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Martin Rundkvist's blog. Archaeology, skepticism, Sweden. And books and music and stuff.
Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, chairman of the Swedish Skeptics Society, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
July 31, 2009
Category: Archaeology
Burning is a common and often intentional end for archaeological replicas of buildings. We find a lot of burnt-down houses, so one way to learn more about how to interpret such sites is to build a replica and burn it to the ground.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 7 Comments •
Category: NOIBN
A woman in New Hampshire allegedly bludgeons her eight-months pregnant friend to death. Then she performs an amateur C-section on her victim, delivers the baby and assumes maternal responsibilities for it. After a week she and the baby girl, who...
Posted by Martin R at 4:53 AM • 0 Comments •
July 29, 2009
Category: Archaeology
The seventy-second Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at A Hot Cup of Joe. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. All bloggers with an interest in...
Posted by Martin R at 6:11 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
My recent talk in Trävattna parish hall, Västergötland, was covered by two regional papers. Rune Torstenson has kindly scanned the items for me. The headlines read "Power once originated in the mead-hall" and "Searching for ancient power-wielders". To read...
Posted by Martin R at 7:54 AM • 4 Comments •
July 28, 2009
Category: Homeownership
Dear Reader, if you are a wasp, do not attempt to nest in my house. You will only Release the Fucking Fury, said with a bad Swedish accent. I will plug your nest's entries and vacuum your workers as...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 17 Comments •
July 27, 2009
Category: Books
I'm fortunate in that I have always been able to take libraries for granted. I feel at home in them.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 7 Comments •
July 26, 2009
Category: Archaeology
The 72nd Four Stone Hearth blog carnival will run at A Hot Cup of Joe on Wednesday. Submit your best recent stuff to Carl before Tuesday evening. Anything anthro or archaeo goes!...
Posted by Martin R at 12:35 PM • 0 Comments •
July 25, 2009
Category: Food
Yesterday saw the season's first mushroom expedition. A bit early for real diversity, with only four edible species collected, but on the other hand we found quite a lot of chanterelles.Chanterelle, Kantarell, Cantharellus cibarius Birch bolete, Björksopp, Leccinum scabrum...
Posted by Martin R at 2:05 PM • 3 Comments •
July 24, 2009
Category: Music
One of the major influences that combined to form Western psychedelic rock was traditional Asian music. But musicians in Asia picked up the vibe pretty quickly and started to play their own versions of it. Lately I've been listening...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 9 Comments •
July 23, 2009
Category: Archaeology
They've been richly rewarded with the most essentially Neolithic kind of find possible: litre after litre after litre of carbonised grain.
Posted by Martin R at 9:10 AM • 6 Comments •
July 21, 2009
Category: Archaeology
Silted-up lakes whose anaerobic peat deposits are full of vandalised military equipment taken from unfortunate invading armies of the Iron Age...
Posted by Martin R at 3:23 PM • 3 Comments •
July 19, 2009
Category: Books
Ancient texts were preserved and copied largely because they were believed to contain valuable timeless knowledge about the world.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 6 Comments •
July 17, 2009
Category: Archaeology
I've been busy filling in gaps and writing the last piece of text for my Östergötland book. It's been my main project for almost four years.
Posted by Martin R at 11:40 AM • 3 Comments •
July 16, 2009
Category: Politics
In the West we shake our heads, and very rightly so in my opinion, at sharia, Islamic law rooted in the culture of 7th century AD Arabia. This is the body of thought that leads to judicial stonings and mutilations...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 42 Comments •
July 15, 2009
Category: Archaeology
The seventy-first Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Neuroanthropology. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome...
Posted by Martin R at 5:00 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: China
Courtesy of my niece-in-law in Hangzhou, here's a piece of plastic hong shao rou, 紅燒肉, red braised pork, intended as a cell phone decoration. Yum!...
Posted by Martin R at 4:21 PM • 4 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
Metal detectorists on Bornholm have rediscovered one of the earliest-documented find spots of guldgubbar, tiny embossed gold foils.
Posted by Martin R at 8:47 AM • 3 Comments •
July 14, 2009
Category: Archaeology
The 72nd Four Stone Hearth blog carnival will run at Neuroanthropology tomorrow, Wednesday. Submit your best recent stuff to Greg. Anything anthro or archaeo goes!...
Posted by Martin R at 3:14 PM • 0 Comments •
July 12, 2009
Category: Books
I'm now in that state of summer leisure mixed with the responsibility of providing entertainment for the kids that causes a man to forget what day it is of the week. And so a week's fun is no longer...
Posted by Friendly Scibling at 4:26 PM • 9 Comments •
July 9, 2009
Category: Blogging
Lurker:"In Internet culture, a lurker is a person who reads discussions on a message board, newsgroup, chatroom, file sharing or other interactive system, but rarely or never participates actively."From this follows that a de-lurk is an opportunity for shy regular...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 18 Comments •
July 8, 2009
Category: Archaeology
Employees in pilot uniforms would ride around in limousines and sell copies to the landowners.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 6 Comments •
July 6, 2009
Category: Tech
Saturday me and the kids went on an unusual package tour. First we took the 1903 steam ship Mariefred from Stockholm to Mariefred, and got to visit the engine room while the machine was working. Mariefred is a small...
Posted by Martin R at 2:51 PM • 14 Comments •
July 4, 2009
Category: Health
Thanks to Felicia for the tip-off....
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 4 Comments •
July 3, 2009
Category: Children
Today is my last day as a daycare customer, provided that my views on having a third child don't change radically one day. I've enjoyed the fine service of the Igelboda daycare centre for six or seven years straight, but...
Posted by Martin R at 7:11 AM • 3 Comments •
July 2, 2009
Category: Blogging
The seventieth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Afarensis. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. The next open hosting slot is on 12 August. All...
Posted by Martin R at 3:00 AM • 0 Comments •
July 1, 2009
Category: Politics
Andersson has fed his editor a scary interesting story that happens not to be true. His choice of words suggests that he has pretty extreme libertarian opinions that cause him to want the Swedish system to fail.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 14 Comments •
Category: Humour
I really like the spam letters I get with the subject line "Hello Dear". Sometimes the spammer is even named Hello Dear. Here's the latest example.Hello dear how are you today i hope that every things is OK with you...
Posted by Martin R at 5:30 AM • 2 Comments •
