Category Archives: New publications

The Stones and Mortars of the Medieval Cathedral on the Faroe Islands

Posted on September 5, 2024 by Per Storemyr

Presented in Tórshavn earlier this year, “The Cathedral of Kirkjubøur” is a book covering all you ever wanted to know about building a big Gothic church in the middle of the North Atlantic – 700 years ago, and far away from contemporary European centres of stone architecture. Edited by Kirstin S. Eliasen and Morten Stige, the book contains 18 papers with various perspectives on the archaeology and building history. My contribution is written together with Faroese geologist Uni Árting: How were stone and lime procured on a remote archipelago that basically consist of basalt? Read on and download PDF of our paper. Continue reading →

Posted in New publications | Tagged ancient stone quarrying, basalt, building stone, Faroe islands, Kirkjubøur, lime mortar, medieval cathedral, old quarries, sea shell, soapstone | 6 Comments

Småskala kalkbrenning. Geologisk mangfold i kulturminnevernets tjeneste

Posted on December 16, 2023 by Per Storemyr

Sammen med Tore Granmo og Terje Berner har jeg en tid prøvd å sammenstille våre erfaringer med småskala kalkbrenning, nesten 50 i tallet. Nå er artikkelen publisert i Fortidsminneforeningens årbok for 2023. Vi tar for oss trekk av kalkhistorien siden … Continue reading →

Posted in lime burning, Monument conservation, New publications, Norway | Tagged kalk, kalkbrenning, kalkmørtel, kalkovn, kalkstein, marmor, tradisjonshåndverk, tradisjonskalk | 5 Comments

New paper in new book: The ancient game traps across Lower Nubia

Posted on March 19, 2022 by Per Storemyr

A much awaited book, “The Gazelle’s Dream: Game Drives of the Old and New Worlds”, edited by Alison Betts and W. Paul van Pelt, was published a few months ago. The book is the first dealing with, on a global … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, New publications | Tagged Ancient Egypt, Ancient Nubia, game drives, gazelle, hunting, Lower Nubia | 1 Comment

Rock art and red-coated bedrock in Alta, Arctic Norway

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Per Storemyr

Over the past few years Karin Tansem of the Alta World Heritage Rock Art Centre and I have investigated the hypothesis that the famous rock engravings in Alta originally was made on strongly red-coloured bedrock along the seashore. The post-glacial land uplift has subsequently displaced the rock art and the colour has almost completely waned, leaving the rocks dull grey, as we know them today. Now we are happy that our work is finally published as an open-access paper, with Karin as driving force and lead author, in the international journal Geoarchaeology! Here’s the abstract explaining the phenomenon and its implications, and a link to the full paper. Continue reading →

Posted in New publications, Norway, Rock art | Tagged aesthetics, Alta, Alta rock art, Norway, red colour, rock art, sandstone, UNESCO World Heritage, weathering | 1 Comment

Selja kloster: Hvor kom middelalderens kalkmørtel fra?

Posted on September 6, 2019 by Per Storemyr

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 | 1 Comment

Happy New Year to clients, partners and followers! With photos from work and excursions in 2018

Posted on January 2, 2019 by Per Storemyr

I wish clients, partners and followers of my website a Happy and Prosperous New Year! I am glad for the trust you have shown my little company and me in 2018. And I look forward to aid in conservation and archaeological work at monuments, old stone quarries and rock art sites in 2019. Below is a gallery of photos from some of the sites I worked at and visited on excursions last year. Also, a list of reports, publications and web-articles finalised in 2018 is attached. They give a glimpse of activities, many of which will continue. See you in the new year! Continue reading →

Posted in Monument conservation, New projects, New publications, New reports, Norway, Old quarries, Rock art | Tagged conservation, Italy, Norway, Romania | 1 Comment

Burning sea shells to make quicklime

Posted on November 10, 2018 by Per Storemyr

Burning sea shells to make quicklime once was a great tradition in the North-Atlantic region. In Millstone Park, Hyllestad (W-Norway), we have built two limekilns, reviving old lime burning traditions, involving craftspeople, volunteers and the public. Recently we burnt sea shells to make lime paint and mortar! Read about the experiment in a new poster and web article. Continue reading →

Posted in New projects, New publications, Uncategorized | Tagged experimental archaeology, Hyllestad, lime, lime burning, limekiln, Millstone Park, scallop, sea shell | 2 Comments

The world’s northernmost medieval marble church

Posted on January 27, 2018 by Per Storemyr

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 | Leave a comment

Værnes: Norges mest komplette sandsteinskirke fra middelalderen

Posted on December 17, 2017 by Per Storemyr

Den er dekorert med elementer av kleberstein og klorittskifer, men ellers er det sandstein så langt øyet kan se: Værnes er Norges mest komplette sandsteinskirke fra middelalderen! Den rager i størrelse og volum av brukt sandstein langt over middelalderbyggverk i tilsvarende stein i andre deler av landet! Her er et sammendrag av min artikkel til boken «Værnes kirke – en kulturskatt i stein og tre» som ble utgitt for et par uker siden (november 2016). Det er Grubleseminaret som står bak, med Morten Stige og Kjell Erik Pettersson som fantastiske redaktører av boken! Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, New publications, Norway, Old quarries | Tagged chlorite schist, Norway, quarry, sandstone, soapstone, Værnes kirke | 1 Comment

Was Nidaros Cathedral built from stone extracted in a large underground Medieval quarry?

Posted on October 9, 2017 by Per Storemyr

Ancient underground building stone quarries are rather common. They are known since at least the Old Kingdom in Egypt, some 6 500 years ago, when fine limestone was quarried underground close to Cairo (Tura) in order to provide casing stones to the Giza pyramids. But underground quarries are, interestingly, quite rare in the European Middle Ages. Apparently, there was no need to start difficult, large-scale underground operations to build churches, monasteries and cathedrals until the Late Middle Ages, when, for example, the underground limestone quarries in Paris and Caen in France started to become developed toward the gigantic network of tunnels and galleries we know today. Thus, it is remarkable that a huge underground quarry may have been opened around AD 1200 in Trondheim, Norway, in order to provide soapstone for Nidaros Cathedral, the northernmost of Europe’s great medieval cathedrals. Why? Continue reading →