Ella Kivikoski (1901–1990), the first female PhD in Finland, the first female professor in archaeology in Finland and the Nordic countries and the first female ordinary member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences, was perhaps the most famous Finnish archaeologist in the 1960s and 1970s. This was mostly because she published in 1967 the book called Finland in English that came out in the respected series Ancient Peoples and Place by Thames & Hudson (Kivikoski, Reference Kivikoski1967). It was the main source of Finnish archaeology for foreign archaeologists until the 1980s. However, she is mostly absent in collections on female Finnish scholars, and foreign histories of archaeology that discuss the female trailblazers mainly pass her by. She was not ubiquitous in the encyclopedias or bibliographies of the time. The preface of the book Tiedenainen peilissä : Arkeologian professori Ella Kivikosken elämä ja tutkimuskentät, as it is called in Finnish, deliberates precisely about this. What could be the reasons for this situation?
One can find different explanations for this in this collection of papers discussing the life and research areas of Ella Kivikoski. As a professor, Kivikoski herself ‘hid’ her femininity and did not consider it relevant. She only expected to be treated in a similar way to other (male) professors. She also had a reputation of having a ‘favourite system’ and most of her favourites were male, as mentioned by several of the informants, even if she could be helpful towards her female students. She even stated in a horrified manner to the interviewer Sirkka-Liisa Seppälä in the 1980s in an interview for the Finnish archaeology student magazine Varelia that ‘no feminism should be part of archaeology, [that one should] not mix that with archaeological research’. This subject had arisen because the society of archaeology students at Turku called Vare had ‘Women and Archaeology’ as the topic of its twenty-fifth anniversary seminar. This kind of attitude probably did not make her an ideal female role model for researchers engaged in gender studies in archaeology and in the humanities more generally. Considering her attitude, it has been a surprise that her unknown dissertation in Finnish history from 1930 has resurfaced with its topic ‘Traits of the position of women during the Middle Ages in Finland’, in which she dutifully traced female status through the Viking Age and Medieval period in a surprisingly modern manner. Something changed in the decades that followed.
The approval of Kivikoski as an adjunct professor at the University of Helsinki in 1941 and her nomination as the professor in archaeology at Helsinki as the only candidate in 1948 can be called controversial. Kivikoski had already applied for the position of adjunct professor in April 1940, as was the manner in the Faculty of Humanities at the time, but the decision making was delayed. This was due to the disapproval of two non-archaeologists. The professors in archaeology, A.M. Tallgren and Aarne Äyräpää, considered her qualified, but the professor in general history, Arvi Korhonen, and professor Jaakkola opposed her and wrote statements to the naming board in which they both diminished her achievements. Even if there were delays, Kivikoski was nominated as an adjunct professor at Helsinki and later a professor. At a later stage, the same two persons were the main opponents of her becoming the professor. Their opposition was partly due to scientific views regarding the importance of different areas in Finland for the historical developments of Finnish culture and politics. Ella Kivikoski was from a bilingual home and, as a researcher, was directed towards the Baltic countries and Scandinavia. She was a cosmopolitan figure, not nationalistically minded or oriented towards Germany during the Second World War.
There are also disciplinary reasons why she was side-lined in later histories of archaeology. She was one of the foremost figures in formulating the so-called migration theory that stated that the Finns first came to south-western Finland around 2000 years ago from the area of Estonia. This theory had earlier roots in the observations of Alfred Hackmann in the late nineteenth century, but Kivikoski's studies and her few popular writings were the foundation of this then well-liked theory. However, during the 1960s it became clear that actually there was cultural continuity in Finland from the Bronze Age and that the incomers only influenced Iron Age culture. Kivikoski was against this new, so-called continuity theory almost until the end of her life, and this may have affected her position in the histories of archaeology. In addition, Kivikoski was very careful in her interpretations and, even if she was a student of Tallgren, she did not theorize or generalize, but remained dedicated to the typological method and preferred research tightly based on material. These preferences, together with the object catalogue Die Eisenzeit Finnlands (Kivikoski, Reference Kivikoski1947; Reference Kivikoski1951; Reference Kivikoski1973) made her research old-fashioned in the 1980s, when younger Finnish archaeologists were interested in Iron Age communities and societies. Additionally, her main works were written in German, which was superseded at the time by English as the international language of research.
As this collection of papers shows, Ella Kivikoski should be recognized in Finnish scholarly histories and be more widely known internationally. Minna Silver and Pirjo Uino, the editors of Tiedenainen peilissä, have gathered twenty-five archaeologists or researchers from related disciplines, who write on a specific topic of relevance in Kivikoski's life and career. Even if certain key dates and events are repeated several times across the volume, the articles create a surprisingly logical and unified picture of this researcher and her life. There is also stylistic unity that is broken by only one article, the essay on the landscapes of the old highway in Häme, by Eero Ojanen, which differs as a verbose essay from the concise style of the other papers.
The volume is arranged mostly chronologically. It starts with chapters on the family background, childhood, and school years of Ella Kivikoski (by Juhani Kostet) and the description of her childhood home town (Panu Nykänen). The story continues with her international connections and their formation (Timo Salminen), her career as a civil servant in archaeology in the 1930s (Leena Söyrinki-Harmo), her rising interest in the Åland Islands, the birth place of her father (Milton Nuñez), her research during the War (Tiina Kinnunen), the excavations in Eastern Karelia during the War (Pirjo Uino), and the problems in getting the adjunct professorship and professorship (Visa Immonen). At this point the book takes a thematic turn and discusses the early female intellectuals in Finland (Aura Korppi-Tommola) and the careers of other female pioneers in archaeology in Scandinavia, the Baltic States, and in Britain (Minna Silver). The following chapters discuss Kivikoski's fieldwork and related publications (Mervi Suhonen & Mika Lavento), her studies on Iron Age women (Pirkko-Liisa Lehtosalo-Hilander), her involvement in the reproduction of ‘Kalevala’ jewellery (Pirjo Uino), her interpretations of the Iron Age cemetery at Lieto, Ylipää, in southwest Finland (Kristiina Korkeakoski-Väisänen & Auli Bläuer), and her importance as the author of early botanical observations (Terttu Lempiäinen). An extensive section discusses her studies in the Häme region from a geographical (Päivi Maaranen), linguistic (Riho Grünthal), migratory (Christian Carpelan), and Viking Age and Crusade period (Eva Ahl-Waris) viewpoints.
The last two sections discuss Kivikoski as a university teacher and as a private person in different social events. These sections make ample use of interview material, letters and e-mails gathered by the editors. One of the articles is actually a book review of a novel by Veijo Meri called Peiliin piirretty nainen (Reference Meri1963) The Woman drawn in the Mirror, by Kivikoski herself. The book finishes with the biographical information and bibliography of Kivikoski and short author presentations. Crucially for the international audience, there are short abstracts in English of the key content of the different articles.
This volume provides a multi-faceted view of Kivikoski. It also reflects upon the different times she lived through, from the decades before the Second World War to the 1980s. Kivikoski comes across as a sometimes hot-headed researcher who, however, was circumspect and dedicated her life to her studies and to her students. The book is in itself discreet. One topic only hinted at is the feelings she may have held for her professor A.M. Tallgren. In the interview of Kivikoski's female friend Pirkko Rommi, she wonders shortly, if Kivikoski was in love with Tallgren, but this topic is dropped very abruptly with the statement that Rommi did not know much of Kivikoski's private life. Another matter not discussed, but only hinted at, is the way Kivikoski took the new interpretations of the settlement of southwestern Finland in the late 1960s. The late professor Unto Salo refers to her disapproval and to her statement written during the process of the filling of the professorship at the University of Turku. The filling of this vacancy was controversial at the time, and the saga had an impact in the relations between the departments at Helsinki and Turku for a long time afterwards. This was left out of the volume.
All the contributions to this book are very rewarding and it is very difficult to place one before the other. They provide a deep analysis of the research areas of Kivikoski and her written studies. Especially, the book discusses her expedition to eastern Karelia during the Second World War and her extensive studies in the Åland Islands, which may be not so familiar to Finnish-speaking Finnish archaeologists. Apart from her scientific career, the different sections reflect on the private person behind the work. As a researcher of pre-Roman central Italy, I was very fond of the paper discussing the first archaeology course Kivikoski organised for her students in the Finnish Institute in Rome in 1960. This chapter by Minna Silver & Pirjo Uino, oozes the period detail that is also ever present across the volume. It discusses her love of the detective novels of Agatha Christie and Mahjong, her field costume with her beret, her fine home in central Helsinki with her maid, and her delightful evenings in restaurants with her students after seminars.
As a book, the Tiedenainen peilissä is unusual in Finland. No other archaeologist has been afforded such an honour of deep scrutiny and detailed presentations. Kivikoski herself wrote the biography of A.M. Tallgren, but it was not anywhere as extensive. However, this book makes it clear that she is worth the volume. She is still the only Finnish archaeology professor in tenure in Finland who raised the following generation of Finnish archaeologists and was theorising on the most important question in Finnish history: Where do we come from? Any female scholar—or any scholar —should get this treatment. The timing of the book probably relates to the rise in general interest in female scholarship. In addition, since no other Finnish woman has managed to reach professorship in Finland, there has risen a discussion on the diversity in archaeology.
The book is extensively researched and dwells widely on the value of Kivikoski's research, but it also gives a reflection of the real person behind the public persona. However, it cannot answer the question of Kivikoski's reaction against feminism. Maybe, Kivikoski's experiences with the difficult tenure process at Helsinki made her careful, if she sensed some misogyny. Not making a fuss made probably life easier. Nevertheless, the book is a rare scientific volume where the reader can hardly wait to know what happened next.
