Sanna Lipkin
PhD
University Research Fellow
History, Culture and Communication Studies
Faculty of Humanities
My research combines digital archaeology, material culture studies, and the archaeology of emotions to investigate childhood in Post-Medieval Finland. I have specialist expertise in attachment and childhood theories, and I work primarly with advanced digital methods, including 3D documentation of archaeological textiles, and the use of computed tomography in textile analysis. I examine early modern textiles as carriers of meaning, memory, and care.
A central focus of my work is childhood emotions and attachment. I investigate how bonds between children, caregivers, and objects were formed and expressed, and how material environments mediated feelings of protection, loss, and belonging. Funerary textiles played a crucial role in these affective relationships, particularly in contexts of vulnerability.
My research focuses particularly on the burial of children. By studying burial practices, grave goods, and textiles associated with children’s graves, I explore how communities understood childhood, death, and remembrance. Taken together, my research highlights the emotional and material dimensions of early modern childhood and demonstrates how archaeology can open new perspectives on past lives often considered silent or inaccessible.
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