Recently at WLBOTT HQ, the pipes, the pipes were calling. We tasked the research department with exploring the history of the bagpipe, and, being unpaid and of short attention spans, they entered into a somewhat convoluted rabbit hole that led us to isostatic uplifts, ancient meteors, a Mesopotamian Sun God, a dubstep music label, and the proud and spiritual people of Estonia.
Isostatic Uplifts
Estonia is undergoing a post-glacial rebound – their country is slowly rising up from the sea following the crushing weight of the glaciers from the last ice age.
Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound and isostatic depression are phases of glacial isostasy (glacial isostatic adjustment, glacioisostasy), the deformation of the Earth’s crust in response to changes in ice mass distribution. The direct raising effects of post-glacial rebound are readily apparent in parts of Northern Eurasia, Northern America, Patagonia, and Antarctica.
A model of present-day mass change due to post-glacial rebound and the reloading of the ocean basins with seawater. Blue and purple areas indicate rising due to the removal of the ice sheets. Yellow and red areas indicate falling as mantle material moved away from these areas in order to supply By Erik Ivins, JPL. – ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/allData/tellus/L3/pgr/browse/PGR_Paulson2007_Rate_of_Lithospheric_Uplift_due_to_PGR.png, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17240066
During the last glacial period, much of northern Europe, Asia, North America, Greenland and Antarctica were covered by ice sheets, which reached up to three kilometres thick during the Last Glacial Maximum about 20,000 years ago. The enormous weight of this ice caused the surface of the Earth’s crust to deform and warp downward, forcing the viscoelastic mantle material to flow away from the loaded region. At the end of each glacial period when the glaciers retreated, the removal of this weight led to slow (and still ongoing) uplift or rebound of the land and the return flow of mantle material back under the deglaciated area. Due to the extreme viscosity of the mantle, it will take many thousands of years for the land to reach an equilibrium level.
The glaciers retreated from Estonia between 11,000–10,000 BCE, and the land slowly recovers, first mosses, then shrubs, and then forests. The first people probably migrated from the south – northern Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, possibly following migrating animals like elk and reindeer.
The region has been populated since the end of the last glacial era, about 10,000 BC. The earliest traces of human settlement in Estonia are connected with Kunda culture. The oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was located on the banks of the river Pärnu, near the town of Sindi, in southwestern Estonia. It has been dated to the beginning of the 9th millennium BC.
Tools made by Kunda culture, the Estonian History Museum By Terker – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2912975
Stone Cist Graves from The Bronze Age in Northern Estonia By Terker – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2913043
This layered beach at Bathurst Inlet, Nunavut is an example of post-glacial rebound after the last Ice Age. Little to no tide helped to form its layer-cake look. Isostatic rebound is still underway here. By Mike Beauregard from Nunavut, Canada – rebounding beach, among other things. Uploaded by PDTillman, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28065771
Initially, it was the women who explored Estonia, bringing with them twine and their emotional support emus.
Elder G chastised us a bit for our zoological inaccuracies. But really, why wouldn’t there be an emu?
Not to be pedantic, but just because no emu bones were found in the Estonian archaeological sites doesn’t prove that there weren’t any emus. There are many valid reasons for the lack of hard evidence. Our current most plausible argument is the following: The Emus Practiced Excellent End-of-Life Planning. No bones left behind. Possibly biodegradable out of sheer professionalism
And where are these worthless men? They are back at home base, proud of their discovery that will keep their beer cool.
When the women returned, the men received a much-needed performance review.
Estonian History Museum
There must be a better place to get info on early Estonia than WLBOTT. Absolutely right. There’s a cool museum dedicated to the history of Estonia in the capital city of Tallinn.
Estonian History Museum is a museum about the history of Estonia in Tallinn. It was initially established by the pharmacist Johann Burchart, who ran the town hall pharmacy known as the Raeapteek.
Inaugurated in 1987, it picks up where its counterpart leaves off in the mid-nineteenth century to cover the political and social upheavals of the twentieth century. Its exhibits include historically dressed mannequins and recreations of domestic interiors. The 1940s and 1950s are represented by army uniforms and weapons. There is an original hut used by the Forest Brothers, the legendary partisans who fought against the Soviet occupation, and a replica of a desk used by a communist party secretary.
The museum has four locations: Maarjamäe Palace, the Great Guild hall, the Film Museum, and the Theatre and Music Museum.
History In 1802, Tallinn pharmacist Johann Burchard started a collection called Mon Faible (My Weakness). Its first item was an opium pipe from China. In 1822, Buchard hosted an exhibition in the House of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads.
I recall hearing a story about two rival towns in Sweden. One town is experiencing an isostatic uplift, and each year, a group from the rival town drives over and jumps up and down in the other city’s town square, hoping to push the city back into the ocean.
I used the power of the internet to try and discover the source of this rivalry.
Interestingly, Elder G and Google/Gemini discounted the story.
Google/Gemini While the scenario of thousands of people jumping in unison to lower land in Luleå sounds like a creative, community-driven event, there is no evidence of such an organized campaign to fight post-glacial rebound (land uplift) in this manner.
Elder G That story sounds so perfectly Scandinavian that it ought to be carved into a rune stone next to a polite warning about slippery rocks—but alas, it lives more in the realm of folklore-flavored humor than documented tradition.
However, the Gemini stand-alone was a little more tolerant with our story:
Gemini That is a wonderfully specific piece of regional folklore! You’re thinking of the long-standing, tongue-in-cheek rivalry between the Swedish cities of Luleå and Umeå (and occasionally Sundsvall).
While the radishes you harvested yesterday are growing out of the ground, the entire city of Luleå is growing up from the sea.
The “Great Stamping” of Luleå
The legend goes that residents of Umeå (Luleå’s southern rival) are so concerned about Luleå’s rapid ascent that they have considered organizing “stamping parties.”
The Mission: To have thousands of people from Umeå travel north, gather in Luleå’s city center, and jump in unison to try and stomp the land back down to sea level.
The Motivation: It’s pure regional pettiness. If Luleå keeps rising, they get more land, better harbors (until they dry up), and—most importantly—the “high ground” over their neighbors.
