On the early history of the wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.) in Finland

Abstract

On the early history of the wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.) in Finland TUIJA RANKAMA AND PIRKKO UKKONEN Rankama, T. & Ukkonen, P. 2001 (June): On the early history of the wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.) in Finland. Boreas, Vol. 30, pp. 131-147. Oslo. ISSN 0300-9483 .This paper discusses the early migration of the wild reindeer into Finland. Reindeer bones found in dated archaeologica l contexts suggest that the two subspecies , the mountain reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus L.) and the forest reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus Lönnb.), were part of our fauna as early as c. 9000 BP and 7000 BP, respectively . The mountain reindeer may be descende d from the European Pleistocene reindeer , and may have migrated into northern Finland via the west coast of Norway. The forest reindeer invaded Finland directly from the east, from its glacial refugia in Siberia. During the Holocene, the distributio n ranges of these two subspecies uctuated in accordanc e with climatic and vegetationa l changes in northern Finland.

Patterns of diet and body mass of large ungulates from the Pleistocene of Western Europe, and their relation to vegetation

“…In Finland, forest reindeer (R. t. fennicus) have on average a larger body size than wild and semi-domestic tundra reindeer (R. t. tarandus) from Lapland (Nieminen and Helle, 1980). Of these subspecies, the tundra reindeer, which inhabits open environments, is more gregarious and regularly forms groups of up to several hundred individuals, whereas the forest reindeer lives most of the year in small groups of 2 to 20 animals (Rankama and Ukkonen, 2001). High population density and low lichen availability cause increased tooth wear rates and smaller body size in reindeer (Kojola et al, 1998).…”

Investigating the domestication and early management of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in the Sámi archaeological context from teeth geometric morphometrics

“…1 ), it was larger in the past, with mountain reindeer which was extant throughout the mountainous regions of northern Fennoscandia and forest reindeer throughout the taiga of northern Finland 16 . However, this should be assessed with the utmost caution since over time, it is historically known that the ranges of wild and domestic reindeer have fluctuated greatly under the pressure of various anthropogenic and/or climatic factors 8 , 60 , 61 . Subspecies identification is of great interest to archaeologists in terms of understanding the history of past Sámi communities since wild reindeer hunting had long been practiced in parallel with the breeding of domestic reindeer herds 10 .…”

“…The morphological differences between subspecies could also reflect different geographical and ecological origins prior to their migration to Fennoscandia. Reindeer were already present in Norway and Sweden by 13,000–12,000 BP, while their presence in Southern Finland only dates back to 7000 BP 60 . Thus, one of the main hypotheses is that mountain reindeer are the descendants of the South-European Pleistocene reindeer and migrated into northern Fennoscandia via the west coast of present-day Norway, while forest reindeer probably colonised south-eastern Fennoscandia directly from eastern Siberia or south-eastern Central Europe.…”

Exploring Pre-Colonial Resource Control of Individual Sami Households

“…Since wild reindeer have been extinct in Sweden since the 1870s (Ekman, 1910:14 -15), not much is known about the behaviour of this forest variety. It probably had much in common with the extant forest reindeer in Finland, which, unlike many other populations of reindeer and caribou, do not undertake long migrations but remain in the forest throughout the year (Rankama and Ukkonen, 2001). In any case, the wild reindeer of the Ume district should have had the same winter habitat preferences as the semidomesticated ones.…”