The Pulli Settlement is the oldest archeological site in Estonia, dating back as far as 9000 BC. It is located along the banks of the Pärnu River where the river met with the Baltic Sea at the time of settlement. It's now about 14 km away from the sea. The Pulli site was mentioned in our Mesolithic podcast and considering its one of the earliest sites we have from the Baltic states it deserves a little blurb.
Pulli was discovered in 1967 and excavated throughout the 60's and 70's. The site produced a whole bunch of artifacts including ones made of flint and others made of bone and antler. The Flint was not Estonian in origin, so the Pulli settlers had to import it through trade or they picked it up when they were in Lithuania on a hunting trip. Either way, it wasn't from the Estonian region. In the settlement was some of the oldest remains of domesticated dog in Estonia. The Pulli settlers also left behind some jewelry made out of animal teeth, showing us their fondness for animals. There was also the discovery of a single animal figurine, which was probably religious in nature. But, it is entirely possible that it was an early go at souvenir making. I can imagine the scene, a 11,000 year old Estonian says to the Mesolithic Latvian... I'm sure if you tried really hard you could turn that into a dirty joke.
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