Tomorrow’s historic remains

When we’re out on archaeological surveys for ancient monuments and historic remains we sometimes encounters remnants that do not quite meet the criteria, the criteria being permanently abandoned. Such remnants can be abandoned farms and houses still standing and in some cases provided for, at least enough to not fall apart. Sometimes it lies on the border, the two houses, shown below, does not have many years left before they can be registered as historic remains in form of house foundations. Even if they are on the ropes, they still hold a kind of desolate beauty, they are still vital enough to tell tales of their late owners, in and around them are evidence of how their lives.

House number one, from a distance it seems quite ok, but when you get closer you see that it has began to fall apart.

The entrance is more or less overtaken by plants.

You can see the inner construction of the roof through an opening in the wall.

Inside, the ceiling is about to collapse…

…in a corner a bed with the madras is left…

…and on the wall, a picture of a young woman has been left…

…on a nail a couple of old pants have been hung, to dry?

The second house just 20 meters away is closer to a collapse, the roof has fallen in and the walls are well on their way to give up.

These abandoned buildings will be tomorrow’s historic remains in soon future. They are situated just outside of our working area so who knows we might come back in a year or two and find that they have fallen down and register them.

Magnus Reuterdahl

Currently on the bedstand.

I’m a member of the society Runica et Mediævalia (link in Swedish). The Society was formed in 1990 and aims to promote research on runes and medieval languages (mainly Scandinavian), culture and society, primarily through the issuance of the publication series Runic et Mediævalia etc. As a member I get the publications every now and then as they are beeing published, last week two books arrived; The first is; Den medeltida skriftkulturen i Sverige (The medieval writing culture in Sweden) – Inger Larsson [ed.], This is a book I’ll come back to in future post. The second one is Kung Magnus och hans smädesnamn Smek (King Magnus and his libel nick name Smek = caress, stroke, fondle or…) by Olle Ferm.

The last is the one I currently read, it concerns a factoid regarding king Magnus Eriksson libel nick name Smek, where the nick name has been interpret as proof king Magnus was homosexual. Magnus Eriksson was the Swedish king between 1319-1363. Among other things he got conned by the Danish king Valdemar Attedag and by being so lost the province Scania to Denmark and he was accused of being homosexual by Saint Birgitta of Vadstena and others. Due to the accusations an interpretation of the nick name Smek was made as meaning fondle, caress, stroke was made, in the meaning that he liked to fondle other men. Olle Ferm brings forth another interpretation where Smek rather has the meaning “someone who has been conned by flattery”, i.e. King Valdemar conned him out of Scania with flattery.

Olle Ferm has produced a kind of historic detective book that is a pleasant and interesting read, giving a background to the word Smek and how it’s been interpreted through the ages, but also on the political situation of the time as well as on history scholars and their work. Wheatear or not king Magnus was gay or not is not something the author studies in this work, at least not yet – I haven’t finished it yet. Evan though I haven’t finished it I can recommend this to those who are interested in the history and politics of medieval Sweden as well as to those who like the study of words and language.

Magnus Reuterdahl

Dressed for success

In recent weeks I have been working in the field with an archaeological survey in northern Jämtland, and next week we go again. Nature up here, in the north of Sweden is magnificent and the scenery is grand. The seemingly endless forests and the closeness to the mountains are ever present and so are the marshlands. Small and big the marches runs through the forests between small hills and ridges.

As beautiful as they can be they also poses problems, they are wet and sometimes difficult to pass through and foremost they are the breeding grounds for insects such as mosquitoes, flies and wasps. This year they breed in masses thanks to the wet spring and warm summer. Once your out walking these mini-beasts follows you in forms of swarms and when you stop to describe a remain or take a quick break the sky is almost completely blackened by them. As if this isn’t bad enough the eternal buzz they make almost drives you insane, it is never quiet – for those of you who have seen the World Cup in South Africa earlier this summer think vuvuzelas – and you’ll get the idea.

Of course you’ll take the precautions you can, a mosquito jacket helps some as well as different kind of repellents such as oils, deodorants etc.

What do we find? Here as everywhere traces of human activity is everywhere if you know where to look. On the mountain sides the summer pastures where an important complement to the farms. Some are still used and in fine conditions but most have long been deserted and all we find are the remains; house foundations, traces of cleared areas and fields, clearance cairns, etc. We also find traces of other activities in the forest such as charcoal burning sites and hunting pits.  The hunting pits are often found on small hills and ridges; sometimes there’s only one, sometimes in pairs and sometimes in big systems.

This one is ca 4 m in diameter, 1,5 m in depth and surrounded by a low earth bank. It was probably used for hunting moose (elk) or reindeer. This method of hunting is old and has been used since the Stone Age until1864, it was at least outlawed in 1864 in Sweden.

Magnus Reuterdahl

Magnus goes to hell

How far would you go for a blogpost? I went to the gates of hell – or at least to helvetesbrännan.

The Swedish word for hell is helvete, brännan comes from same word as the English burn. The area has been affected by many fires – dendrochronology shown that the area had at least 28 forest fires between1165 and 1891, i.e. an average of one fire every 26 years.

This is not the kind of hell filled with brimstone and perpetual fires – but rather a hell for those who crave city-life, asphalt, concrete, sounds and constant human contacts.  This is instead a desolate area of “untouched” nature, now this is not true, there are animals living here, and it is affected by humans as all nature is, there is a road leading up to it, information signs, hikes etc and of course traces of human history.

Now I’ve only seen the gates so I’ll take the words of others – this is a fantastic place for wild life observation, for peace and quite, for natural experiences etc. The area is a natural reservation and is approximately 3400 acres big.

On my way up there, and its upwards not downwards, the road is… well, not good – but doable with a car, though not with a sports car or a car that you care for.

You’ll start out on asphalt and then it’s dust roads, you’ll pass the river Styx, the stones coloured blood red, the dessert and then you reach the gates of hell!

the river Styx

the blood red stones

the desert

the hellmouth or the gate of the burning inferno sometimes called  hell (hellvetesbrännan)

This is Magnus Reuterdahl reporting that he got out free from the demons of hell and the Hellmouth and got home to Stockholm in one piece, at least for the weekend.

Magnus Reuterdahl

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

This is a bit late as the film premiered about a year ago, but I just got the DVD; if you love metal you love Anvil! The Story of Anvil. A great rockumentary about a band, and what it looks like great guys, that perhaps wasn’t great but that deserved a better hand than was dealt – and now maybe they’ll get it.

Anvil had a handfull of great songs in the early 80’s, but in my memory they became the picture disc (LP) band. You always wanted picture LP’s and singles to hang on your wall, but they were expensive as they often were limited editions – though Anvil’s were always available for a buck or two. Now listening to their back catalogue, there are some great moments, especially the early work, but there are also some really low ones.

This is a love story – for a band, for the music and for heavy rock. It takes you through all emotions – love, anger, frustration, happiness and sorrow as they play for great crowds and and for empty venues, big festivals and clubs in nowhere. This is great entertainment and hopefully the beginning of a better tomorrow for Anvil!

Magnus Reuterdahl

Back in business

No more playing around, vacation time is over, time to bite the bullet – I’m going to work some miles north of Östersund for the coming week on a survey an I’ve been told there’s a mosquito invasion up there.

Well, Mosquitios I come prepared -I bought one of these – so do your best!

Magnus Reuterdahl

Going to Kristinehamn

The last day of this summer vaction is closing in, I return to work on Tuesday, but still a few lazy days awaits and we better do the best of it. Today we’re going to Kristinehamn to visit friends and enjoy the sights.

Kristinehamn became a city in 1582 and is situated by the shoreline of lake Vänern, known for the beautiful archipelagic idyll and the world´s biggest(?) Picasso sculpture. The sculpture measures 15 m in height and is a portrayal of his wife Jacqueline. It was set up in 1965. I’ll take a few pictures and update when I’m back again.

 

Magnus Reuterdahl

Four Stone Hearth # 96 the Oscar Montelius edition

Cylindric flint core

Welcome to the 96th ed. of the Four Stone Hearth blog carnival!

I like to have something that goes through the carnival as a red thread, something that connects the dots – and as the first posts are artefact related, then artefacts it is. These illustrations are of artefacts found in Sweden published in Oscar Montelius (1843-1921) book Sveriges forntid. Försök till framställning af den Svenska fornforskningens resultat. Atlas (Sweden’s ancient history. An attempt to an account of the research of Sweden’s ancient history. Atlas.) illustrated by C.F. Lindberg and published in 1872.

Oscar Montelius, Swedish stamp 1943

Oscar Montelius was an important person in the early Swedish and Scandinavian archaeology.  His scientific output includes over 400 works. He is possibly best known for developing a relative chronological dating method, known as Swedish seriation. By setting up development series for main artifact types, i.e. axes, scrapes etc., and examine how these items were combined in closed finds he could create a relative chronology. Artifacts in a feature underneath another feature is older than those found in the upper one etc. He then was able to allocate artifacts into different time periods; Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age etc. His works still is relevant, at least regarding finds from the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, and if nothing else these are beautiful pictures.

oval broach bronze

Let’s start this carnival with three posts on things, objects and gadgets by Gordon Kingston from The Heritage Journal. He writes on metal detecting vs. archaeology in Ireland and Britain. I guess most archaeologist see metal detecting as an important tool whilst excavating or in some cases surveying, in these posts the issue concerns non-archaeologist metal detecting groups and individuals. Some are for it and some against it, some got good motives others are driven by pure greed. I believe these three articles provides a good basis for reflection and discussion in a much larger area than just Britain and Irland. A 4th and final post in this series is on its way. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

arrow head, flint

Dig girl writes about looting in general and in Iraq in particular. She writes Not a week goes by when I don’t run in to someone who would love to “own a piece of history” and display it in their den for friends and family to see.

Today’s garbage tomorrows artifacts, Middle Savagery, pounders on why people litter and of course  started doing a little bit of research realizing that while we research trash exclusively as archaeologists, there isn’t a whole lot about modern attitudes toward trash beyond William Rathje’s Garbology.

fish hook of bone

Martin Rundqvist at Aardvarcaheology calls me a gloating, grave loving, corpse lusting necrophiliac. Well it’s not as bad as its sounds – he calls all archaeologist and especially osteologist this in a more or less humoristic post that really concerning us all. Are we as so many before us becoming zombies in our respectively work places?

As I’m grave lusting and like ghouls I just couldn’t keep Sandbian’s post the ghostly hills of Scania on Bronze Age mounds in the south of Sweden out of the carnival, could I?

Another zombiesq post, The Antiquarian’s Attic report on a ship risen from the grave; the SS ROBIN, the world’s last remaining steam coaster, which is now on its way back to London to become a floating museum in Docklands, after a two-year re-fit in Suffolk.

Leaving the ghoulishness behind Archaeolog reports that about the exhibition Unearthed at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich. The exhibit featuring prehistoric figurines from Japan, Romania, Macedonia, Albania, and the UK. It opens on Tuesday 22 June and runs through the summer. The ideas expressed via the exhibition are done so in order to move beyond text and thereby create new opportunities for thought and consideration. Prehistoric clay figurines from Jōmon from the Japanese archipelago (c.16,000-2,000 years ago) and the Eneolithic from the Balkans (c.8,500-4,500 years ago) are for the first time brought togetherand being displayed alongside contemporary artworks. For me this is interesting as it comes somewhat close to what MAP (Museo Arti Primarie aka. the Museum of Primary Arts) is currently working on; an exhibit on neolithic painted pottery from different parts of the world, among them the Yangshao traditions in China and the Naqada culture in Egypt, in a project called Neolitico Futuro 2, where the Yangshao project (a project I and a colleague runs) are involved.

From the dead, the departed and the unearthed to the living, we move from the past to the present: Barbara Arisi of Material world writes about the Matis Indians, their cultural heritage and the development of their world since they established contact with the Brazilian government in 1978, before that, they had had just sporadic relations with outsiders, mainly rubber tappers and other Indians.

Moving on to Puerto Rico, as the blog Time Travelling really doesn’t move all that much in time but stays contempary – showing us some pictures of graffiti on the walls and buildings of Rio Piedras, the university district of Puerto Rico.

From Somatosphere Stephanie Lloyd reports on two conferences; the biennial meeting of the Society for Cultural Anthropology and the annual meeting of the Association Francophone Pour le Savoir. Besides reporting on the lectures, this post has a substory about a gruesome murder of which no one appears to be bothered with, except the author: “THWAP!!” followed by “Bang! Bang! Bang!” …  …where culture obliterate nature and no one appeared bothered by it.

Sometime some science really blows me away (literally), A Hot Cup of Joe, shares a piece that on the one hand is a great spectacle but on the other hand is scientific insanity (I had to use the external link!)

bronze bull roman import

From one unnatural explosion to a natural one – Greg Laden writes about the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption over Pompeii – and thus returning to the Rundkvistian zombie ghoulish theme – the people at Pompeii, who’s remains were found trapped and partly preserved within ghostly body-shaped tombs within that pyroclastic flow, how did they die? –  Did they suffocate? Did they die of gas poisoning? Dis they die of falling brimestone? – No!- Greg’s got the gruesome answer; they…

Ceramic vessal

From one kind of cooking to another, Eldrimner blogs about Viking Age and medieval food and in this post about grinding, do you know how many times you need to grind flour in a handquern before baking bread? Eldrimner have experimented on this.

To your bread you might want something to drink and at A Very Remote Period Indeed you’ll get a tip; Tut’s royal gold an unfiltered imperial Egyptian Ale.

More contemporary but never the less a foodish kind of cultural heritage – you ever lusted for that fast food menu that’s no longer available  or do you know what a McGangbang is? Cavalcade of awesome has the answer!

ornate bronzes

The ghoulishness set aside this edition came partly to be about artifacts, illustrated with Swedish prehistoric artifacts unearthed in the 19^th century and opening with posts on metal detecting and looting – the two are linked but not synonymous with each other. Metal detection is a useful archaeological tool and regulated properly, it can also be a fun hobby, and thus a possible complementary source for archaeologists and museums. How to regulate metal detection is one question, another regards trade with ancient artifacts. I don’t have anything against recreational metal detecting if this is done in a controlled environment (for example in collaboration with museums, local historic associations etc), if the finds are properly recorded and taken care of by the museums etc. and it is done in environments that don’t threaten known historic or ancient remains (for example in fields or areas disturbed by development). When discussing this issue it is important to remember that this creates other problems such as financing the care and preservation of the finds, legislation and control, education/licensing etc.

Trade with ancient and historic artifacts and remains are something that I generally am against. However there might be exceptions – what do you do with mass materials that museums are not interested in, finds without contexts and artifacts already in old collections etc? The cultural heritage is a common heritage, and valuable to one and all, it should not be own man’s property but accessible to researchers and the general public for the common good.

Finds taken from a context without proper documentation or knowledge looses at least some of its potential scientific value. It also diminishes the scientific value of the given context.

arrow head, slate

By the way Heather Pringle at Beyond Stone & Bone Archive, Archaeology magazine’s weekly blog, have issued  a  Top Five Archaeological Bloggers – check it out!

Thanks for contributions and great posts!

I’m currently in Stockholm on vacation so I’ll go back to what I do when I got a few days off, visiting ancient monuments – here’s a post on what I did the other day!

The next carnival is set for July 21^st  it currently has no host, if you interested contact Martin Rundkvist at Zenobia: Empress of the East.

Have a nice summer!

Magnus Reuterdahl

Kumlaby church at the island Visingsö

Last week I visited Visingsö, an island in Lake Vättern; it is an island with plenty of ancient remains and cultural heritage. If you happen to be in the vicinity it’s well worth a visit.

I’ve written about Visingsö here before so I thought I should show a few things that are easy to miss out on.

Just south of Kumlaby church is Visingsö folk high school and Visingsö Museum. The museum is situated in a building from 1633 built as a courthouse by count Per Brahe the younger (1602-1680). In 1680 it had lost its use as a courthouse and became the “new” school house for or the school Per Brahe established on Visingsö in 1636, it had previously been housed in Kumblaby church. In 1816 the school was moved to Jonkoping and is today known as Per Brahe high school. Today it houses a small museum. The collection isn’t big but relevant and hold finds and keys to the islands history, from the Stone Age and fourth. Within the museum two of four known rune stones from Visingsö are walled in (one is long since lost and the fourth at Jonkoping County Museum). It’s well worth a stop while you’re on the island.

A few pictures from the museum.

Rune stone SM 124

Inscription: : iskil : auk : kuna : (l)agþu : setn : …n : bunta sin : kuþ halb : se(l)u has :

Translated to English: Áskell and Gunna laid the stone … their husbandman. May God help his soul.

Rune stone SM 125

inscription: …n × lit : kaura : stain : þinsi ×: aftir : fiul:muþ : …

Translated to English: … had this stone made in memory of Fjôlmóðr ..

At the graveyard by the Brahe church, aka Ströja church (Per Brahe the Younger demolished most of the medieval Ströja church in the 1600s and built the Brahe church, the only remaining part of the medieval church is the tower), this piece of a stone cist, of Eskilstuna type, with ornamentations was found in 1988. These kinds of stone cists, or remain of them, are unusual and found around some medieval churches. These monuments are normally dated to the 11^th or 12^th century and may indicate an older church than the Ströja at the spot. Ströja church was built during the 12^th century. On this some the colours are intact.

A model of Visingsborg castle, as it once looked. Today the ruin can be seen from the harbour, and is open for visits. As you will notice, if you visit only ruins, there are only ruins of the southern part of the castle, the west wing and the north wing have long since gone – but the ruin is impressive none the less.

The original school house was Kumlaby church. The church itself was probably built during the 12^th century and is open for visitors during the summer for a small fee, you’re also allowed up in the tower to watch the view. Until 1811 the school used the church building at least occasionally but after 1811 it became a deserted church left to the forces of nature. During its use as a school the building went through some rather big changes: The entrances on the south side of the tower and the nave was walled up and a portal to the west was raised, the medieval windows of the naves north and south walls were also walled up and square windows were raised. The paintings on the inner walls and roof were covered by lime. The spire was removed and a patio made for astronomical observations. Though used as a school the burial ground was still in use until 1893, though not frequently, when a new burial ground was landscaped at Brahe church, by the harbour, on the island.

From1876-1884 the decay was temporary stopped as the church was being used as a missionary. Between 1884-1922 it was once again left to the forces of nature.

In 1922 a renovation was started, in the church the paintings from the 15^th century was uncovered, some of the 17^th century paintings have been kept. The work restoration is described in J.M. Danielssons book Kunlaby kyrka och kyrkogård på Visingsö 1929. (Kumlaby church and graveyard at Visingsö).

The paintings within the church and the hike up the tower are interesting but I believe there at least as interesting things that can be seen outside the church. Just under the roof of the north and south side of the nave, in the east end, one can see carved ornaments in the form of leaves and animal ornamentation. Another interesting detail is at the southern portal, made of sandstone, which has a zigzag ornamentation which indicates a probable influence from the west, from England. Furthermore, there are two clear stonemason brands in the portal. Walking around the churchyard I’m also struck by how well-preserved the gravestones are.

These are just a few of the things there are to keep an eye out for; I’ll probably come back to Visingsö again.

Magnus Reuterdahl

4SH # 96 call for contributions

On Wednesday, july 7^th,  Testimony of the spade will once again stand as host for the biweekly blog carnival Fourth Stone Hearth. The carnival specializes in anthropology in the widest (American) sense of that word. I.e. the study of humankind, throughout all times and places, focussing primarily on four lines of research:

• archaeology
• socio-cultural anthropology
• bio-physical anthropology
• linguistic anthropology

So if you’ve written a great post you want to share on these or close-by subjects or if you’ve read something that you think more should read, send me an e-mail with the link to inventerare[delete_this][at]hotmail[dot]com or via the comment field.

The carnival is as always in need of hosts, new ones or previous hosts, If you would like to host the carnival, please write to Martin Rundkvist.

Magnus Reuterdahl