My paper on the re-use of Late Iron Age picture stones during that same period (mainly in late male graves) has been published in English and Swedish parallel versions of Gotländskt Arkiv 2012. That's the annual of the Gotland County Museum. Have a look! Questions and comments are most welcome.
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Dear Reader Fiona asked me to write more about archaeology, which reminded me that I haven't said much about what I've been doing in my study these past months. I find that the last time was actually in late August when I dug in the cave with Margareta and Magdalena.
So, what have I been up to…
[More blog entries about archaeology, Sweden, Gotland, religion, feminism, ; arkeologi, Gotland, religion, feminism.]
Some time ago I received a gift from my aunt, bought at the County Museum of Gotland, a limestone island in the Baltic with an extremely rich archaeological record. The gift was a…
Bronze candlesticks, early 15th century, made in Germany or Flanders. Top: Rute parish, Gotland. Height c. 18 cm. Photograph by R. Hejdström. Below right: Fragment from Tåby parish, Östergötland. Photograph by M.R.
Back in November I checked out the enigmatic Tåby figurine and blogged about it.…
Yesterday I went to Jutish Viborg by train, plane and bus. This took a bit less than eight hours. Exiting Aalborg airport into the icy sleet I managed to walk straight into the glass wind breaker outside the turnstile, banging my forehead and knee. Everybody around studiously avoided noticing my…
Thank you Martin, superb example of how a dry statistical survey can actually say some pretty interesting things about otherwise-nebulous subjects like the religious attitudes of past cultures.
You speak of the "6th century fervour against the Migration Period elite's monuments" as though this is a well-known thing -- what a fascinating subject. Where does this come from, and where can I read more about it?
It ain't science if there ain't no stats.
Regarding the vandalism that the Migration Period's elite graves and inscribed steles met with after the period's end, there isn't a huge amount to read since the source material is empty graves and small pieces of broken stones. But check out these papers with refs:
http://fornvannen.se/pdf/2000talet/2006_254.pdf
http://fornvannen.se/pdf/2000talet/2008_013.pdf
I read about new biosensors using carbon nanotubes (in Science late January). Maybe -if the budgets permit such purchases- you might one day map the molecular traces that were leeched out from the grave contents and seeped into the ground, and extract useful information.
(Off-topic) Have you seen Greg Laden's blog lately? Some scary photos of the track left behind by a big-ass tornado. You can actually see the damage from space: http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/02/21/amazing-scar-left-by-torna… A millennium ago, this would have been a sign that the gods want more sacrifices. Unusual weather events = more human bones at cult places?
I'd like sensors like those! Chemicals diffuse quickly into the medium, but maybe you would be able to say stuff like "this is where a piece of pork decayed and here is where a bunch of human scalps lay".
Sadly I believe people will slaughter each other ritually regardless of the weather.
(OT) Paleolithic marketing: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2896
SMBC rocks! And possibly bronzes and irons, too.