Reflections on Jørgen Jensen: The Prehistory of Denmark: from the Stone Age to the Vikings – Gyldendal, Copenhagen, 2013

In the Danish version, Jørgen Jensen’s Prehistory of Denmark is presented as the continuation of an archaeological tradition going back to 1843. Jensen’s work is the fourth, and what is common to these archaeological descriptions of our past is that they discuss our Danish origin and identity, related to the worldview of Romanticism, and reflect the most important issues at the time of their publication. The background is that Denmark was reduced to a very small state during this period, that Danes migrated to the area after the Ice Age, and that we have lived on the periphery of cultural evolution and civilisation. By presenting his predecessors’ reflections on such issues, I analyse aspects of Jensen’s work from this perspective

Steen Bergendorff: Europas udvikling. Skiftende livsbetingelser og individualisme

Anmeldes af Ole Høiris &nbsp

Poul Hansen Egede - en grønlandsk forsker i 1700-tallet

En boganmeldelse af Pul Hansen Egedes bog: En grønlandsk forsker i 1700-tallet

Pierre Bourdieu og antropologi

Pierre Bourdieu er de seneste år blevet en central skikkelse i den humanistiske forskning over et meget bredt felt. Det skyldes dels en lang række spændende studier af vidt forskellige forhold i det moderne samfund, dels en metodisk tilgang til sit materiale, som synes at løse nogle af de centrale problemer, der i hele dette århundrede har optaget humanister og samfundsforskere

C. M. Hann: Socialism: Ideals, Ideologies and Local Practice

C. M. Hann: Socialism: Ideals, Ideologies and Local Practice Anmeldes af Ole Høiri

De Dødes Liv / The Life of the Dead

[Danish] Bornholmeruret i stuens hjørne vækker minder om bedstemor, boulevarden gennem byen husker os på, hvem der er landets største digter, og på bestemte datoer går vi hen og kigger lidt usikkert på en mosbegroet sten med et navn, to datoer og måske et par kærlige ord. Så selvom de ikke er her mere, omgiver vi os alligevel på den ene eller anden måde med vores afdøde slægtninge, nære venner, glorificerede helte og fjerne forfædre. Endda også i det snusfornuftige Danmark, hvor vi siden reformationen i 1500-tallet ellers har gjort vort bedste for at afbryde kontakten med dem på den anden side. De dødes liv krydser dog langt uden for landets grænser i undersøgelsen af åndernes verden. En række forskere fra forskellige fagområder, men primært antropologi breder perspektivet ud og ser nærmere på, hvordan mennesker i blandt andet Sibirien, Mexico, Uganda, Australien og Papua Ny Guinea fortsat lever i nær kontakt med de afdøde. ─ Så husk som en lille trøst: Vi skal alle dø, men de døde lever videre. [English] The Bornholm clock in the corner of the lounge room evokes memories about grandmother, the Boulevard through the city center reminds us, who the country’s greatest writer is, and on certain dates we go and look a bit uncertain at a moss covered stone with a name, two dates and perhaps a few loving words inscribed on it. Thus, although they are no longer here, we surround us somehow with our dead relatives, close friends, glorified heroes and distant ancestors. Also in modern-smart Denmark, where since the Reformation of the 16th century we have done our best to disengage with those on the other side. The book ‘The life of the dead’ travels far outside of Denmark’s boundaries to investigate the world of the spirits. A number of researcher from different disciplines, but primarily anthropology, widen the perspective and describe how people in Siberia, Mexico, Uganda, Papua New Guinea and other places continue to live in close contact with the deceased. Thus remember as a little comfort: We all have to die, but the dead live on

Om tordenkiler, stenøkser og uddøde dyr

On thunderbolts, stone axes and extinct animalsThunderbolts, in the form of fossilised sea urchins, belemnites and flint tools, have been seen as being created by thunderstorms and as possessing magical powers in many places around the world, far back in time. This paper demonstrates how these ideas were accommodated within the Christian ideology and how it was discovered that stone axes were actually man-made tools. This realisation did though present a number of problems to which the scholars of the time had to find solutions. When and why did people use stone tools when metal was already in use seven generations after Adam? The Age of Enlightenment had the idea that people at this time had, consequent on Babylonian linguistic confusion, perhaps degenerated to base bestial proclivities, before common sense subsequently prevailed bringing forth humanity once more. Perhaps metal was completely forgotten in this context.But then a new problem arose in that, around 1800, it was realised that animals could become extinct and, consequently, that God’s Creation was not immutable. This extinction was, with due reference to the various layers in which the bones were found, explained as a succession of God-created epochs separated by a succession of cataclysmic events, with the creation of humanity about 6000 years ago as the most recent and most quintessential of the former. The discovery of what were now considered to be stone tools together with the bones of extinct animals therefore posed major analytical problems, especially for the Romantic Movement, which perceived everything as a single integrated organic entity. It was all or nothing. But maybe the Flood had not been global – were there perhaps survivors from earlier catastrophes, for example Asians and Africans?This paper shows how stories about the origin of mankind relating to stone axes must continually be explained by interpreting these in the spirit of the time. This has resulted in what we today consider to be some rather imaginative, even humorous, explanations for the discovery of stone tools. In this respect, however, the stories of the Age of Enlightenment and the Romantic Movement are perhaps no different from those we produce today. Both then and now, these finds had to have an explanation, and when it comes to the origin and development of humankind, science must find solutions which combine the spirit of the time with what are perceived as finds and what are understood as realities in relation to these finds, in order to arrive at an explanation which is acceptable at the time. This was the case back then and my aim with this paper is to encourage reflection now on what we take for granted about the remains we find from the past and to which we, with state legitimised professional authority, allocate an explanation.Ole HøirisInstitut for Kultur og SamfundAarhus Universite

Danmarks oldtid – i historisk perspektiv

The prehistory of Denmark – an historical perspectiveIn the introduction to “Danmarks Oldtid” (The Prehistory of Denmark), Jørgen Jensen aligns his work in continuation of a tradition comprising three preceding publications: Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae’s “Danmarks Oldtid – oplyst ved Oldsager og Gravhöie” from 1843, Sophus Otto Müller’s “Vor Oldtid. Danmarks forhistoriske Archæologi – almenfattelig fremstillet” from 1897 and Johannes Brøndsted’s “Danmarks Oldtid” from 1938-40. Jørgen Jensen’s “Danmarks Oldtid” was published as one volume per year between 2001 and 2004. All the above works were written by a centrally-placed archaeologist, based at the museum in Denmark where it is decided which finds should be elevated as expressions of national culture (contrary to regional) and, thereby, what should be included in a shaping of the Danish national identity. These four publications are all popular accounts with a focus on the national prehistory, presented as the being time between the first appearance of humans within the country’s borders and the introduction of Christianity. And all contribute in ways characteristic of their respective periods to an integration of this prehistory into the Danish national identity.The first works were published when romanticism’s particularistic view of the world, with a focus on people, culture, nation, history and spirit, was predominant in those circles within which the national identity was formulated. However, with time, modernity’s universal world view gradually imposed itself, a world perception which in many areas demystified romanticism and focussed instead on society, system and development.In this article, it is demonstrated how the above-mentioned works, within three different areas – prehistory’s morale, the origin of the Danish people and/or culture and history’s determinants, in the spirit of their respective times, linked prehistory to the contemporary especially romantically-inspired creation of a Danish identity. There is a focus on, for example, the ways in which the Danish people or the Danish culture are/is rendered unique; something central to a romantic perception in contrast to a modernistic one. How events are placed in the past on which we can look back with pride – otherwise prehistory would of course not be of much worth as an element of identity. How a shift occurs between the randomness of history and necessity of development, and much more which unfolds in the area between romanticism and modernity.With reference to the fact that these four works were all more or less directly linked to the production of new prehistoric exhibitions at the National Museum, this article concludes, on the occasion of Moesgård Museum’s new exhibition, with an attempt to reverse the relationship between the spirit of the times and the communication of information which formed the foundation for its first part. Some observations are made concerning the ways in which it is possible, in a museum context, to relate to a post-modern or post-industrial scenario. Where the project of development, so central to the communication of the past in books and by museums, is abolished as imperialistic and how, consequently, the point of departure has to be that any communication must challenge the post-modern, reflexive individual in the construction of its own narratives. Ole HøirisAfdeling for Antropologi og EtnografiAarhus Universite