For the early Metal Ages, the area of Kainuu district (eastern Finland) has long been considered a largely deserted area, assumed to only have been used as an occasional thoroughfare between East and West, based on the presence of some individual metal artefacts. This assumption is now being questioned, since the amount of metal artefacts has increased quite a lot. A full picture is still far from emerging, but according to the material available we are clearly dealing with something else than just occasional ‘visitors'. What has been going on? We still do not have an answer to that question, but we can begin to create a model. There is an exceptionally large amount of metal casting moulds from Kainuu district, indicating that something else happened between East and West in the early Metal Ages than only short-term contacts. Are these people newcomers or locals? That we can not know. Still, the position of Finland between East and West (in terms of today's borders) has been a challenge that is visible not only in metalwork production, but also in all other aspects of life. How do we describe life and all aspects of it?