Aloha Mike! We love your journals! They are so interesting :) I used to live in northern Wisconsin, along the shores of Lake Superior. There is a town there that is called Oulu. Everytime I read your posts, I am reminded of it and the long, long winters. The average greening day (the day the leaves pop from the deciduous trees) is May 25th. Now that's a long winter! The landscape looks a lot like the pictures you post too. My question stems from your last post on Finland rising, as opposed to sinking. Are there earthquakes from the rebounding land? Also, following through with the living on glacier question...Did the ancients live on the glaciers? Was there loess deep enough so that they weren't even aware? Thanks you so much for all your hard work in your journals. We have learned so much about Finland! warmly, Maggie

Michael Wing

Dear Maggie:
It astounds me to think of how many time zones separate us!  As I type this it is 8:30 in the evening and I am trying to do the math to figure out what time it is for you, but the result seems improbabe.
There are no earthquakes in Finland as far as I know.
It sounds like Oulu, Wisconsin is even colder than Oulu, Finland, because we have had leaves on the birch trees for at least a week.  But, with global warming it may be these dates are no longer valid.  Anyway, homesick Finns must have founded it.
I asked all the experts here about prehistoric people living on top of glaciers.  One (Greg Korosec)says he has heard this too, but didnot know any details.  Mostly, it sparked a lively debate on how one could ever know that.  After all, any artifacts on the top of the glacier would drop down onto the land's surface when the glacier melted. right?  I suppose you would find it buried in the till, but does that prove people were living above the ice?
Evidence in archaeology can be tricky.