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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, skeptic, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
Category: Tech
On Tuesday 17 November 17:30 I'm giving a talk as part of Mathias Klang's information security course at the University of Gothenburg. The theme is "Årtusendenas glömska: arkivsäkring i det riktigt långa perspektivet", which may hint to the intelligent...
Posted by Martin R at 8:00 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
In addition to the archive reports on my two seasons of fieldwork at the Late Medieval and Early Modern harbour of Djurhamn, I have now published a paper that discusses and interprets the results.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 8 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
Sculpture fragment from the Cathedral of St. Lambert in Liège. Today's bus excursion took us up the river Maas/Meuse into Wallonia, Belgium's Francophone part, where our first stop was Liège. The city looks pretty crummy, I'm afraid, with a...
Posted by Martin R at 1:48 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Music
Some of the most intensely loved musical styles have names that mean "copulation music".
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 5 Comments •
Category: Skepticism
The Nazis were no strangers to occultism. But Friedrich Marby was too much even for Himmler: he invented runic aerobics.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 13 Comments •
Category: Biology
Sean B. Carroll's latest book, Remarkable Creatures, is a collection of mini-biographies of people who have made important discoveries in evolutionary biology.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 1 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
It's a copper mine that was worked from 1723 until shortly after 1945. This is one of the coldest parts of Norway, which means that the wooden structures don't decay much through microbial action -- they mainly just erode.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 3 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
We're seeing two periods of Scandy history being celebrated here. Tina & hubby represent the Viking Period in the 9th & 10th centuries. The other people, the ones erecting a may pole, are into the rural culture of the 19th century,
Posted by Martin R at 1:38 PM • 11 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
Time and time again, the town on the island and the heavily fortified castle at its northern end were in the hands of opposing political factions. Little wars were repeatedly fought between Stockholm town and castle!
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 0 Comments •
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 •
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 •
Category: Archaeology
The conflict that drives the first two thirds of the long poem is centred upon certain problems King Hrothgar of the Danes has with his mead-hall "The Hart".
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 8 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
Dendrochronology has a serious organisational problem that impedes its development as a scientific discipline and tends to compromise its results. This is the problem of proprietary data.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 8 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
It appears to be a forged gold coin, consisting of a soft grey metal (tin?) with a thin coating of a yellow metal.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 14 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
Fornvännen appears on-line for free with a six-month delay (due to concerns that the on-line version might otherwise undermine the print version).
Posted by Martin R at 9:03 AM • 1 Comments •
Category: Art
North European Baroque is such a weird and lovely style. The wreck of the Vasa is a prime example, and there's a lot of it on the facades of houses in the Old Town too.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: Children
In the long run, Darwinian selection acts upon cultures. But us in the world at large can't wait for that to make the current cultures of Liberia and Congo go extinct.
Posted by Martin R at 1:40 PM • 51 Comments •
Category: Books
Dancing with Strangers is an account of one of world history's most absurd situations.
Posted by Martin R at 5:24 PM • 5 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
I'm particularly interested in the pre-battle finds that are starting to accumulate.
Posted by Martin R at 11:37 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: History
We're dealing both with historical reality and with historical fiction written a long time ago.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 20 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
I used to do all my plans and maps in a hard-core CAD program using a digitising tablet, but then WinXP came along.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 14 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
The results were actually a bit of a let-down after the sword I found in '07.
Posted by Martin R at 3:06 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Language
Essentially, they're the same guy: a storm god called "the Lord".
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 23 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
They've stuck the Djurhamn sword point first into a vintage map of Djurö!
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
From 1942 to 1946 it was an RAF bomber airfield, and then it reverted to farmland.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: History
Polish bishop asks archaeologists to find the unmarked grave of Nicolaus Copernicus under the floor of Frombork Cathedral. Archaeologists find a damaged burial including a jawless skull, and note that it's a male of the right age and with signature...
Posted by Martin R at 10:25 AM • 10 Comments •
Category: History
Kids in Visby are defacing the town's jail from 1857 but respecting the Medieval town wall.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 5 Comments •
Category: History
Seeing constant mentions of ninjas and pirates on the web, I became curious about the historical reality of these matters.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 9 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
I wonder if these clay copies may have been made by the sculptor, as a kind of backup copies?
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 9 Comments •
Category: History
Apparently, the prices were a bit on the stiff side, and so tended to torment your coin purse.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 14 Comments •
Category: Art
My granddad told lots of stories of his years in India, the greatest adventure of his life.
Posted by Martin R at 2:53 PM • 8 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
"Inside the tinned food we found so much lead, that it hung like icicles inside the cans".
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 8 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
The copper mine of Falun was once a major part of Sweden's economic backbone.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 12 Comments •
Category: Gaming
Continuing our military theme from the other day, I regret to inform you, Dear Reader, that the Axis won World War II. After Pearl Harbour, the US couldn't decide whether to concentrate its efforts in the Pacific or the...
Posted by Martin R at 2:50 PM • 9 Comments •
Category: History
Things were grim in the Third Reich in the spring of 1945.
Posted by Martin R at 2:52 PM • 10 Comments •
Category: Language
Noreen Malone at Slate explains why Georgia and Georgia are both named Georgia. Basically it's:George means "ploughman" in ancient Greek Saint George dies in AD 303 Part of Central Asia (Georgia) becomes associated with the saint for unknown reasons Crusaders...
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 5 Comments •
Category: History
Extraterrestrials won't be interested in the political details of small parts of Earth's surface over time.
Posted by Martin R at 4:56 PM • 15 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
I wish one of those pits would strike a 16th century midden!
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 5 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
Working in the woods was weird because of the outlandish sounds from a colony of grey herons.
Posted by Martin R at 4:00 PM • 5 Comments •
Category: History
The names that dot the landscape once meant something about those places.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 9 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
"...might not the sense of smell guide people or animals in the search for [buried] money?"
Posted by Martin R at 1:57 PM • 6 Comments •
Category: Books
Greenblatt's method is to paint a rich and solid historical background to Shakespeare's life and professional activity.
Posted by Martin R at 6:19 AM • 1 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
A conference on monastic archaeology takes place at Vretakloster 4-5 September.
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 0 Comments •
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 •
Category: Archaeology
The chain of events is convoluted and quite fascinating.
Posted by Martin R at 4:02 PM • 16 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
"Manorial farms, private churches and the genesis of parishes in the Omberg-Tåkern area in the Early Middle Ages"
Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: Travel
I just popped out for a burger at Arbee's, and I chose a seat with a good view of the full moon riding high over a Shell gas station. On the wall of the station was a large luminescent...
Posted by Martin R at 6:53 PM • 9 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
The edges have several fresh parry nicks that would have made the sword hard to sheathe.
Posted by Martin R at 8:50 AM • 16 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
Proto-history offers a powerful lure to all students of the past.
Posted by Martin R at 8:50 AM • 16 Comments •
Category: Environment
This was one of those paper mills that used mercury in a big way.
Posted by Martin R at 8:50 AM • 7 Comments •
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