Factual archaeological material and data from adjacent disciplines have been generated through the extensive ethnocultural history of Karelians, Vepsians, Sámi and Russians who have lived in Karelia and along the border with Finland maintaining close contacts with each other. Over more than a century, archaeologists from Russia and Finland have gathered vast archaeological information in the form of artifact collections, catalogues, field reports. Finnish researchers have given much of their attention to the history of ancient Karelia: the origins and establishment of the Karelian nation, the range of its dispersal,
analysis of the Peace of Orekhovets (Noteborg) contents, etc. In the past several decades, J.-P. Taavitsainen & P. Uino published their ideas of the Medieval archaeology of Karelia. A monograph by P. Purhonen analyses problems related to the emergence of Christianity, including Orthodoxy, in Finland.
S. Kochkurkina has been doing field studies on the Medieval archaeology and history of Karelia and the Karelian isthmus since the 1970s. Fortified settlements (gorodishche) of the 12th-15th centuries have been inspected. Using archaeological sources in combination with natural science data (metallographic, spectral, osteological, pollen analyses) the build-up structure of settlements, houses with stone stoves and utility buildings,
crafts, farming practices, picking & gathering, hunting & fishing, ammunition have been
characterized, and old Karelian national costumes have been reconstrued.
Due to some objective reasons and traditions, researchers from the two countries differ
on a number of substantial problems of ancient history such as the chronology and periodization
of archaeological antiquities; methods of archaeological research; boundaries
of the ancient Karelian territory; pathways of Christianization of eastern Finland, etc.
Organization of a scientific study aiming to remodel historical and cultural links and contacts
between Finland and Karelia within the historical limits of the Middle Ages relying on archaeological material and data from adjacent disciplines is therefore a promising and topical scientific project.