Eastern trench

2017-04-05

A ceramic spectrum

The registration process of the pottery continues. As I progress it becomes clearer that the ceramic material varies within the different trenches as well as between the trenches. The pottery from the middle trench has long since been registered and the pottery from the western trench will soon be registered as well. However, since the ...

2017-01-12

The apple and the pip

Working with archaeological material is interesting and exciting, however the thrill and awe over how old the objects are have somewhat lessened through the years. Nonetheless, every now and then I get those thrills and they fill me with humility and admiration for the people who made and used the objects that are now 5000 ...

2016-12-16

Digitalization is blazing forward in pictures!

Recently, the project benefited from a temporary insurgence of extra manpower in the form of two talented archaeologists who served as photographers digitalizing artifacts. One of our colleagues Sara Kusmin, as well as Jessika Lindquist, an intern studying her masters of archaeology at Stockholm University, have together taken over 700 photographs of various types of ...

2016-09-30

More than 8000 objects

During late spring, summer and autumn the project has moved forward with registering the find material from the eastern trench. Due to vacations, conferences and other engagements we have not published any posts concerning our progress for a while. Wait no more! Here is a recapture of what we have been working with the last ...

2016-09-02

One soil sample is all it takes

Parasitic diseases at the Alvastra pile dwelling By Jonas Bergman, Archaeologists, Swedish History Museums Even after 86 years in dry storage (!), and almost 5000 years in the Alvastra bog, it’s still possible to find intestinal parasite eggs in relatively good condition from the culture layers of the Alvastra pile dwelling. After a brief preparation of ...

2016-06-07

Visit to Lund – What About the Pottery?

When the Alvastra project visited Lund in order to present our work with other Stone Age archaeologists we also got the opportunity to visit the collections at Lund University Historical Museum (LuHM). Greg was interested in the flint from Jonstorp and Stävie and I was of course interested in pottery! The sites that were of specific ...

2016-04-29

Hear ye, hear ye!

We are pleased to inform you that the flint material with find numbers from the eastern trench is now photographed and ready for you to look at. You can find all of the registered finds if you follow the link below or if you visit our website and browse your way to Sök i samlingarna! ...

2016-04-14

Visit to Lund

Recently, the Alvastra team went on a visit to Lund, in Southern Sweden, to take part and present our project for a group of Stone Age archaeologists active in that region of the country. While we were there, Nathalie and I spent a day studying artifacts held in the collections of Lund University. The purpose ...

2015-12-02

Two unique scrapers from the middle Neolithic?

Hafted scrapers are typically unifacial (flaked on one side),made from flakes or blades of flint, that were then fixed or ”hafted” to a handle and used to scrape excess fat and flesh from animal hides as a part of the tanning process. I came across one such hafted scraper with an unusual form which triggered ...

2015-11-26

Fishing at Alvastra

Accession number 34984:x221y425, F6 (Fid 1188532) Fishing hook of boar tusk Photo: Gabriel Hildebrand, SHMM The picture shows an exquisitely preserved and previously unpublished object from the 1976-1980 excavations at the Alvastra pile dwelling. It was found in Mats Malmer’s eastern trench. Like several other fishing hooks from the older excavations, it is made of ...