiry into the Placeworld.” In Textures of Place: Exploring Humanist Geographies, edited by P. C. Adams, S. Hoelscher and K. E. Till, 403–425. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Connell, J. and C. Gibson. 2003. Sound Tracks: Popular Music, Identity and Place. Critical Geographies. London: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203448397
Costello J. G. 2000. “Red Light Voices: An Archaeological Drama of Late Nineteenth-century Prostitution”. In Archaeologies of Sexuality, edited by R. A. Schmidt and B. L. Voss, 160?175. London: Routledge.
Eerola, L. 2011. Musiikkitapahtumien elämyksellinen markkinointi: sisällönanalyysi Provinssirockin internet-sivuista. PhD diss., Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lapland.
Eren, M. I., A. J. Durant, C. Neudorf, M. Haslam, C. Shipton, J. Bora, R. Korisettar and M. Petraglia. 2010. “Experimental Examination of Animal Trampling Effects on Artifact Movement in Dry and Water Saturated Substrates: A Test Case from South India.” Journal of Archaeological Science 37(12): 3010–3021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.06.024
Gosden, C. 2004. “Aesthetics, Intelligence and Emotions: Implications for Archaeology.” In Rethinking Materiality: The Engagement of Mind with the Material World, edited by E. DeMarrais, C. Gosden and C. Renfrew, 33?40. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
Hayden, B. and S. Villeneuve. 2011. “A Century of Feasting Studies.” Annual Review of Anthropology 40: 433–449. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-081309-145740
Hill, L. J. 2011. More-than-representational Archaeologies of Leisure in the Landscape of the Dean Forest and Wye Valley National Forest Park. PhD diss., St Cross College, University of Oxford.
Järvinen, A. 2006. “Upea sää kruunasi Provinssirockin.” Available online: http://dome.fi/musiikki/uutiset/upea-saa-kruunasi-provinssirockin
Jones, A. 2007. Memory and Material Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511619229
Karjalainen, P. T. 1997. “Mapping Places.” In Place and Embodiment: XIIIth International Congress of Aesthetics. Lahti, Finland. August 1–5 1995. Proceedings I, edited by P. T. Karjalainen and P. von Bonsdorff, 13?16. Lahti: University of Helsinki / Lahti Research and Training Centre.
____. 1998. “Place and Intimate Sensing.” Nordisk Samhällsgeografisk Tidskrift 27: 3?16.
____. 2006. “Topobiografinen paikan tulkinta.” In Paikka: Eletty, kuviteltu, kerrottu, edited by S. Knuuttila, P. Laaksonen and U. Piela, 83–92. Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja 85. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura.
Knight, D. B. 2006. Landscapes in Music: Space, Place, and Time in the World’s Great Music. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Korhonen, T. 1998. Rockfestivaalit maantieteellisenä ilmiönä. MA diss., Department of Geography, University of Helsinki.
Kunnas, O., T. Kuokkanen, R. Mönkkönen, W. Perttola and T. Äikäs. 2011. “Sinusta jää jälki: Arkeologit tutkimassa Provinssirockin festivaalialuetta.” Muinaistutkija 1: 21–34.
Kymäläinen, P. 2006. “Paikan ajattelun haasteita.” In Paikka: Eletty, kuviteltu, kerrottu, edited by S. Knuuttila, P. Laaksonen and U. Piela, 203?217. Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja 85. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura.
Lee, D. and A. Thomas. 2015. “Walking (In)visible Lines: Archaeologies in Between.” Flettverk 2: 4–13.
Leyshon, A., D. Matless and G. Revill. 1998. “Introduction: Music, Space, and the Production of Place.” In The Place of Music, edited by A. Leyshon, D. Matless and G. Revill, 1?30. New York: Guilford Press.
Linna, E. 2003. Kulutus ja rockfestivaali – Provinssirock 2002 elämyskuluttamisen pelikenttänä. MA diss., Department of Economics, University of Helsinki.
Lock, G. 2003. Using Computers in Archaeology: Towards Virtual Pasts. London: Routledge.
Madgwick, R. and J. Mulville. 2015. “Feasting on Fore-limbs: Conspicuous Consumption and Identity in Later Prehistoric Britain.” Antiquity 89(345): 629–644. http://dx.doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2015.24
Maunu, A. 2014. Yöllä yhdessä: Yökerhot, biletys ja suomalainen sosiaalisuus. Sosiaalitieteiden laitoksen julkaisuja 2014:6. Helsinki: Unigrafia.
Moshenska, G. 2007. “Oral History in Historical Archaeology: Excavating Sites of Memory.” Oral History 35(1): 91?97.
Nättilä, H. 2014. Seinäjoen Törnävä: Östermyran rautaruukin ja ruutitehtaan jäännösten teollisuusarkeologinen inventointi 2014. Unpublished survey report, South Ostrobothnia Provincial Museum.
Norberg-Schultz, C. 1979. Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture. London: Academy Editions.
Perttola, W. 2010. Seinäjoki Törnävänsaari: Nykyisyysarkeologinen koekaivaus ja sen yhteydessä tehdyt havainnot historiallisen ajan kerroksista Seinäjoen Törnävänsaarella 19.–20.6.2010. Unpublished excavation report, National Board of Antiquities.
Pred, A. 1984. “Place as Historically Contingent Process: Structuration and the Time-Geography of Becoming Places.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 74(2): 279?297. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1984.tb01453.x
Rantanen, S. 2010. Retroa, rockia ja romantiikkaa. Törnävän puistoalueen yhteisöllinen uudistaminen. PhD diss., Department of Culture and Design, Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences.
Rathje, W. 1992. Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage. New York: HarperCollins.
____. 2001. “Integrated Archaeology.” In Archaeologies of the Contemporary Past, edited by V. Buchli and G. Lucas, 63?76. London: Routledge.
Relph, E. 1986. Place and Placelessness (3rd edition). London: Pion.
Schofield, A. J. 2000. “Never Mind the Relevance? Popular Culture for Archaeologists.” In Matter, Materiality and Modern Culture, edited by P. M. Graves-Brown, 131?155. London: Routledge.
Terho, H. 1999. “Kun kaupunki on ihan sekaisin ja hurlumhei.” In Down by the Laituri 1988?1997: ohjelmisto, kulttuuripolitiikka ja kaupunkitila. Licentiate Diss., Department of Cultural History, University of Turku.
Tuulari, J. and J. Latva-Äijö. 2000. Provinssirock: Ihmisten juhla. Historiallinen kooste Provinssirockista ja sen tekijöistä 1979?2000. Seinäjoki: Rytmi-instituutti.
Van Dyke, R. and S. Alcock. 2003. Archaeologies of Memory. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470774304
van Elderen, P. L. 1998. Äkkiä eräänä kesänä: Joensuun Laulujuhlien sosiologinen muotokuva. Joensuu: Joensuu University Press.
Webmoor, T. and C. L. Witmore. 2008. “Things Are Us! A Commentary on Human/things Relations under the Banner of a ‘Social’ Archaeology”. Norwegian Archaeological Review 41(1): 53?70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00293650701698423
White, C. L. 2013. “The Burning Man Festival and Archaeology of Ephemeral and Temporary Gatherings.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Contemporary World, edited by P. Graves-Brown, R. Harrison and A. Piccini, 595?712. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199602001.013.041
Wilkie, L. 2001. “Black Sharecroppers and White Frat Boys: Living Communities and the Appropriation of their Archaeological Pasts.” In Archaeologies of the Contemporary Past, edited by V. Buchli and G. Lucas, 108?118. London: Routledge.
____. 2006. “Documentary archaeology”. In The Cambridge Companion to Historical Archaeology, edited by M. C. Beaudry and D. Hicks, 13?33. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781139167321.002
YLE Uutiset. 2010a. “Arkeologit tutkivat Provinssirockia.” Available online: http://yle.fi/uutiset/
arkeologit_tutkivat_provinssirockia/5581025.
____. 2010b. “Beat Goes On at Summer Music Festivals.” Available online: http://yle.fi/uutiset/beat_goes_on_at_summer_music_festivals/5591276
Zimring, C. A. and W. L. Rathje. 2012. Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste: The Social Science of Garbage. Thousand Oaks: SAGE. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452218526
Ahonen, E. and L. Saksala. 2000. Yleisön Provinssirock – aikansa lehdistön ja muistitiedon kuvaamana 1980-luvulla. Unpublished master’s thesis. Cultural history, University of Turku.
Äikäs, T., T. Kuokkanen, W. Perttola, R. Mönkkönen, O. Kunnas and J. Okkonen. 2011. “‘The Sole You Found was the Soul of the Festival’—Paikan muuttuvat merkitykset Provinssirockin festivaalialueella.” Etnomusikologian vuosikirja 23: 54?80.
Ala-Kulju, R. 1983. Seinäjoen kirja: Kuvaus Seinäjoen vaiheista. Seinäjoki: Seinäjoen seurakunta.
Alanen, A. J. 1970. Seinäjoen historia Volume 1. Seinäjoki: Seinäjoen kaupunki.
Beck, A. S. 2007. “Popular Archaeology as Archaeology of Modern Popular Culture?” In Public Archaeology, edited by T. Heinonen and N. Latvakoski, 33?40. Kontaktstencil 46. Helsinki: Fællesnordisk Råd for Arkæologistuderende.
Beck, W. and M. Somerville. 2005. “Conversations Between Disciplines: Historical Archaeology and Oral History at Yarrawarra.” World Archaeology 37(3): 468?483. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00438240500204403
Casey, E. S. 2001. “Body, Self, and Landscape: A Geophilosophical Inquiry into the Placeworld.” In Textures of Place: Exploring Humanist Geographies, edited by P. C. Adams, S. Hoelscher and K. E. Till, 403–425. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Connell, J. and C. Gibson. 2003. Sound Tracks: Popular Music, Identity and Place. Critical Geographies. London: Routledge. http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203448397
Costello J. G. 2000. “Red Light Voices: An Archaeological Drama of Late Nineteenth-century Prostitution”. In Archaeologies of Sexuality, edited by R. A. Schmidt and B. L. Voss, 160?175. London: Routledge.
Eerola, L. 2011. Musiikkitapahtumien elämyksellinen markkinointi: sisällönanalyysi Provinssirockin internet-sivuista. PhD diss., Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lapland.
Eren, M. I., A. J. Durant, C. Neudorf, M. Haslam, C. Shipton, J. Bora, R. Korisettar and M. Petraglia. 2010. “Experimental Examination of Animal Trampling Effects on Artifact Movement in Dry and Water Saturated Substrates: A Test Case from South India.” Journal of Archaeological Science 37(12): 3010–3021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.06.024
Gosden, C. 2004. “Aesthetics, Intelligence and Emotions: Implications for Archaeology.” In Rethinking Materiality: The Engagement of Mind with the Material World, edited by E. DeMarrais, C. Gosden and C. Renfrew, 33?40. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.
Hayden, B. and S. Villeneuve. 2011. “A Century of Feasting Studies.” Annual Review of Anthropology 40: 433–449. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-081309-145740
Hill, L. J. 2011. More-than-representational Archaeologies of Leisure in the Landscape of the Dean Forest and Wye Valley National Forest Park. PhD diss., St Cross College, University of Oxford.
Järvinen, A. 2006. “Upea sää kruunasi Provinssirockin.” Available online: http://dome.fi/musiikki/uutiset/upea-saa-kruunasi-provinssirockin
Jones, A. 2007. Memory and Material Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511619229
Karjalainen, P. T. 1997. “Mapping Places.” In Place and Embodiment: XIIIth International Congress of Aesthetics. Lahti, Finland. August 1–5 1995. Proceedings I, edited by P. T. Karjalainen and P. von Bonsdorff, 13?16. Lahti: University of Helsinki / Lahti Research and Training Centre.
____. 1998. “Place and Intimate Sensing.” Nordisk Samhällsgeografisk Tidskrift 27: 3?16.
____. 2006. “Topobiografinen paikan tulkinta.” In Paikka: Eletty, kuviteltu, kerrottu, edited by S. Knuuttila, P. Laaksonen and U. Piela, 83–92. Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja 85. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura.
Knight, D. B. 2006. Landscapes in Music: Space, Place, and Time in the World’s Great Music. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Korhonen, T. 1998. Rockfestivaalit maantieteellisenä ilmiönä. MA diss., Department of Geography, University of Helsinki.
Kunnas, O., T. Kuokkanen, R. Mönkkönen, W. Perttola and T. Äikäs. 2011. “Sinusta jää jälki: Arkeologit tutkimassa Provinssirockin festivaalialuetta.” Muinaistutkija 1: 21–34.
Kymäläinen, P. 2006. “Paikan ajattelun haasteita.” In Paikka: Eletty, kuviteltu, kerrottu, edited by S. Knuuttila, P. Laaksonen and U. Piela, 203?217. Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja 85. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura.
Lee, D. and A. Thomas. 2015. “Walking (In)visible Lines: Archaeologies in Between.” Flettverk 2: 4–13.
Leyshon, A., D. Matless and G. Revill. 1998. “Introduction: Music, Space, and the Production of Place.” In The Place of Music, edited by A. Leyshon, D. Matless and G. Revill, 1?30. New York: Guilford Press.
Linna, E. 2003. Kulutus ja rockfestivaali – Provinssirock 2002 elämyskuluttamisen pelikenttänä. MA diss., Department of Economics, University of Helsinki.
Lock, G. 2003. Using Computers in Archaeology: Towards Virtual Pasts. London: Routledge.
Madgwick, R. and J. Mulville. 2015. “Feasting on Fore-limbs: Conspicuous Consumption and Identity in Later Prehistoric Britain.” Antiquity 89(345): 629–644. http://dx.doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2015.24
Maunu, A. 2014. Yöllä yhdessä: Yökerhot, biletys ja suomalainen sosiaalisuus. Sosiaalitieteiden laitoksen julkaisuja 2014:6. Helsinki: Unigrafia.
Moshenska, G. 2007. “Oral History in Historical Archaeology: Excavating Sites of Memory.” Oral History 35(1): 91?97.
Nättilä, H. 2014. Seinäjoen Törnävä: Östermyran rautaruukin ja ruutitehtaan jäännösten teollisuusarkeologinen inventointi 2014. Unpublished survey report, South Ostrobothnia Provincial Museum.
Norberg-Schultz, C. 1979. Genius Loci: Towards a Phenomenology of Architecture. London: Academy Editions.
Perttola, W. 2010. Seinäjoki Törnävänsaari: Nykyisyysarkeologinen koekaivaus ja sen yhteydessä tehdyt havainnot historiallisen ajan kerroksista Seinäjoen Törnävänsaarella 19.–20.6.2010. Unpublished excavation report, National Board of Antiquities.
Pred, A. 1984. “Place as Historically Contingent Process: Structuration and the Time-Geography of Becoming Places.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 74(2): 279?297. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8306.1984.tb01453.x
Rantanen, S. 2010. Retroa, rockia ja romantiikkaa. Törnävän puistoalueen yhteisöllinen uudistaminen. PhD diss., Department of Culture and Design, Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences.
Rathje, W. 1992. Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage. New York: HarperCollins.
____. 2001. “Integrated Archaeology.” In Archaeologies of the Contemporary Past, edited by V. Buchli and G. Lucas, 63?76. London: Routledge.
Relph, E. 1986. Place and Placelessness (3rd edition). London: Pion.
Schofield, A. J. 2000. “Never Mind the Relevance? Popular Culture for Archaeologists.” In Matter, Materiality and Modern Culture, edited by P. M. Graves-Brown, 131?155. London: Routledge.
Terho, H. 1999. “Kun kaupunki on ihan sekaisin ja hurlumhei.” In Down by the Laituri 1988?1997: ohjelmisto, kulttuuripolitiikka ja kaupunkitila. Licentiate Diss., Department of Cultural History, University of Turku.
Tuulari, J. and J. Latva-Äijö. 2000. Provinssirock: Ihmisten juhla. Historiallinen kooste Provinssirockista ja sen tekijöistä 1979?2000. Seinäjoki: Rytmi-instituutti.
Van Dyke, R. and S. Alcock. 2003. Archaeologies of Memory. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470774304
van Elderen, P. L. 1998. Äkkiä eräänä kesänä: Joensuun Laulujuhlien sosiologinen muotokuva. Joensuu: Joensuu University Press.
Webmoor, T. and C. L. Witmore. 2008. “Things Are Us! A Commentary on Human/things Relations under the Banner of a ‘Social’ Archaeology”. Norwegian Archaeological Review 41(1): 53?70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00293650701698423
White, C. L. 2013. “The Burning Man Festival and Archaeology of Ephemeral and Temporary Gatherings.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Contemporary World, edited by P. Graves-Brown, R. Harrison and A. Piccini, 595?712. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199602001.013.041
Wilkie, L. 2001. “Black Sharecroppers and White Frat Boys: Living Communities and the Appropriation of their Archaeological Pasts.” In Archaeologies of the Contemporary Past, edited by V. Buchli and G. Lucas, 108?118. London: Routledge.
____. 2006. “Documentary archaeology”. In The Cambridge Companion to Historical Archaeology, edited by M. C. Beaudry and D. Hicks, 13?33. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781139167321.002
YLE Uutiset. 2010a. “Arkeologit tutkivat Provinssirockia.” Available online: http://yle.fi/uutiset/
arkeologit_tutkivat_provinssirockia/5581025.
____. 2010b. “Beat Goes On at Summer Music Festivals.” Available online: http://yle.fi/uutiset/beat_goes_on_at_summer_music_festivals/5591276
Zimring, C. A. and W. L. Rathje. 2012. Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste: The Social Science of Garbage. Thousand Oaks: SAGE. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781452218526
Published
2016-08-22
Issue
Section
Research Article
How to Cite
Äikäs, T., Perttola, W., & Kuokkanen, T. (2016). “The Sole You Found was the Soul of the Festival”: Archaeological Study of a Rock Festival in Seinäjoki, Finland. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 3(1), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.v3i1.24485
