Raine Borg is the Keymaster
Category: Archaeology
The key we found most likely for a lock mounted permanently inside the lid of a chest or a door.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 3 Comments •
Aardvarchaeology
Martin Rundkvist's blog. Archaeology, skepticism, Sweden. And books and music and stuff.
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Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, skeptic, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
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Recent Posts
- Homeopathic Emergency Room
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- Libertarian Columnist Smears Sweden in the Guardian
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- Tech Note: Our Crappy Computers
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- North European Natural Caffeine Source?
- Current Archaeology 232
- Four Stone Hearth: Call for Submissions
Recent Comments
- Robert on Royal Medals Copied
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- OriGuy on Libertarian Columnist Smears Sweden in the Guardian
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- Chris S. on Silence is the Enemy: But What is Wrong With Those Men!?
- Jorg on Homeopathic Emergency Room
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- Kaleberg on Libertarian Columnist Smears Sweden in the Guardian
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Blogroll
Good Blog Carnivals
April 30, 2008
Hilarious Tea Rap
Category: Humour
From UK rapper Elemental, an extremely witty song about tea with a funny video! Via Paddy K and Brass Goggles....
Posted by Martin R at 3:54 AM • 3 Comments •
April 29, 2008
Skyping
Category: Tech
I'm messing around with Skype and I find it's working very well indeed. (Skype is in fact the only part of my linux installation that can interact with my Logitech USB headset.) So, Dear Reader, feel free to give a...
Posted by Martin R at 3:52 PM • 0 Comments •
All My Readers are Descendants of Royalty
Category: History
There are almost 1100 billion slots on your family tree in AD 1000.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 13 Comments •
April 28, 2008
The Strange Fate of the First Christian Burials on Gotland
Category: Archaeology
The chain of events is convoluted and quite fascinating.
Posted by Martin R at 4:02 PM • 16 Comments •
April 25, 2008
Tech Note: Ubuntu Linux 8.04 Hardy Heron Running Fine
Category: Tech
I just installed Hardy, the brand new version of Ubuntu Linux, on the household's two Dell PCs. They're a Dimension 4550 mini-tower and an Inspiron 6000 laptop, and I'm happy to say that everything's running fine so far. (Almost.) The...
Posted by Martin R at 3:34 PM • 22 Comments •
Let's Shoot Bits of Peter Higgs into the LHC!
Category: NOIBN
All the big old guys and gals in high energy physics should contribute tissue from which hydrogen and lead could be extracted.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 11 Comments •
April 24, 2008
Anthro Blog Carnival
Category: Archaeology
The thirty-ninth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Hominin Dental Anthropology. Archaeology and anthropology in honour of Maximiliano Gómez. He was the leader of the Maoist Movimiento Popular Dominicano (MPD), a militant organization opposed to the JoaquÃn Balaguer...
Posted by Martin R at 2:59 AM • 0 Comments •
April 23, 2008
Clas Tollin on 12th Century Land Ownership
Category: Archaeology
"Manorial farms, private churches and the genesis of parishes in the Omberg-TÃ¥kern area in the Early Middle Ages"
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 4 Comments •
April 22, 2008
Film Review: Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills
Category: Film
There was a time, around the age of twenty, when I saw some pretty weird movies. First I lived a short bike ride from the Swedish Film Institute, where I caught Kenneth Anger and Luis Buñuel (neither of whom I...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 6 Comments •
April 21, 2008
Easing Swedish Metal Detector Restrictions
Category: Archaeology
In England, rules are too lax. In Sweden, they're too strict. In Denmark, they're pretty much just right.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 14 Comments •
April 18, 2008
Investigating the Field of Saint Olaf
Category: Archaeology
The step from a hammer-wielding pagan god to an axe-holding Viking saint may not have been very great.
Posted by Martin R at 4:07 PM • 3 Comments •
April 17, 2008
And It Went Wherever I Did Go
Category: Film
I'm spending tomorrow in a cultic field with Per Vikstrand and a metal detector. So I reckon it were best if we all had a look at the druggiest bit in all of Monty Python first....
Posted by Martin R at 4:42 PM • 7 Comments •
April 16, 2008
Another Funny Brooch
Category: Archaeology
It doesn't look much like anything Scandinavian from the period 400-1100.
Posted by Martin R at 9:21 AM • 6 Comments •
April 15, 2008
Tech Note: Help Me Choose a Smartphone
Category: Tech
The audio connector on my Qtek 9100 smartphone (handheld computer cum cellphone) has crapped out for the second time in two years. The warranty's lapsed, and repairing the thing would cost a third of what an equivalent machine of a...
Posted by Martin R at 3:29 PM • 14 Comments •
April 14, 2008
Rupert Sheldrake Stabbed by Madman
Category: Skepticism
The attacker struck during a break in the 10th International Conference on Science and Consciousness.
Posted by Martin R at 9:58 AM • 1 Comments •
April 13, 2008
Tobias Bondesson Makes and Shoots Finds
Category: Archaeology
Tobias Bondesson has kindly sent me photographs of several interesting finds, taken during our recent fieldwork with the heavy dudes of the Gothenburg Historical Society. With his permission, I've inserted them into the relevant blog entries:Fieldwork in Hov and VretaklosterFieldwork...
Posted by Martin R at 4:34 PM • 4 Comments •
Carnivalia
Category: Blogging
The thirty-eighth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at A Very Remote Period Indeed. Archaeology and anthropology, and all seen in relation to the the Rice Track/Soccer Stadium in Houston, Texas. The next open hosting slot is on...
Posted by Martin R at 4:32 AM • 2 Comments •
April 12, 2008
Kurtz Offer New Songs On RSS
Category: Music
Those questionable characters in productive Swedish goth band Kurtz have set up an RSS feed direct from their rehearsal room to your desktop. Coming up next: a song about a dorm mate of singer Pocke who was once in 1976...
Posted by Martin R at 4:11 PM • 0 Comments •
Podcast Passions
Category: NOIBN
A week ago I complained that I couldn't find any good podcasts, and you guys responded with a wealth of recommendations. More to my surprise, a number of irate fans of the popular Nobody Likes Onions podcast showed up. They...
Posted by Friendly Scibling at 11:41 AM • 35 Comments •
April 11, 2008
Fieldwork in Kimstad and Kaga
Category: Archaeology
Frag of a brooch decorated with embossed silver foil. 5th century. Photograph Tobias Bondesson. Our site in Kimstad parish looked even better than I'd thought. This was one of many cases where I've come swooping in to sites that...
Posted by Friendly Scibling at 6:05 PM • 2 Comments •
April 10, 2008
Fieldwork in Tingstad and Östra Husby
Category: Archaeology
Frag of a lion-shaped badge with a rivet used to fix it to some surface. Photograph Tobias Bondesson. Another day of fruitful fieldwork, with friendly landowners and pretty good weather. We started out with 20 man-hours in the fields...
Posted by Friendly Scibling at 6:40 PM • 7 Comments •
April 9, 2008
Fieldwork in Hov and Vretakloster
Category: Archaeology
Polyhedrical weight. 9/10th century. Photograph Tobias Bondesson. (Martin here, posting from the hostel of Norsholm on the Göta canal, using my handheld and the cell phone network. To get the post on-line, my dear scibling Janet has kindly agreed...
Posted by Friendly Scibling at 8:17 PM • 8 Comments •
April 8, 2008
Ctenophores Oldest Animal Phylum, Not Sponges
Category: Biology
New research from the University of Gothenburg shows the oldest phylum among the animals to be the ctenophores.
Posted by Martin R at 3:02 PM • 6 Comments •
Live Spruce Roots 8000 Years Old
Category: Biology
To learn what the spruce genome was like 8,000 years ago, we needn't look for deadwood in bogs.
Posted by Martin R at 2:37 PM • 18 Comments •
April 7, 2008
Concert Review: Hayseed Dixie in Stockholm, Sweden
Category: Music
Last night's Hayseed Dixie gig rocked. This is the bluegrass band playing metal songs that I blogged about recently. Me and Paddy K went there after checking out some stand-up comedy with the ladies. We had been given the...
Posted by Martin R at 12:58 PM • 2 Comments •
April 6, 2008
Austrian Anthroposophy Waldorf School Hit by Measles Outbreak
Category: Skepticism
Poor kids. They should have corrected their failings and gained soul forces and this would never have happened.
Posted by Martin R at 5:48 AM • 10 Comments •
April 5, 2008
Let's Find Some Good Podcasts
Category: NOIBN
[More blog entries about podcasting; podcasting, webbradio.] I've been laid low all day with a cold. To entertain myself while unable to read, I've listened to podcasts, and when I ran out of shows I subscribe to I started checking...
Posted by Martin R at 12:42 PM • 36 Comments •
Mid-Career Academic
Category: Archaeology
Reading some US job ads I came across the terms "early career", "mid career" and "late career" applied to academics. As some of you may remember, I decided about this time last year that I had become officially middle-aged (defined...
Posted by Martin R at 8:57 AM • 2 Comments •
April 4, 2008
Humble Iron Age Grave Yields Big Honking Hoard
Category: Archaeology
Viking Period Scandinavians had a funny custom where they would bury silver hoards and not dig them out again.
Posted by Martin R at 1:48 PM • 10 Comments •
April 3, 2008
Things Going My Way
Category: Archaeology
I'm trainblogging again, somewhere between Norrköping and Nyköping, and the sun is shining. I am pretty pleased with things, not least with how my project about elite sites in Östergötland is working out. Yesterday I received the Kaga parish landowner's...
Posted by Martin R at 9:07 AM • 17 Comments •
April 1, 2008
The Erosion of Print-Media Authority
Category: Blogging
Over the past few days I've had an exchange with a paper-mag editor that highlighted the extent to which blogging has eroded my respect for printed media. I was asked by a print mag to write 400 words about archaeology,...
Posted by Martin R at 12:43 PM • 14 Comments •
