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This article discusses the archaeological background of the Leivu and Lutsi Finnic language islands. In contrast to the earlier research tradition, a hidden Finnic presence is suggested by the distribution area of Roman Iron Age tarand graves up to and including the Medieval Period when the presence of a Finnic population in northeastern Latvia (“the Chud in Ochela”) is noted in 1179/80. The Leivu language island west of Alūksne may be the last descendants of this population, formed by the merging of a Finnic substrate and Latgalian superstrate and standing between the Estonians and Livonians. The borders of this Finnic area in northern and northeastern Latvia – a diverse network of communities, existing in parallel with Latgalian ones and based on various ethnic components – are difficult to determine, as archaeological traces of its cultural pattern in the 12th–14th centuries have much in common with the Latgalians despite definite peculiarities. The Finnic traces in the Lutsi area are more difficult to identify archaeologically, although physical anthropology suggests a former Finnic presence there too. Kokkuvõte. Heiki Valk: Lõunaeesti keelesaared Ida-Lätis: arheoloogiline taust ja perspektiiv. Artikkel käsitleb leivu ja lutsi keelesaarte arheolooglist kujunemist. Erinevalt varasemast, baltikesksest vaatenurgast eeldatakse läänemeresoome rahvastiku varjatud püsimist rooma rauaaja tarandkalmete alal kuni keskajani ja ka keskaja vältel – kirjalikud allikad mainivad aastatel 1179– 1180 “Otšela tšuude” (tinglikult “adsele maarahvast”). Leivu keelesaar võiks endast kujutada selle läänemere substraadi ja latgali superstraadi ühtesulamise tulemusena kujunenud ning eestlaste ja liivlaste vahel paiknenud rahvastiku viimaseid järeltulijaid. Läänemeresoome asuala piire Läti põhja- ja kirdeosas on raske määratleda, kuna ilmselt oli tegemist eriilmeliste, läti asustuse kõrval eksisteerinud kogukondade võrgustikuga ja 12.–14. sajandi rahvastiku kultuuri arheoloogilised jäljed on vaatamata teatud iseärasustele paljuski latgalipärase ilmega. Lutsi asualal on läänemeresoome jälgi arheoloogias raskem leida, kuigi füüsilise antropoloogia andmed sellele viitavad.

The river Vohandu in south-eastern Estonia has become famous through the book Kurtzer Bericht und Unterricht Von der Falsch-heilig genandten Bache in Lieffland Wohhanda, written by Johann Gutslaff, the pastor of Urvaste parish (1644). The book mediates information about the events of 1642 when peasants of the riverside areas destroyed the new water mill of Somerpalu manor. This act took place because the river was considered to be sacred by the locals, and hindering of the water flow was thought to be the reason for the long-lasting bad weather. News of the water mill on the sacred river spread quickly over all Livonia: from Riga to Narva, Parnu and Reval, and also among the Latvian-speaking population. Gutslaff mentions two assemblies of peasants at Osula water mill (Fig. 1): on May 1 (when people gathered from manor areas on the upper course of the river) and July 8 (when those from the lower course gathered, including from Russia, i.e. from present-day Setomaa). Evidently, the hinterlands reflect communication areas and communication traditions of ancient and probably prehistoric origin. The article presents historical and folkloric information about the beginning of the sacred Vohandu River, discussing also the regions impacted by and reasons for its sacredness. The spring visited and described by Gutslaff one month after the events in Osula can be identified as the spring called Puhalate (‘sacred spring’), which is reflected in folkloric data and still remembered by the older locals. The place is located in the historical Kolju village, ca 10 km south of Otepaa (Figs. 2, 3). The first folklore note about its sacredness and ability to change the weather comes from 1866. Although the spring was buried under gravel during road re-construction work in 1983, its approximate location (Fig. 5) was identified in 2014 by the finding of four votive coins from between 1574 and 1707 (Fig. 6). According to Gutslaff, the spring was located in a sacred grove, and keeping its waters clean was important for having good weather. It was not allowed to cut trees or break branches in the grove, and misbehaviour could cause diseases or even death. The sacredness of the spring and its ability to change the weather is also reflected in folkloric data. Toponyms in the surroundings of the spring give evidence of a large sacral area (Figs. 3, 4), and lore mentions popular assemblies in the grove at the sprint which continued until mid-1890s. Votive coins were brought to the sprint until the 1940s, and the water was used for healing. The custom to stop a funeral procession that was passing by the spring and to sprinkle some of its holy water on the coffin – a unique practise in Estonia – survived until the 1950s/60s. The concept of sacredness is bound, according to Gutslaff, with all the lakes which Vohandu ran through. The first lake on the path of the sacred river, called Lake Ilmjarv (‘weather lake’) by Gutslaff, can be identified as present-day Lake Kauru (Figs. 7, 8). Most likely, this lake is identical to the lake 10 miles from Otepaa that was mentioned by the Pope’s legate Antonio Possevino in 1585 as a site of infant sacrifices, practiced to avoid thunder and bad weather. The sacrificing of children and cattle in some lakes infected by evil spirits to reconcile them was also mentioned in the annual report of the Jesuites in 1583. These memories of infant sacrifice are probably reflected in a popular type of legend which tells about a deal with a supernatural creature living in a lake or a pond: the person who wants to get a treasure must offer a child to him (but gives a cat in a bag instead). The Jesuites’ notes about sacrifices to the lakes also fit well with Gutslaff’s notes about infant sacrifices (in the past) and oxes (in his time) to the sacred Vohandu River. The origins of the sacredness of Puhalate spring might be hidden in the geographical conditions of the region. The Vohandu River, which was considered sacred as a whole, begins in the watershed which separates its basin from the basin of Vaike-Emajogi River. Here the close connections and common origin of the words ‘sacred’ and ‘border’ appear. To the same watershed belong also Lake Kauru/Ilmjarv (located 600 m east of the spring), and three ponds which can predict the weather at the Konnu (Paina) farmstead (1.2 km north-east of the spring). There the water level in spring time was believed to indicate the weather of the forthcoming summer. The name Ilmjarv refers both to the weather and being the uppermost lake in the basin of a river. The sacredness of the watershed may also include Lake Puhajarv (‘sacred lake’) – this is the first lake on the path of Vaike-Emajogi River, which was also called Puhajogi (‘sacred river’) on its upper course. The sacral complex of Vohandu River is unique in Estonia. Lore about the site, although almost forgotten in the present time, gives evidence of the continuity of beliefs and religious practices from the early seventeenth to the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. KEYWORDS: sacred spring, sacred river, sacred lake, Livonia, Early Modern Times, human sacrifice.

Data about the earliest history of medieval churches of southern Estonia are fragmentary, being limited to the first mentions of the parish, priest or congregation, or to mostly scanty historical information about the architecture. Some information can also be provided by archaeological grave finds, which often date back further than the first data about the churches. The article presents a brief survey of the finds from the churchyards of southern Estonia, the area of medieval diocese of Tartu, from before ca. 1450 AD. The finds, mostly jewellery and fragments of cremated bones, show that churches were often built on top of old cemeteries from the Final Iron Age, whereby the pre-Christian jewellery items, mostly brooches, rings and bracelets, date mainly from the 11th to the early 13th centuries. If the cases in which the archaeological information is limited or non-existent are excluded, 60% of the rural churches of southern Estonia (9 out of 15) were built on pre-Christian cemeteries. The percentage may even be higher, since archaeological data for more than half of the churchyards is either missing or insufficient for drawing any conclusions. In the cases where major temporal gaps exist between the Final Iron Age finds and the first written or architectural data about the church, the cemetery probably functioned continuously as a village cemetery in the Christian period. The pre-Christian origins of the cemeteries in the churchyards indicate that the local communities were actively involved in choosing the locations for the churches at the time of Christianization. Place continuity also shows that, despite the violent nature of Christianization, the natives of southern Estonia did not oppose having Christian sanctuaries built on pre-Christian cemeteries, and evidently, the continuous use of the former burial site was considered important.