Martin Rundkvist (born 4 April 1972) is a Swedish archaeologist who
focuses on the Bronze, Iron, and Middle Ages of Scandinavia. He has
excavated various sites in Sweden. In a 2011 book, he identified nine
possible regional power centres in Östergötland, and attempted to
determine where the "Beowulfian mead halls" of the day once stood. Years
later at one of these sites, Aska, he uncovered the foundations of a
large mead hall, and 22 ornate gold figures that may have represented
gods or royals. Rundkvist has also catalogued the finds from Barshalder,
the largest prehistoric cemetery on Sweden's Gotland island; excavated
the boat grave of a Viking; and analysed both the placement of deposited
artefacts in the landscape and the lifestyles of élite Scandinavians
during the Middle Ages. Rundkvist authors the blog Aardvarchaeology,
which the James Randi Educational Foundation termed "the most-read
archaeology blog on the Internet". He is an associate professor at the
University of Łódź in Poland.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Rundkvist>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1873:
The Kennel Club, the world's oldest kennel club, was founded in
the United Kingdom after Sewallis Shirley became frustrated by trying to
organise dog shows without a consistent set of rules.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kennel_Club>
1905:
An earthquake hit the Kangra Valley in India, killing more than
20,000 people and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj, and
Dharamshala.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905_Kangra_earthquake>
1949:
Twelve nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty, establishing
NATO, an organization that constitutes a system of collective defense
whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an
attack by any external party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO>
1968:
American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was
assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Martin_Luther_King_Jr.>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
sensical:
That makes sense; showing internal logic; rational, sensible.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sensical>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We had thought that invasions of other countries, savage street
fighting and atomic threats were grim memories of a distant past.
However, the icy winds of war, which bring only death, destruction and
hatred in their wake, have swept down powerfully upon the lives of many
people and affected us all. Once again, some potentate, sadly caught up
in anachronistic claims of nationalist interests, is provoking and
fomenting conflicts, whereas ordinary people sense the need to build a
future that, will either be shared, or not be at all. Now in the night
of the war that is fallen upon humanity, please, let us not allow the
dream of peace to fade!
--Pope Francis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pope_Francis>