Hill forts and ancient monuments of Finland

Before churches and manor houses

Finland's oldest structures are not buildings. They are piles of stone, ramparts and patterns laid on the ground, made thousands of years before the first stone church. Bronze Age burial cairns on coastal cliffs, Iron Age cemeteries on the edges of Häme's fields, hill forts on the tops of cliffs, and stone labyrinths on islands are all ancient monuments – protected by law, but rarely by a sign.

They stand in the forest. A cairn looks like a mossy heap of stones, a hill fort's rampart like a low row of stones between the trees. Once you know what you're looking at, the landscape changes.

Hill forts: refuge in a moment of danger

A hill fort (linnavuori) is a steep-sided hill whose gentlest slopes were closed off with stone and timber ramparts. They were built during the Iron Age and early Middle Ages, roughly 500–1300 AD, and used as refuge forts: when raiders came, the village's people, livestock and valuables were taken up the hill. They usually had no permanent settlement.

Rapola in Valkeakoski is the country's largest: a rampart more than a kilometre long along the top of a ridge, with a field of burial cairns below. Hakoinen in Janakkala is linked in tradition to Birger Jarl's crusade in the 1200s. Vartiokylä in Helsinki has the capital's only hill fort, and at Sulkava the base of the wall stands almost three metres high in places.

Cairns, cemeteries and lapinraunio piles

In the Bronze Age (1500–500 BC), the dead were buried in a pile of stones built in a prominent spot on a coastal cliff. Because of land uplift, these shores now lie kilometres from the sea, and the cairns stand in the forest – the 36 cairns of Sammallahdenmäki in Rauma are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kuninkaanhauta at Panelia in Eura is the country's largest.

In the Iron Age, burial moved to cemeteries at the edges of fields. They appear as low cairns, or not at all; over a thousand graves have been excavated at Luistari in Eura. In inland Finland and Ostrobothnia, similar stone piles are called lapinraunio, "Sámi cairns" – a folk name, though the builders were not Sámi.

Jatulintarha: a mystery on the shore

A jatulintarha is a labyrinth laid out in stone, 5–15 metres across, its path winding to the centre. Hundreds are found on Baltic shores, in Finland especially on the islands of the Gulf of Bothnia. Their age ranges from the Middle Ages to the 1800s. Their purpose is unknown: fishermen's luck-charms, shepherds' pastime, church symbolism have all been suggested. The jatulintarha at Oulu and Rauma are the easiest to reach.

Before you go

• Fixed ancient monuments are protected without any separate ruling. Stones must not be moved, cairns not dismantled, ground not dug. Metal detecting is prohibited.
• Rapola, Sammallahdenmäki and Hakoinen have information boards and paths. Most others do not; bring the site's coordinates with you.
• Hill forts are steep. The climb needs proper shoes, and the rock at the top is often mossy.
• The best time is April–May and October–November, when undergrowth is low and the ramparts stand out.