The medieval Saastna chapel, dedicated to St. Olav, was located on the island (now a peninsula) at the mouth of Matsalu Bay, by the waterway leading from Gotland to Tallinn. It was a well-known place of pilgrimage and sacrifice, where people came from distant lands even in later centuries. In the summer of 2022 and 2023, research was carried out at the location of the chapel in order to determine the age of the building and clarify the construction history. Until now, only a crow overgrown with grass gave a sign of the place of the chapel. The excavations at the location of the medieval chapel were the first in Western Estonia.
Meat
Lihula fortress was 11.-12. century, the most important center of Western Estonia, which remained only a few kilometers from the water's edge. The port could have been even closer at the mouth of the then Penijõe. In 1211, it became the residence of the bishop of Estonia, and in the 1240s it became the administrative center of the Livonian Order. In the summer of 2023, georadar and magnetometer surveys were carried out at the fortress in cooperation with archaeophicists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in order to find traces of the buildings of the fort, the oldest church and the medieval settlement.
Taramäe Castle
The Purtse River, once full of water, divided Askele's ancient settlement in half and was also a bottleneck for water transport. Taramäe Castle is located at the former mouth of the river, which must have been a harbor for the Viking ships that traveled along the northern coast of Estonia. In 2022 and 2023, field work was carried out on Taramäe and its surroundings, as a result of which nearly 7 meter wide limestone walls were discovered and the earth stone walls that formed a separate complex were examined more closely. It has been a powerful insurance whose age is not yet known. No signs of life were found.
Tarakalda Castle
A few kilometers upstream from the mouth of the Purtse river is the Tarakalda fort, which could have been the center of Askele parish at the end of ancient times. A settlement, sacrificial sources and a cemetery have been found in the vicinity. The walls of the fortress have been studied before, so it is known that the country town was in use both in the pre-Viking period and in the 13th century. However, the research carried out in the summer of 2023 revealed the buildings located inside the fortress. The heating of ancient furnaces leaves traces that a magnetometer can detect. From the results, it could be concluded that the fort was permanently inhabited.
