Murheistenranta Stone Age dwelling site

The Murheistenranta settlement was inhabited about 6000 years ago and it dates back to the time of comb-pit ceramic (4000-3500 BC). Combed ceramic, quartz flakes and burnt bones have been found at the site. Excavations have also found pit-decorated ceramic and even one piece of string-decorated ceramic. The area has a housepit, but it is difficult to distinguish the pit from the terrain. Higher up the slope are the ditches of the Salpa Line.

More information about the Stone Age dwelling site can be found on the Lappeenranta Museums' History and Ancient Remains of South Karelia web service (in Finnish) and in the service window of the Finnish Heritage Agency’s cultural environment (in Finnish)

Murheistenranta is located in the proximal part of the First Salpausselkä, ie on an ancient glacier-side slope of the ice-marginal formation, which was born about 12,100 years ago. The sediments of the First Salpausselkä consist of sand and gravel sorted by glacial rivers and till pushed by the glacier. The sand and gravel deposits of Murheistenranta are washed and shaped by the waves of the ancient Baltic Sea and Lake Saimaa.

Image: Kaisa-Maria Remes / Saimaa Geopark