The past year has been a very busy one for Foundation Osiliana and here are some glimpses from the past year:
(a) archaeological inspections around the villages of Salme, Suurna and Lassi, where some 13th-15th century finds were recovered, as well as a visit to the village of Hirmustet;
b) cooperation with geneticists from the University of Tartu, with whom we undertook the analysis and interpretation of ancient DNA from cemeteries with mortuary remains in Saaremaa;
(c) cooperation with the University of Tartu, Tallinn University and Elermo OÜ, with whom we carried out geoarchaeological fieldwork and additional georadar surveys on the ramparts of the Pöide and Valjala forts and the surrounding landscape;
(d) development of the information centre www.osiliana.eu, in particular of the database of archaeological finds, but also the creation of a database of archaeological finds (on the website, under the heading ‘Huts’);
(e) 7 micro-documentaries on the early history of Saaremaa, produced in cooperation with ETAG and Videoõps;
(f) participation of Marika Mägi, Piia Sandra Palm and Maris Niinesalu-Mooni in various international conferences in Spain, the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy, where research results (and issues) related to history of Saaremaa were presented;
(g) cooperation with the Saaremaa Museum, which extended the popular exhibition “Eye to Eye with the Medieval Islander” until the summer of 2025;
(h) cooperation with Saaremaa municipality and the Salme Viking Centre to develop the latter;
(i) the last additional excavations in the Valjala hillfort
and finally, we started excavations in the Pöide hillfort, where we will continue next year!
In addition to what we have listed here, we have a number of other exciting projects in the pipeline, which we will be able to announce to you in the future – for now, we can only say that there is much to look forward to!
Many thanks to all our collaborators-partners, excavation participants and helpers!
Wishing you a safe and happy New Year!
