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The Rupakallio cemetery
The cemetery of Rupakallio is on the edge of a field known as Kirkkovainio on an elongated outcrop of moraine and bedrock. At least nine burials have been identified thus far at Rupakallio, the oldest being a cairn grave from the 5th–6th centuries AD. The later burials were in a cremation cemetery laid on level ground where most of the grave-goods have been found. Discovered grave-goods consists of Iron Age horse bits, swords and personal ornaments dating from the Merovingian Period (600–800 AD) and the ensuing Viking Age (800 –1050 AD). In the vicinity of Rapolanharju Ridge Viking Age graves are also known from the yard area of Voipaala Manor and from Sassinmäki, with axes and spearheads included in the burials.
The fate of Rupakallio is one of the saddest chapters in the history of archaeological research at Rapola. Most of the cemetery was destroyed when the Helsinki-Tampere highway was built in the early 1960s. The majority of the artefacts were found by the road-builders and their precise locations remain unknown. Archaeological excavations carried out in 1960–1962 indicate that parts of the Rupakallio cemetery area have probably survived on both sides of the highway.
This key pendant found in the Rupakallio cemetery is dated to the 11th century AD. National Board of Antiquities.
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