The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe - IUCN

place have been considered important.
For example, in Kakadu National
Park in Australia the traditional owners
have been given a right to re-work on
the rock paintings (Mercer, 1995: 136).
In the case of sieidi sites, the local
people do not consist of a heterogeneous
group. Finns might also value
these places, but they could have different
meanings for them than for the
traditional custodians, the Sámi. On
the other hand, some sieidi places
were only used by certain families or
individuals. Should the traditional custodians
in these cases be seen as
even a more limited group? Considering
the multiple meanings attached to
the Sámi sacred places by Sámi and
non-Sámi people perhaps also the
right of other groups to use these sites
might be taken into account. Sámi sacred
places have a long history and
they continue to be alive and
meaningful.
References
Äikäs, T. (in press A), The concept of liminality and Sámi sacred landscapes, in:
Archaeological Imaginations of Religion, ed. T. Meier & P. Tillessen, Budapest:
Archaeolingua.
Äikäs, T. (in press B), Quartzite at a sieidi: a new life of an offering site? British Archaeological
Reports.
Äikäs, T. (2011), Rantakiviltä tuntureille. Pyhät paikat saamelaisten rituaalisessa
maisemassa. [Sacred places in Sámi ritual landscape], Studia Archaeologica Septentrionalia
5.
Äikäs, T., Puputti, A-K, Núñez, M., Aspi, J. & Okkonen, J. ( 2009), Sacred and profane
livelihood. Animal bones from sieidi sites in Northern Finland, Norwegian Archaeological
Review, 42(2), 109–22.
Äimä, F. (1903). Muutamia muistotietoja Inarin lappalaisten vanhoista uhrimenoista
[Some memory knowledge of the old sacrificial services of Inari Lapps], Virittäjä 8,
pp. 113–6.
Blain, J. & Wallis, R. (2007), Sacred Sites Contested Rites/Rights. Pagan Engagements
with Archaeological Monuments, Brighton – Portland: Sussex Academic
Press.
Byrne, D. (2009), Archaeology and the fortress of rationality, in Cosmopolitan Archaeologies,
ed. L. Meskell, Durham - London: Duke University Press, pp. 68–88.
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