Kierikki Stone Age Centre

Updated June 11, 2025

Kierikki Stone Age Centre, Oulu Finland • Museum » outdooractive.com

## Kierikki Stone Age Centre (Kierikkikeskus): what it is, what you’ll actually do, and how to plan a solid visit

Kierikki Stone Age Centre (often called Kierikkikeskus) is a Stone Age–focused science centre built on archaeological research. It consists of two main parts: the Centre for Ancient Times (the indoor exhibitions) and the Stone Age Village (the outdoor, reconstructed area). Finland

The centre sits in the Yli-Ii area of the City of Oulu (Yli-Ii was merged into Oulu in 2013), on the north bank of the River Iijoki, in the middle of a large Stone Age residential area.

If you’re choosing between “another indoor museum day” and a place where the archaeology is tied to the landscape around you, Kierikki is the latter: it’s built around a complex of Neolithic sites dated to around 4000 BC, with a reconstructed village beside the main building.

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## Quick facts you can rely on

– Name: Kierikki Stone Age Centre (Kierikkikeskus)
– Address: Pahkalantie 447 / 447A, 91200 (Oulu) Yli-Ii, Finland
– Coordinates: ~65.3608, 25.9482
– Setting: River Iijoki, north bank; Stone Age residential area
– Structure: Centre for Ancient Times + Stone Age Village Finland
– Main building: Completed in 2001; described as one of the largest modern log buildings in the Nordic countries

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## What makes Kierikki different from a standard prehistory museum

### It’s built around the archaeology, not just displaying it
European heritage documentation describes Kierikki as being built around a large complex of Neolithic sites (4000 BC), with “hundreds of dwellings” recognized in the area—so the museum isn’t separated from the underlying story of settlement.

### You have both “interpretation” and “reconstruction” in one visit
The official site frames the experience as a combination of:
– learning about the Stone Age and how it’s researched, and
– visiting a Stone Age Village alongside the centre.

This is useful if you care about how claims about prehistory are made (methods, digs, evidence), not only what a label says in a glass case.

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## What you can do on-site (grounded in published descriptions)

Several sources aligned with Visit Oulu describe hands-on activities and the physical layout:
– A boardwalk leading toward the Stone Age village, with views of the Iijoki River
– Opportunities to try Stone Age–style tasks such as archery and making stone objects (listed as example activities in partner descriptions and official site article topics)
– Programming that can include workshops/events during the summer season (EXARC notes recurring workshops and highlights an early-August festival)

Because specific daily programming changes, treat the above as “types of activities the venue promotes,” not a guarantee for any given date.

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## When to go: seasonality and opening times

Kierikki is described by multiple sources as:
– Open to the public during the summer, and
– accepting group reservations outside peak season.

### Published opening-time windows (verify before you drive)
The official opening-times page lists these seasonal ranges (as posted on their site at the time it was crawled):
– 3.6–19.6: Tue–Sat 10–17 (Sun–Mon closed)
– 23.6–3.8: Mon–Sun 10–17
– 4.8–31.8: Mon–Fri 9–16, Sat 10–16 (Sun closed)
– 1.9–26.9: Mon–Fri 9–16 (Sat–Sun closed)

The homepage also states “Kierikki will reopen in the summer of 2026,” alongside a dated one-day opening entry—clear evidence the schedule can change year to year.
Action: Treat the opening-times page as your source of truth and re-check close to your visit.

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## Tickets and costs (what’s published, not guessed)

Two separate official-style listings publish price anchors:
– Visit Finland lists Kierikki “From 8 €.” Finland
– The centre’s own “Spark of the Stone Age” page shows Adults 12/9 € and “Children under 6 years old free of charge.”

Pricing can change; these are best used for budgeting ranges, then confirmed on the current ticket page.

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## Getting there: why this is usually a car day

A partner listing notes two planning realities:
– Public transport is hard for this site.
– It’s about 55 km from Oulu, with driving directions that route via local roads toward Yli-Ii and then onto Pahkalantie.

If you’re building a day plan, the distance is short enough for a straightforward out-and-back from Oulu, but it’s remote enough that you want your timing (and opening hours) locked in before you leave.

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## Place-name accuracy note (to prevent map confusion)

You’ll see this written both ways:
– “Oulu (Yli-Ii)” on the official Kierikki site, and
– “Yli-Ii” in museum listings and heritage write-ups.

That’s consistent with Yli-Ii being a former municipality now within the City of Oulu.
When you plug it into navigation, using Pahkalantie 447 / 447A, 91200 is the cleanest approach.

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## Internal links note
You asked for two contextual internal links; I can’t include RealJourneyTravels.com internal URLs without guessing your site’s exact permalink structure (which wouldn’t be factual). If you share two target slugs (or your Finland/Oulu category paths), I can place them naturally in-text.

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