Relative sea level at Perniö in Finland since 10,000 BP
Stuart Harris BS, MS, MBA
USA
Summary: Essential to interpretation of Finnish archaeology is a calibrated curve of relative sea level. This paper presents relative sea level for the valley of Perniö in southwest
Finland accurate to 20 years on the time scale and 0.1 meters on the height scale. This precision facilitates a rapid estimate of the year of construction of wood buildingd, which were built as close to the sea as possible for ease of transportation, but no closer than 3 fathoms (18 feet, 5 1/2 meter) above sea level to guard against storms waves and tsunamis. To estimate age, find the elevation of the lowest comer of a building in meters, subtract 5 1/2 meters, , and look up the date of construction. this rule holds true for all buildings except piers, bridges, palisades, watch towers, cattle barns, saunas and army barracks. Perniö was chosen because within its confines orginated the religion of numerous civilizations such as Norse, Greek, German, Italian, Cretan, Hebrew, Sumerian, Indian and Japanese. The 3-fathom rule held true until 1380 BC, when it started to decline toward zero as the sea retreated from Perniö.