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
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Yesterday by train to Gothenburg with the Djurhamn sword sitting in its package on the hat rack above my head. I spent much of the trip in the pleasant company of the Realm's Herald, numismatist Dr Henrik Klackenberg, who happened to be on his way to a church excavation near Skara where he was…
My number one archaeological hero, professor Mats Peterson Malmer, died on 3 October aged 86 minus 15 days. I knew him a little starting in the mid-90s, read most of what he ever wrote with avidity, sent him most of what I wrote, tweaked bits of some work of his in a paper published only months…
Here's something I've been wondering about. Anybody know Arabic historical linguistics?
Al-qaeda is Arabic for "the base, basis, foundation, military base". Alkaid is the Arabic name for Eta Ursae Majoris, a star in the Big Dipper. It's short for al-qaid al-banat an-nac, meaning "the leader of the…
Wednesday 10 October will see the Four Stone Hearth blog carnival appear in all its archaeo/anthro glory at Remote Central. If you have read or blogged anything good on those themes lately, then make sure to submit it to Tim ASAP. (You are encouraged to submit stuff you've found on other people's…
Monday's entry about the Djurhamn sword rocketed up the lists at the social bookmarking sites, and so Wednesday became the best day for traffic ever here at Aard. On an average day in the third quarter of this year, the blog saw about 650 unique visitors. For Wednesday, the number was 52,200.…
Three good albums, listened to in the car when driving to & fro the Djurhamn dig.
Silverbullit, Arclight (2004). This is dark and Gothamesque rock, sort of the Cure + the Stooges + Kraftwerk. The band searched high and low until they found a drummer who could and would play like a drum machine…
I'm thinking maybe it isn't worth the effort to keep the Good Books and Good Albums lists going in the left-hand column. Better to put that effort into writing more blog entries about books and albums? Dear Reader, if you're a regular and would miss the lists, please say so in a comment.
Over at David Nessle's, his witty readers are discussing translations -- more particularly, bad translations. I collect crap translations from English to Swedish, so I decided to offer some to you, Dear Reader. To make this palatable to non-Swedish-speakers, I'll add a second step to explain what…
On the excursion during the Sachsensymposium in Trondheim last month we visited Slipsteinsberget ("Grindstone Hill"). Not only did we visit the place, but the entire conference (some of whose participants were in their 70s) climbed around the whole hill (rain-sodden, wooded and steep) like…
Today we finished fieldwork at the find spot of the sword I wrote about yesterday. Sieved 5 sqm without a single non-recent find, but the only way to know is to sieve. My dad came out with a pulley and removed the hazel stump that had been sitting on the sword, so we're pretty damn sure there wasn…
Happy Djurhamn project co-directors Katarina Schoerner and August Boj.
Aided by many volunteers and using tools borrowed from my dad and the Stockholm County Museum, I've spent the day getting the Djurhamn sword out of the ground.
I found the sword on 30 August while metal detecting around the…
Two weeks ago when I worked for Thomas Englund and Bo Knarrström at the 1719 battlefield on Skogsö, I came across a variant on a type of archaeological site that I've blogged about before. A site where children have built and abandoned something, but this time it wasn't a tree house ruin: to me it…
I was musing about how haphazardly I learned about certain indispensable software and information sources. Then it struck me -- maybe there are people who don't know about Google Definitions? OMG! I've got to tell them!
I use Google Definitions daily. It's an on-line meta-dictionary, collecting…
Here's a link page that I used during a talk about internet culture to advertising students at Bergh's on 28 September. This blog entry will move down the page as I write new ones, but I'll leave the link page on-line. Bookmark it in your browser!
If you, Dear Reader, weren't at the talk and still…
From today's issue of free subway paper Metro, I translate:
Hey there...
... Martin Rundkvist, 35, the archaeologist who has found a unique 16th century sword in the woods.
How did you make the find -- through cutting-edge methods?
-- I sat down in the lotus position and took in the vibrations…
Welcome everyone to Aardvarchaeology and the 89th Tangled Bank blog carnival. Aard is strictly focused on whatever strikes the fancy of its archaeologist proprietor. The Tangled Bank provides a leafy warren for all little furry bloggers with an interest in the life sciences. We have good stuff…
Found an early-16th century officer's sword at the Harbour of the Sheaf Kings. I tried to keep it quiet, but now the mainstream media want my ass. I'm seeing the County Archaeologist about an excavation permit this afternoon. More anon.
Media coverage: Metro, Radio Skaraborg, SVT, ABC-nytt, Radio…
The twenty-fourth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Paddy K's Swedish Extravaganza. It's a particularly populous and witty edition. Check it out! Archaeology and anthropology to scratch your pubic lice and soothe your fear of the cave bear.
The next open hosting slot is on 24 October 7…
A guest entry, graciously granted by Secular Humanist warrior queen Felicia of Life Before Death, with her own photograph.
As I start writing this post*, the air has an autumn tang to it, it is windy, and definitely not as warm as it could be in August. And yet, the bees are working. There's…
The excruciatingly witty and multi-talented David Nessle has been alerted by his erudite father to a long enthusiastic article about cannabis in the classic Swedish 1909 dictionary Nordisk Familjebok (uggleupplagan). This dictionary was in every home with any pretentions to literacy and social…
Swedish young skankers Seizure City are a new outfit with the Clash and the Skatalites looming large in their pedigree. Reedy kickass singer Tanja knows her glottal stops and is an archaeologist's daughter. Let's hope the band takes off so she can have a proper career in the music business instead…
Friday last week I did some met-det for Thomas Englund and Bo Knarrström at the 1719 battlefield at Baggensstäket on Skogsö, of which I've blogged before. This time I was directed to a hillside that had seen heavy musket fire. I may not have had much balls when I came there, but I certainly did…
Here are the fruits of my ten hours of metal detecting in Kaga while Immo and Per mucked around with the magnetometer Wednesday and Thursday.
Top left is a spool-shaped copper-alloy handle, cast around a slim iron rod that's broken off at the lower end. There's indistinct cast relief decoration on…
Originally posted 19 September from my handheld via the cell network and e-mail to my old site.
Drove to Linköping this morning listening to the Digital Planet podcast, M Coast's latest album and a Povel Ramel hits collection. On site in Kaga I was greeted by my friendly National Heritage Board…
Dear Reader, did you know that ScienceBlogs has a newsletter, the Weekly Recap? It's a way to stay somewhat on top of Sb's ever-proliferating forest of blogs. Subscribe here.
My friend Howard Williams of the University of Exeter touched down at Arlanda airport in Sweden a couple of hours ago. He's here for a few weeks of study and also giving talks at four archaeology departments. Good stuff for all friends of the Dark Ages!
Wednesday 19th September, 13.00
University of…
Up until a thousand years ago, almost all buildings in Scandinavia through the ages had roof-supporting posts dug into the ground. Postholes are lovely things: they're deep enough for at least the bottom end to survive heavy ploughing, they trap a lot of interesting stuff while a house is being…
A couple of other bloggers here at Sb are writing a paper on the impact of science blogs on the outside world. You, Dear Reader, can help them by filling out a questionnaire.
This survey attempts to access the opinions of bloggers, blog-readers, and non-blog folk in regards to the impact of blogs…
Here's something everybody's watching right now in Sweden because one of our best pop music journalists is linking to it from the main newspaper's web site. Thought music lovers elsewhere might like it too: Björk Guδmundsdóttir and P.J. Harvey performing "Satisfaction" at the 1994 Brit Awards. The…
From Tor yesterday (and I translate):
A short while ago I sat down in the subway beside a sixtyish lady, opened my backpack and got out a book titled From Frege to Gödel. A conversation ensued.
"Oh my, that's a thick book! Is it maths?"
(Tor sighs silently and pulls out his ear plugs.)
"Yes,…