ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS FROM THE HILL FORT AT KEAVA

During archaeological excavations at the Keava hill fort, 137 artefacts and approximately 1680 potsherds were recovered from the area of 88 m. Most of the recovered artefacts belong to types, which were used during the 11th–13th centuries. In the deeper layers of excavation area I, pottery fragments dating to the Viking Age were found. A spearhead found earlier in the hill fort belongs to the 11th century. All of the other artefacts that can be dated with reasonable certainty belong to the late 12th century or the first quarter of the 13th century. Finds from Keava are ample but also typical of the Estonian Final Iron Age hill forts (e.g. Varbola, Soontagana and Lõhavere). The assemblage is mainly composed of ornaments, personal belongings, metal parts of clothing, scrap metal and bronze work residues. 1 This study was supported by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (Center of Excellence CECT), the target financed theme No. SF0180150s08, and by the research grants from the Estonian Science Foundation (nos 4563 and 6451).