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I work with the geoarchaeology of old stone: quarries, monuments, rock art. And I try to figure out about their weathering, and conservation using traditional crafts. I also burn lime the traditional way. My domestic services are managed through FABRICA, a registered Norwegian company established with good partners. On this website I publish articles on many aspects of cultural heritage. For the joy of old stone! Per Storemyr
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Recent posts
- Jubileum: 30 år med overvåkning av forvitringen på sørportalen til Mariakirken i Bergen
- Kalkbrenning i Romania: 2000 år med ubrutte tradisjoner
- Ny base på Sørlandet!
- Den 25. kalkbrenningen i Hyllestad. 5 år med «hjemmebrenning» og bruk av Vestlandets tradisjonskalker
- New paper in new book: The ancient game traps across Lower Nubia
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SOAPSTONE! New book on its archaeology and history!
Book: The Stones of Nidaros Cathedral
Book: QuarryScapes
Get informed! State of the Art on natural stone today:
Category Archives: New projects
Update after long absence – follow on facebook
Over the last six months I’ve been immersed in practical and scientific works and so I’ve been unable to write sensible blog posts on this website. I guess most bloggers experience something similar once in a while. If you want … Continue reading
Posted in New projects, Other
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Geoarchaeology of the famous ancient amethyst mines in Wadi el-Hudi, Egypt: Desert heritage at risk
This fall I joined the Wadi el-Hudi expedition to the famous Middle Kingdom amethyst gemstone mines in the Eastern Desert south-east of Aswan. The expedition is led by Dr. Kate Liszka of California State University San Bernardino (US), and over the last few seasons it has excavated and documented the ancient mining settlements in very high detail. My task was to take a closer look at the geoarchaeology – to try and understand relationships between geology and mining. It is hugely important to document what is left, for the ancient mining area is now at high risk from looting, modern gold mining and stone quarrying. Continue reading
Posted in Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, Heritage destruction, New projects, Old mines, Ruins
Tagged Amethyst, Ancient mining, Egypt, Middle Kingdom, Wadi el-Hudi
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Madammen som rodde langs Sørlandskysten og startet et mineraleventyr på 1700-tallet. Var det sånn i steinalderen også?
Sist sommer var jeg invitert av Kulturhistorisk museum (UiO) for å undersøke et lite kvartsbrudd fra steinalderen på Kvastad mellom Arendal og Tvedestrand. Anledningen var de arkeologiske undersøkelsene som foregår i forkant av ny E18-utbygging. Det ble nok brutt litt kvarts til redskaper på Kvastad, men det ble det sikkert også i flere forekomster langs Sørlandskysten – en region svært rik på god kvarts. Hvordan fant steinalderfolket disse forekomstene? Det slo meg at Madam Jørgensen kunne være et godt bilde på tidlig mineralleting: Hun rodde langs kysten på slutten av 1700-tallet – på let etter kvarts og feltspat. Og dermed startet et lite mineraleventyr. Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology, New projects, New reports, Norway, Old mines, Old quarries
Tagged feltspat, kvarts, Madam Jørgensen, Narestø, Neskilen, Norway, Sørlandet, Tvedestrand
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Saltforvitring på kulturminner. Om enkel analyse av salt: Lag din egen kjøkkenlab!
Over er det et bilde av noe du har sett tusen ganger før. Halitt! Vanlig koksalt. Natriumklorid. Ganske enkelt bordsalt. Havsalt! Havet inneholder jo noe sånt som 3,5% oppløst salt. Når pyttene i fjæra får stå i fred noen dager og sola skinner fra skyfri himmel, da lurer saltet seg ut. Sjøvannet fordamper og etterlater seg de fineste krystaller av ren halitt. Sånn laget man koksalt i gamle dager, handlet med det, kriget om det. For uten koksalt kan vi ikke leve. Kanskje fyrte man opp under brede kjeler med sjøvann for å få fordampningen til å gå raskere, kanskje kjøpte man salt fra store saltgruver på Kontinentet. Men prinsippet er det samme: Når saltholdig vann fordamper, da får vi krystallinsk salt. Men hva om du ikke visste at de fine krystallene i fjæra er koksalt? Og hva om du fant noe som lignet på disse krystallene på et ødelagt murmaleri eller en steinskulptur fra middelalderen? Hva gjør krystallene forresten der? Var det de som ødela? Hva gjør du da? Continue reading
Jakten på steinbruddene til middelalderens kirke og kloster på Hovedøya ved Oslo
I et aldeles praktfullt sensommervær var jeg siste uke Riksantikvarens utskremte på jakt etter de gamle steinbruddene som ble brukt til å bygge Edmundskirken og cistercienserklosteret på Hovedøya i Oslofjorden. Flere har gjort det samme før meg, men nå var … Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology, New projects, Norway, Old quarries, Ruins
Tagged Cultural heritage, Hovedøya, Norway, quarry, sandstone
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Burning rock! An update for German-speaking readers
Recently I posted a preliminary report on our successful experiments with fire setting in the Melsvik Stone Age chert quarries in Northern Norway. For some curious reason German-speaking readers were not able to watch the attached video of the experiments, perhaps due to country-specific copyright infringements related to the music following the video. “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash is, sadly, obviously not for all! In this post there is a link to another version of the video, this time without good old Johnny. And there is more for my German-speaking readers; link to a recent article in Spiegel Online, based on my original story. The fire setting experiments were carried out within the Melsvik archaeological rescue project/excavations, headed by Anja Roth Niemi of the University Museum at Tromsø Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology, New projects, Norway, Old quarries
Tagged Alta, chert, experimental archaeology, firesetting, Melsvik, Norway, quarry
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Burning rock! Experiments with fire setting at the Stone Age Melsvik chert quarries in Northern Norway
In the Melsvik Stone Age chert quarries near Alta in Northern Norway there are dozens of extraction marks that are difficult to explain by other ancient techniques than fire setting. Hence within the Melsvik archaeological project, run by the University Museum of Tromsø, last week we experimented with fire in order to substantiate that it actually formed an important method of breaking loose small and big pieces of stone. The idea was that it is not necessary with big fires and high temperatures, but that small, controlled “bonfires” are enough to create high shear stress and cracking. In this way high temperatures greatly reducing the quality of the chert for tool making are avoided. It works! Here’s a preliminary report with video. Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology, New projects, Norway, Old quarries
Tagged Alta, chert, experimental archaeology, firesetting, Melsvik, Norway, quarry
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