Aarne Michaël Tallgren (8 February 1885 – 13 April 1945) was a Finnish archaeologist. Tallgren was born in

Ruovesi Ruovesi is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Pirkanmaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Juupajoki, Mänttä-Vilpp ...

. He earned his PhD in 1914 and served as professor of archaeology at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

. In 1923, he became the first professor of Finnish and Nordic archaeology at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

. He held the chair until his death in 1945. Tallgren's research focused mainly on the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

and the

Early Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

in Eastern Europe. He founded the journal ''Eurasia septentrionalis antiqua'' which was published in 12 volumes from 1926 to 1938 and became the leading international publication in this field. His work in Estonia resulted in ''Zur Archäologie Eestis'' (two volumes, 1922 and 1925) which was the first modern scientific publication on the country's prehistory. He undertook many trips to the Soviet Union until 1936, when he cut off all contact with the country for ideological reasons and was subsequently declared persona non grata. He was a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities also called simply the Royal Academy of Letters or Vitterhetsakademin abbreviated KVHAA ( sv, Kungl. Vitterhetsakademien Historie och Antikvitets Akademien or or ) is the Swedish royal ...

and an honorary member of the Swedish Antiquarian Society, and served as chairman of the Finnish Antiquarian Society for many years. In 1940, the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

awarded him the Gold Medal for distinguished services to archaeology. In the same year, he was elected corresponding fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

. His brother was the linguist Oiva Tuulio and his sister was the writer .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tallgren, Aarne Michael 1885 births Academic staff of the University of Helsinki Finnish archaeologists 1945 deaths Academic staff of the University of Tartu Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities People from Ruovesi Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Finnish expatriates in Estonia 20th-century archaeologists