Sammallahdenmäki Unesco World Heritage Site

The Bronze Age cairn cemetery of Sammallahdenmäki in the village of Lappi in western Finland was the first Finnish archaeological site to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in December 1999. Sammallahdenmäki was chosen to the list as the finest Western Bronze Age site in Finland and Scandinavia.

The archaeological site at Sammallahdenmäki has low, round and small piles; large, conical piles, and round, circular piles that have accumulated during different periods of the Bronze Age (1500 – 500 BC). The best-known prehistoric relics are the almost square cairn of Kirkonlaattia (“the church floor”) and the long remains of Huilu (“the flute”). The Kirkonlaattia cairn is the only one of its kind in Finland, and a real rarity throughout Scandinavia. Sammallahdenmäki is located about 20 km from Rauma. Within a distance of one kilometre are 36 burial cairns of different shapes and sizes.