Archaeology of the Murmansk Border Zone

The Murmansk border zone is understood to be the area along the state border that Russia shares with Norway and Finland in the west of the Murmansk region. The border zone which is 25 km wide stretches for about 400 km from the north to the south. Archaeological investigation in the border zone were conducted only in the vicinities of the towns of Kovdor, Nikel and on the Paz river. The paper contains an overview of the results of these archaeological research near the border. The first archaeological find which is a hoard of silver coins and items from the 12th century was discovered near the Kuoloyarvi village in 1839. In 1965 and 1973 19 Stone Age sites were discovered on the Paz and Shuonijoki rivers and on Lake Kuetsjavr. In 2010 a 16th century church was excavated on the Paz river. In 2023 a Saami cemetery on a Lake Kuetsjavr island was examined. Seven sites with no pottery finds were discovered near the town of Kovdor in 2000 and 2019 and 19 boulder structures were identified on Lake Okynevoe. These limited results show that if a specific methodology is developed the search of sites dating to the Stone Age and ‘the Saami Middle Ages’ on the mainland of the Murmansk border zone can produce promising results.