Day of Archaeology is a project aimed at describing archaeology from diffrent angles. More than 400 blog posts on the subject is expected, so dig in 
I posted this, the other posts are here, several are beeing updated throughout the day.
Magnus Reuterdahl
During weekends past I’ve taking the car for a few tours around Öland. Here are few pictures on a few of the great cultural heritage sites just waiting for visits.
Borgholm castle ruin, just south of Borgholm.
At the southern tip of the island is the lighthouse Långe Jan (Tall Jan)
This grave field (raa 24:1) is situated in Segerstad parish its, it’s rich in combinations of different grave forms, mounds of different size and shape, stones that mark graves etc. These grave fields are normallt dated to the Iron Age though some individual graves might be older.
Rune stone Öland 18 (Öl 18). The inscription translated to English reads Ingjaldr and Nefr and Sveinn, they raised (the stone) in memory of Hróðmarr, their father.
Ancient fort Triberga. There is an ongoing discussion how these forts has been used, as a refuge in trouble times or something else. Most of them were build during the Iron Age though has also been used during the middle ages. In some there are remains of houses and in some burials have been found.
Finally a wind mill, a common site on the island. I’ll be back with more in coming posts.
Magnus Reuterdahl
The deed is done – I’ve uploaded a post to Day of Archaeology 2011. Tomorrow the web gates should open and lots of interesting post be put out into the world wide web.
Take a few minutes of your day tomorrow and devote it to some or all of the numerous bloggers and archaeologists that has put their time and effort to tell about our line of work – archaeologists everywhere lets read up what’s happening out there!
Magnus Reuterdahl
Have you ever wondered what archaeologists really get up to? Is it all just digging or is there a lot more to it? If so check out the web-event Day of Archaeology 2011 on 29th July. Among others I’ll contribute
Magnus Reuterdahl
Today I found an old envelope that gives evidence to the history of archaeology. On an envelope the address to a long gone 14C-laboratory is printed; Laboratoriet för radioaktiv datering Frescati, Stockholm 50.
I’m not quite sure how long it was opened for business though I know it was active during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and was used by archaeologists, it is mentioned several times in Fornvännen, for example in this issue from 1959, and the stamp on the envelope says 1977. So during that time span it was active – today it is no more, as far as I know – in other words a remain of olden day archaeology.
Magnus Reuterdahl
Tomorrow I’ll join the maritime archaeologists who are excavating the 17th century warship and flagship Kronan (the Crown), if the weather is OK.
Currently I work at Kalmar County Museum, who are responsible for the excavations of and collections salvaged from Kronan, therefore I get the chance to do some volunteer work on the dig. I won’t dive but rather help out on-board.
Kronan was found 1980 by amateur researcher Anders Franzén who also found the ship Vasa in Stockholm ström in the 1950s. Since then maritime archaeological excavations and surveys has been conducted annually. More than 30000 artifacts have been salvaged over the years, many are on display at Kalmar County museum exhibit.
Kronan was built 1668-1672 and sunk just four years later on June 1st 1676 outside of Öland in the Baltic Sea. She capsized, exploded and sank during a battle between the Swedish naby and the joined Danish-Dutch fleet. More than 800 men went with her and only some forty men survived. It went down and rests at approximately 27 meters depth.
On Kalmar County Museum museum webpage (which is translatable to several languages) there’s lots more facts and pictures as well as on Wikipedia (English version).
So let us hope Poseidon is in a good mood tomorrow as we “set sail”.
Magnus Reuterdahl
Last week we whilst doing an archaeological investigation, stage II, at Öland we found this stone cist. It was about time we came back with some real results and this one is a beaut’. It wasn’t visible above ground but as you can see it is more or less undamaged just below the plow depth.
It is probably from to early Iron Age and as it’s only about 1,50 m long it might be a child burial. More info and pics are available at Kalmar County museum blog (in Swedish).
Magnus Reuterdahl
What is this bronze tool? is a question I ask on the Kalmar County Museum blog (see the second picture – the post is in Swedish). The last few weeks I’ve recataloging finds from a 2003 excavation at Hossmo church. One of the artifacts puzzled me a bit, I recognized it but could really find it in my memory. After a while I found a similar find from the ancient fortress Eketorp on Öland, where it is described as a possible tool to make threads probably from the middle ages.
If you either have an English name for it or different interpretation please write a comment
Magnus Reuterdahl
Through a Finnish friend I got notice on this interesting find. And to all you Finns out there forgive me if I’ve misinterpreted parts of this, and if so please correct me
Finish researchers has found a new model of Stone Age grave – at least new for Finland. A rectangular stone setting; 4×5 meter. It has been excavated this summer by Finnish archaeologist Teemu Mökkösen. The grave is situated in Keelaharjussa in northern Ostrobothnia.
According to the article this is the only grave of its kind in Finland. It’s filled with red ochre and has been dated to circa 5000 years BC, which makes it one of Finland’s oldest graves.
A few similar graves have been excavated in the north of Sweden, in Norrbotten. Late Stone Age graves for example at Lillberget and Ansvar etc. But somewhere in the back of my mind I believe I’ve read about similar graves in Finland before, though there is probably something special about this one, or it might be that this is the only one that has been dated or has the oldest dating.
If you know what please write a comment.
Nerveless it’s an exiting find. I felt quite pleased earlier today as me and my collegue had found a stone cist grave, though it feels a little petty in comparison – it’s not that unusal and its Iron Age so it’s a lot younger… can’t get it all can you!
Source; an article in HS.fi – a Finish newspaper.
Magnus Reuterdahl
Hello and welcome to Testimony of the spade.
My name is Magnus Reuterdahl and I am a Swedish archaeologist and osteologist. Most posts are connected to my work or my interests in general; Scandinavian archaeology, osteology, cultural heritage, literature and so forth.
On the blog Aqua Vitae (in Swedish) and Testimony of a wine (in English) junkie I blog on wine.
Contact; inventerare[at]hotmail[dot]com or via a comment.
