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.
The local cub scouts had asked me to accompany them on a forest walk to give them some culture and history. And so I guided them in the evening sun to the singing of blackbirds along the wooded southern shore of the Baggensstäket narrows. History is thick there.
- Early and Late Modern sea-lane tavern.
- Napoleonic era small fort.
- 20th century cemetery.
- Early Modern customs station.
- Viking Period cemetery.
- 1719 battlefield.
- 1905 memorial celebrating the 1719 debatable victory.
- Early and Late Modern cemetery.
- And all the while across the water, Boo Manor with more Viking Period burials, a rune stone fragment and a shipwreck found recently in the shallows and largely destroyed by dredging.
There was a also a bit of personal history for me. One of the scouts, an unusually pretty and accomplished young person, turned out to live in the house where I grew up, and in my old room!
Humanities & Social Science
Comments
Bing maps has some nice aerial pictures, much better than Google's - once you have actually found the location, which does not seem to appear under that name on any online map.
Still not sure where the monument is - any chance of the coordinates, Martin?
Posted by: codero | May 6, 2010 5:59 AM
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=twhr3vjhqwgp&scene=53318243&lvl=2&sty=b
Posted by: Martin R | May 6, 2010 4:39 PM
In the USA the Cub Scouts deny membership on the basis of religion and sexual orientation. Do the Swedish Cub Scouts do the same?
Posted by: harrync | May 6, 2010 5:02 PM
It would be front-page news and a source of public outrage if they did.
Posted by: Martin R | May 7, 2010 2:46 AM
I'm imagining the uproar if the scouts started discriminating along those lines in Norway or Sweden...
Made me giggle madly.
The only ones I can imagine supporting something like that would be right wing Islamic clerics, and the odd nutty preacher who already has been dismissed as a moron for opposing same sex relations and abortions.
Posted by: rsm | May 9, 2010 7:25 AM
Re "cub scouts" (and the fact that Martin found one of them "unusually pretty"): as this is an international forum, I think it is worth pointing out that since the 1960's, the scouting in Sweden is not gender-separated; boys and girls are in the same troops.
Out of curiosity, Martin: was this Saltsjöbadens Sjöscoutkår?
Posted by: Thinker | May 10, 2010 8:14 AM
Indeed, it's co-ed scouting. And yes, Saltsjöbadens Sjöscoutkår! They were looking forward to the season's first sailing expedition with the dinghies.
Posted by: Martin R | May 10, 2010 8:23 AM