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Book: The Stones of Nidaros Cathedral
Book: QuarryScapes
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Category Archives: Marble
Partner in the Borgund Kaupang Project – on the rise and fall of a medieval town
My company is proud partner in the Borgund Kaupang Project (2019-2023), on the rise and fall of a “lost” medieval town. The project is coordinated by the University of Bergen and financed by the Norwegian Research Council. Together with Alf Tore Hommedal, my task is to source building materials such as marble, soapstone and lime for mortar and to interpret the whole building process, from quarries to churches. Thanks a lot to project manager Gitte Hansen, Therese Nesset and a great international team for a fine kick-off meeting in Ålesund last week! Continue reading
Posted in Marble, New projects, Norway, Old quarries
Tagged Borgund Kaupang, Borgundkaupangen, life in the middle ages, lime, lime mortar, marble, Middle Ages, soapstone
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Selja kloster: Hvor kom middelalderens kalkmørtel fra?
Det har en stund vært kjent at hvit og fin marmor ble brent for å lage kalkmørtel til byggingen av Selja kloster i middelalderen. Men hvor ble det brent? Hvor kommer marmoren fra? Her ute i havgapet, langt vest i Norge, er det ingen marmorforekomster. Man må til Sunnmøre eller Bergenstraktene for å finne marmor. Til marmor på Sunnmøre er det ikke langt, bare 20 km i luftlinje. Men i veien står Norges farligste hav, Stadhavet. I middelalderen ble bygningsmaterialer fraktet med båt! Turte man å gå 50-60 km på dette farlige havet, attpåtil med ytterst farlig brentkalk i lasten? Fraktet man heller ubrent kalk? Eller tok man heller den lange turen sørfra, mer enn 250 km? Vi har ennå ikke svaret, men med undersøkelser innen Riksantikvarens bevaringsprogram for ruiner begynner vi å nærme oss. Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology, Marble, New projects, New publications, Norway, Old quarries
Tagged georkeologi, kalkbrenning, kalkovn, lime burning, lime mortar, limekiln, marble, Middle Ages, Selja, Sunnmøre
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The limekiln at Hyllestad, Western Norway: Rebuilding a new, “historic” kiln for burning lime
Last year we built a limekiln at Millstone Park in Hyllestad, Western Norway, reported on this website. The kiln was built in a traditional fashion, following Roman and Medieval principles. Experimental archaeology! After one burn, which gave excellent quicklime, the kiln was, unfortunately, badly damaged. Cracks in the masonry! So we had to rebuild the kiln to be able to produce more quicklime! Over the last few months a team of professional, Norwegian masons and local volunteers, 15 people altogether, has undertaken the task: Just a little more work to be done, and soon we’ll have two(!) limekilns, one big and one small – for producing “historic” quicklime in the years to come. For restoring old stone buildings.
Below, you will find a report of the rebuilding, written in Norwegian. Use Google Translate if you are not familiar with the language. The report is written by me and was first published on the website of Millstone Park (kvernsteinsparken.no) a couple of days ago. I work part-time as an Associate Professor for Millstone Park and I am project leader and responsible for building, rebuilding and running the limekiln. Great combination of craft and theory, experimental archaeology! But I’m also involved, privately and through my company, Archaeology & Conservation Services, as a local volunteer. Building and running a historic limekiln is a very big task, many months of work for many people! And though the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage is a generous sponsor of the project, voluntary work is indispensable. Thank you all! And here’s the report, with many videos and photos: Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology, Marble, New projects, Norway
Tagged Hyllestad, Kvernsteinsparken, limekiln, marble, Norway
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The world’s northernmost medieval marble church
The small, Romanesque Gildeskål church is one of the most complete marble churches in Norway. It resides at the magnificent coast along the Atlantic Ocean far up north, in Nordland county. And it is, presumably, the northernmost marble building in the world. Together with Giske church further south, it is part of outstanding, but little known, medieval marble architecture in Norway, of which Nidaros Cathedral, with thousands of marble columns, is the most spectacular example. Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology, Marble, New publications, Norway, Old quarries
Tagged Cultural heritage, Gildeskål, marble, Middle Ages, North Atlantic, Norway, old quarries, quarry
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Experimental archaeology: Building a “classic”, intermittent limekiln and burning marble at Millstone Park, Hyllestad, Western Norway
It took us about six months: Building a cylindrical limekiln of the classic Roman/Medieval type with local materials only – stone rubble and clay. In June this year, we built the firing chamber and filled the kiln with 2.5 tons of local marble, covered the kiln with clay on a layer of spruce branches and started burning. Five days and five nights with much of the local community involved! Here’s an extended photo story of the project – the first of its kind in Norway. The quicklime (burnt marble) will be tested at Selja medieval monastery and other restoration projects in Norway. Thanks to all paid and volunteers and support from The ruin restoration programme of the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage, as well as Hyllestad Municipality! The project was carried out by The Norwegian Millstone Centre/The Museums in Sogn og Fjordane County. Continue reading
Posted in Marble, Monument conservation, New projects, Norway
Tagged experimental archaeology, Hyllestad, kalkbrenning, kalkovn, lime burning, limekiln, marble
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