The forty-third Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Paddy K’s Swedish Extravaganza. Archaeology and anthropology, and all regulated by the rota system!

The Rota System, from the Old Church Slavic word for “ladder” or “staircase”, was a system of collateral succession practiced (though imperfectly) in Kievan Rus’ and later Appanage and early Muscovite Russia, in which the throne passed not linearly from father to son, but laterally from brother to brother (usually to the fourth brother) and then to the eldest son of the eldest brother who had held the throne. The system was begun by Yaroslav the Wise.

The next open hosting slot is on 16 July. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me. No need to be an anthro pro. But you must be either the fourth brother or the eldest son of the eldest brother who has held the throne, or the wife of such a man. Like I am.