Martin Rundkvist
Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, chairman of the Swedish Skeptics Society, atheist, lefty liberal, board gamer, bookworm, and father of two.
aardvarchaeology
Posts by this author
October 26, 2008
I've reached an age where some of my generation's brightest pop musicians are doing nostalgia tours. The Olivia Tremor Control reunited! But guys, couldn't you please write us some new songs as well?
October 25, 2008
Carina Andersson and Rickard Franzén at the Swedish National Heritage Board have put together a report in Swedish titled "What Does Contract Archaeology Really Cost?". Their answer to the question is, briefly, "less overall than the County Archaeologists would actually allow". County…
October 24, 2008
The Swedish Research Council has just announced its 2008 project grants for research in the humanities and social sciences. 106 out of 993 submitted projects (10%) have received funding. Only two archaeologists got money: Thomas B. Larsson (b. 1953) who works with the Scandinavian Bronze Age, and…
October 24, 2008
Yesterday I gave a talk at a seminar organised by my friends in the Djurhamn project. This was interesting from a scholarly, a professional and a social point of view.
Not least piquant was that I ended up chatting briefly with two ladies whom I have criticised sharply in various media over the…
October 23, 2008
I've been using Garmin's handheld GPS navigators since the spring of 2005; two models running the same firmware. They have been invaluable in archaeological fieldwork, pinpointing finds and test pits swiftly and accurately in situations where you would once have counted steps to the nearest…
October 22, 2008
Monday night me and Moomin went to an of Montreal gig at Medborgarplatsen in Stockholm. Amazing stuff. Seven musicians on stage, everybody swapping instruments all the time, three mimes prancing around in weird masks, psychedelic animated films on the backdrop, and a solid 90 minutes of intricate…
October 21, 2008
Every once in a blue cheese, a son of Ming the Merciless invites me to speak at an advertising school in Stockholm, Berghs School of Communication. (Yes, they have adopted an English name to sound cooler. No, they didn't put the genitive apostrophe in. I find that really painful.) I talk about…
October 21, 2008
Erik Nylén in 1987, holding a ship's vane inspired by 11th century ones, standing in front of Krampmacken, a replica of a 12th century sailing boat. "Krampmacken" means "the brine shrimp". Photograph by Rune Edberg. Thanks Rune!
One of my archaeological heroes turned 90 last Saturday.
Professor…
October 21, 2008
After over a year's near-invisibility on the net, cyberculture guru R.U. Sirius resurfaces as editor of H+ Magazine, a web zine about transhumanism. Explains Wikipedia, transhumanism is a "movement supporting the use of science and technology to enhance human mental and physical abilities and…
October 20, 2008
Fornvännen ("the Friend of Ancient Things") is one of the main journals of Scandy archaeology and Medieval art. It's been issued 4-6 times a year since 1906, for the past several decades on a quarterly schedule, and I've been a co-editor since 1999. The first 100 volumes have been scanned and are…
October 17, 2008
I worry about of Montreal's musical motor, pop genius Kevin Barnes. He first got records out in 1997-98, when he was an elegantly naivistic singer of sad love songs. Then he shot like a lysergic rocket straight into Pepperland with four beatlesque albums in 1999-2004. On his 2005 album he suddenly…
October 16, 2008
A few hours ago, activists broke into two Swedish arms factories and vandalised weapons destined for US and Indian military forces. Among other things, they rendered twenty m/48 Carl Gustaf bazookas inoperable.
This really takes me back. An older cousin of mine used to be an activist in the…
October 15, 2008
Recently I organised a few days' excavation that didn't turn up the kind of stuff I was hoping for. Still, I brought some materials home that may serve to shed some light on what exactly it was we dug into. All those nondescript little pits, all those sooty hearths full of cracked stone -- when…
October 14, 2008
Dear Reader, it's been nearly a year since I asked you to press any buttons. If you like Aard, and haven't already done so, would you please do me the favour of pressing a few buttons in the left-hand column, right below my profile? Good grades make blogger happy! Thanks.
And while I'm at it: if…
October 13, 2008
Here's some Bedouin furniture and family history for y'all.
To the left, a folding brass smoking table bought by my granddad Ingemar in Punjab, India, shortly before the Great Depression. Ingemar worked as a safety match salesman for Swedish industrialist Ivar Krüger, whom the Depression would…
October 11, 2008
A timely must-read: Kevin Nguyen explains the financial crisis to his kid sister using Pokémon cards as an analogy.
Kevin: Imagine that I let you borrow $50, but in exchange for my generosity, you promise to pay me back the $50 with an extra $10 in interest. To make sure you pay me back, I take…
October 10, 2008
From age 16 to 26 I was an active member of the Stockholm Tolkien Society (est. 1972). This charming association is organised around a schedule of annual feasts and a roster of themed activity guilds. There's the Medieval Dance Guild, the Gaming Guild, the gluttonous Hobbit Guild, the erudite…
October 8, 2008
The fifty-first Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Clashing Culture. Archaeology and anthropology, and all from the perspective of mashpi'im!
Mashpia (Hebrew: ×שפ××¢â) lit. "person of influence," pl. Mashpi'im (Hebrew: ×שפ××¢××â) is the title of a rabbi or rebbetzin who serves as a…
October 7, 2008
A rare piece of irate e-mail.
Hi Mr. Rundkvist,
This is Gregory from the US. I was reading your thoughts on Dr. Moller and the Exodus Case. You criticize Moller for not trying to disprove his hypothesis. Tell me; do evolutionists try to disprove their theory? You know they could if they tried…
October 6, 2008
Two of my favourite song writers have revealed themselves as astronomy nerds in love songs.
Frank Black in "Sir Rockaby" (1994):
How many stars girl
Can you both count
And then classify?
I'm standing here in this big swirl
Singing this lullaby
Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo in "7 Stars" (…
October 5, 2008
Everybody with an interest in anthropology and archaeology -- it's time to contribute good new blog entries to the forthcoming Four Stone Hearth blog carnival. You needn't have written them yourself: if you've found something worth reading recently, submit it to Thomas at Clashing Culture.
October 5, 2008
Extreme Tracking keeps a list of the most popular search terms that direct readers to this blog. Read in order from the most popular one down, they form the following quatrains.
Aardvarchaeology nudity the Martin Rundkvist
Chinese lyrics, molluscum and incest
Sweden archaeology Blidmo Roger
Lamprey…
October 4, 2008
I'm 36 and still as skinny as in my teens (BMI 20). Why is that, I have wondered. I have a desk job, I eat every three waking hours, I drink sweet tea and snack on cookies, I do no sports outside the marital bedroom, I scoff at gyms and jogging. Contributing factors to my skinny-assedness are…
October 3, 2008
I bought two wooden model kits in Beijing last October. The kids and I finished the Imperial Dragon in late August. Since then, my daughter and I have worked on the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (ç¥å¹´æ®¿) which forms part of the 15th century Temple of Heaven complex in Beijing. Now it's…
October 2, 2008
In Sweden, the County Archaeologist's office decides where contract-archaeological fieldwork is needed, how much it can be allowed to cost the land developer, and which excavation unit should do the work. Ãsa at Ting & Tankar reports (in Swedish) about a recent case where the County…
October 2, 2008
On my way to work in the mornings, I pass the hibernation grounds of the Saltsjöbaden Boat Club. Boat owners are currently busy getting their craft out of the water and onto scaffolding on dry land, as the Baltic winter ice is not friendly to boats.
The other day I found an adjustable spanner on…
October 1, 2008
On an ammunition delivery run to Kai's place in RÃ¥gsved last Saturday, I found a grimy strip of photo negatives beside a lamp post at Stövargatan's southernmost point. Rain had obliterated two of the pictures, but two remained. So, as an installation in my irregular series of modern objets…
October 1, 2008
With thanks to Moomin, here's a fine clip with Max Raabe und das Palast Orchester performing "Amalie geht mit 'nem Gummikavalier ins Bad" from 1927. How low haven't the lyrics of the popular song sunk since that golden age of wit and erudition!
Update 22 October:My translation of the song's title…
September 30, 2008
I'm reading Steven L. Kent's engrossing 2001 book The Ultimate History of Video Games, and of course it reminds me of a lot of games I played as a kid. My first real video games were played on the Atari VCS/2600. (The book is in my home because my 10-y-o son is both a video gamer and a bookworm,…
September 29, 2008
My erudite friend Florence Vilén (historian of religion, haiku poet, aficionado of gems and classical music) has published her first novel in Swedish. Tungelblodet ("Blood of the Moon") is high fantasy set in a northern archipelago where wind-witches help fishermen to make good catches. Florence…