2018
Data visualization in archaeometallurgy. Why bother?
Guest lecture with Laura Perucchetti, The British Museum
Time and place: Oct. 26, 2018 2:15 PM–4:00 PM, Blindernveien 11, seminarrom 2
Welcome, the lecture is open for all.
Moving Abu Simbel- Swedish actors in the global claims for Nubian heritage
Guest lecture with Ingrid Berg, Stockholms Universitet
Time and place: Sep. 21, 2018 2:15 PM–4:15 PM, Blindernveien 11, seminarrom 2
Welcome, the lecture is open for all.
2017
Prehistoric figurines: interpretation, meaning, and beyond
Friday Seminar by Professor Doug Bailey, Department of Anthropology, San Francisco State University / Centre for Advanced Study (CAS), The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
Time and place: Mar. 24, 2017 2:15 PM–4:00 PM, Blindernveien 11, seminarrom 1
Welcome, the lecture is open for all.
2016
A few drops of oil and a pinch of salt - My experience in conservation science
Welcome to Friday seminar by Francesco Caruso, Associate Professor IAKH.
Open for all.
Time and place: Nov. 18, 2016 2:15 PM–4:00 PM, Blindernveien 11, seminarrom 1
The Viking Phenomenon: a ten-year research programme
Friday seminar by Neil Price from Uppsala Universitet. Open for all.
Time and place: Feb. 26, 2016 2:15 PM–4:00 PM, Blindernveien 11, seminarroom 2
2015
Tracing Past Identites - A Longue Durée Study of Sociopolitical Structures in the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, western Norway
Lecture by Knut Ivar Austvoll, IAKH. Open for all.
Time and place: Nov. 20, 2015 2:15 PM–4:00 PM, Blindernveien 11, room 2
The Laacher See eruption (13k BP) and ‘eventful’ culture change in northern Europe
Guest lecture by Felix Riede, Aarhus University. Open for all.
Time and place: Nov. 10, 2015 3:15 PM–5:00 PM, Blindernveien 11, room 2
Metal detecting and archaeology: Experiences from the UK and Finland
Guest lecture by Suzie Thomas (University of Helsinki). Open for all.
Time and place: Sep. 25, 2015 2:15 PM–4:00 PM, Blindernveien 11, room 2
Changing relations among the living and the dead during the British Early Bronze Age: A case study
Guest lecture by Chris Fowler (Newcastle University). Open for all.
Time and place: Sep. 24, 2015 2:15 PM–4:00 PM, Blindernveien 11, room 2
Disorder in Crystals: Where Chemistry, Biology and Archaeology Meet
Guest lecture with professor Steve Weiner, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. Open for all.
Time and place: Feb. 6, 2015 2:15 PM–4:00 PM, Auditorium 3, Kjemisk institutt, Sem Sælandsvei 26
About the lecture
The order of atoms in a crystal is never perfect. The disorder reflects the environment in which the crystal grows, the rate of growth and the mechanism of formation. It is widely assumed that most crystals grow from a saturated solution by the adsorption of ions onto the crystal surface. Studies of the manner in which organisms form minerals (known as biomineralization) revealed an alternate route: the initial formation of a highly disordered solid phase, that then transforms into a crystal by a process that involves particle accretion. The extent of atomic disorder of the mature crystals, as determined by a new method using infrared spectroscopy, reflects the mode of crystal growth and thus varies between species within the same taxon, and sometimes even within the same organism.
Calcite (calcium carbonate) crystals are commonly produced by organisms, and are often abundant constituents of archaeological sites in the form of limestone and chalk rocks and surfaces, ash from the burning of wood and plaster from the decomposition of limestone followed by its recarbonation. These archaeological calcites vary with respect to their atomic disorder signatures. These signatures can be used to differentiate between the different types of calcites found in archaeological sites, and their states of preservation.
Changes in atomic disorder in clay crystals may reflect exposure to different temperatures, and in bone crystals the state of preservation of the bone mineral. Atomic disorder in crystals is just one of many different ways in which instruments can reveal interesting aspects of the archaeological record that cannot be seen only by the naked eye. We refer to the process whereby the microscopic archaeological record is revealed with the help of instruments, as microarchaeology, and we apply this approach during the active excavation wherever possible.
About Steve Weiner
Steve Weiner (1948) was born in Pretoria, South Africa. He obtained a BSc degree in chemistry and geology at the University of Cape Town, an MSc in geochemistry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a PhD at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, USA in 1977 working in the field of mineral formation in biology (biomineralization). In the same year he joined the faculty of the Weizmann Institute. Steve Weiner carries out research in two fields: biomineralization and archaeological science. In 1989 he published a book entitled “On Biomineralization” with the late Prof H.A. Lowenstam, and in 2010 he published another book entitled “Microarchaeology: Beyond the Visible Archaeological Record”.
He is the recipient of the 2010 prize of the Israel Chemical Society, the 2011 Aminoff Prize for Crystallography from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and he received the 2013 Pomerance Award for Scientific Contributions to Archaeology from the Archaeological Institute of America.
2014
Bad Death and Deviant Burials in the Early Middle Ages
Leszek Gardela will talk about deviant burials from Viking Age Scandinavia and Central Europe in a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on archaeology, anthropology and folklore. This event is open to everyone.
Time and place: Feb. 7, 2014 2:15 PM–4:00 PM, Blindernveien 1, room 2
The last decade has seen a growing academic and popular interest in early medieval mortuary archaeology. Several scholars from the UK, Scandinavia and Poland have begun to look more closely at funerary practices which deviated from the norm and involved pre- or post-mortem decapitation, placing stones on the cadavers or burying the dead in prone position. Over the years these practices have been given various labels in academic literature.
In Western and Northern Europe they are often described as ‘atypical’ or ‘deviant’ burials, whereas in Poland a frequently occurring (yet very problematic) term is ‘anti-vampire burials’. When placed in a broader context the reasons for non-normative treatment of the dead appear to have been manifold and diverse – i.e. they may have been the result of popular superstition (fear of revenants), human sacrifice, violent executions, judicial practices or unfortunate accidents.
Leszek Gardela is an associate professor at the Institute of Archaeology, Rzeszów University, Poland og research fellow ved Snorrastofa – Medieval and Cultural Centre in Reykholt, Iceland.