Hunting pits of Eastern Fennoscandia: archaeology and ethnography

The purpose of the work is to analyze the method of hunting for large animals using trapping pits. These interesting archaeological artifacts are known in the tundra and North taiga zone of Northern Eurasia. The paper deals with the main problems of the initial stage of their study. In the European part of Russia, the trapping pits were studied insignificantly. Extensive work was carried out in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. The pits were dug and provided with special long fences. The main huntable animals were reindeer and elk. In Russia, the trapping pits are known from the Karelian Isthmus to the Barents Sea. They were used from the Mesolithic to the XVI century. In the Middle Ages in Fennoscandia, the traps could be made by aborigines, Sami, and neighboring groups as Karelians, Finns, Germans. Against a comprehensive study of ethnography and archeology, the hunting pits are good informative archaeological assets.