Death by fork!

Eating, loving and fighting - three universal elements of human nature.

We know, that a lot of fighting has occured because of love. But that there is also a very direct connection between fighting and eating - and now with new evidence - is a fact that is new to me.

We are not talking about mixing up eating and fighting in the sense of eating your enemies or having a feast after a fight. We are talking weaponry here.

Take a look at this BATTLE FORK - and I'm not kidding.

This object is actually labelled "a battle fork" on an archaeological exhibition. It comes from a grave in Masów, Poland and is dated to the Pre-roman Iron Age.

So here we have it. Weapons derived from cutlery. Or what ever came first. We all know that knives may be used both for killing and eating, but a battle fork, that's something new. At least to me. Maybe I'm just a total armoury-ignorante. Maybe battle forks are really one of the most common weapons in history - only it has skipped my antenna some how.

Personally, I think I'd prefer death by knife rather than fork.

So if you know about loads of battle forks - any period - or other cutlery-based armour - and how to use it perhaps(?!), please enlighten me.

Røg i Weberland

Jeg bor i et område, som de indfødte (altså de, som bor inde på det rigtige, gamle Bryggen) kalder Weberland.
Det er nybyggeri af den dyre slags med Webergrill på enhver altan. Termen Weberland er hentet fra graffiti på et plankeværk fra dengang her endnu var byggeplads, og bruges især i den lokale nablolags-avis.
Weberland er faktisk parcelhuse stablet i etager. Totalt parcelhuskultur men minus besværet med at passe have. Intet foregår andet end at folk tager på arbejde (i bil off course), afleverer yngel i institutioner, kommer hjem, slukker lys, går i seng. Repeat x 5.

Men når det så bliver weekend, oh ve. Så er det, at luften fra alle sider fyldes op med Weber-os.
Jeg har ikke begreb om, hvad teknikken er med hele den der firestarter. Men på stikflammens størrelse ser det ud som om, de er i gang med at starte affyring af rumraket fra egen altan.

Jeg er dog ret sikker på, at det ikke er meningen, at det skal stå ud med tyk, sort røg. Det ville man da i al fald reagere på, hvis det var en rumraket, som skulle opsendes.
Men næh, nej, ingen panik der. Røgen får lov at ose ud og lægge sig tungere end smog over Lyngbyvejen på en varm sommerdag.

For det er jo vildt hyggeligt at grille!
Så er det sommer!

Uhmm. Grillmad.

Ja, jeg kommer nu nærmere til at tænke på denne:

Cool app on facebook - by ME!

Really proud of myself and my IT-skills these days. I managed to create an application on facebook. Now ppl. can send archaeological treasures to eachother. I like that idea.
Spending waaaaaaaaaaay to much time on fb (procrastination destination no. 1!) I for once did something vaguely relevant for my subject. And on the long run - hey, promoting archaeology is always relevant!

I find what is happening at the internet with archaeology - and I guess other culture-historical sciences too - very interesting.
In this forum, the communication is as much a dialouge as it is a teaching media. And the media seems perfect for creating dialogic communication- making it less authoritative. Important in the sense of "whose past is it anyway?": are we, as scholars, in our right to claim authority on prehistory? Is it not particularly through dialogue that new ideas and scientific leaps are formed and expressed?
Internet communication seems to be the perfect way of taking archaeology out of the ivory tower and into the hands of real people.

So I contributed to the ivory tower exit with my own humble little part - by making a facebook application enabling users to send archaeological treasures to friends.
Check it out here: archaeological treasures

The past

Do you feel it?

Bones crackling beneath your walking feet
Whispers
From the cracks in the rock
Roaring from the waves on the sea

History can’t hear you
But it’s right there

Only separated from the soles of your feet

with a dark layer of earth

Like skin with blubber

And under it

bones
ashes
wood

And blood that curdled
back to iron and water

Finds I did not see

Just got back from Gdansk. Was at the archaeological museum there to study finds from numerous Roman Iron Age cemeteries. Many unpublished and thus only available for study by personal presence. This form of study requires the benevolence from the ppl in the museum. They have to be willing to share and to find a moment in their pressed scedules to help you access these finds. I am thankful to those who took their time and granted me the access.

It was 2 days of intensive work - concentrating on checking out finds, studying plans and maps, and not least trying to grasp the language. I would be lost without Magda.

My favourite word in Polish is W'kop rabunkowy. It means robber's trench. It's the remains of prehistoric looting.

But the most interesting result of this journey was the finds that I did not get to see. And I mean this in all honesty.

If you ever go to Gdansk, don't miss the National Maritime Museum. It has Europe's 2nd largest ethnographic collection of boats from all over the world. Absolutely amazing.

Bornholm

Just got back from study trip on Bornholm. It was marvellous, not least because of the magnificent people that I know there. They are into archaeology heart and soul and fortunately they agreed to tell my students about their work.

There're tons and tons of work to be done.
Evaluation report.
Chapter about graves for Sorte Muld book (due this week).
Preparations for study trip to Gdansk.
Article for Skalk about my new discovery which is still a secret.
Last but absolutely not least: more chapters for my dissertation.
So I can get it off my hands and get on with all the other exciting projects that are queueing in my mind - eager to be realized.

Happy Easter