University of Oslo

Faculty Member, Department of Archaeology, Museum of Cultural History

Head of Department

Thesis Title: Germanic social structure

About

Archaeology is an interdisciplinary approach. Only through new methods and theories will we stop making data repetition and start reaching new knowledge. This approach has brought me from Northern European studies of early state formation in late migration period early Viking Age (thesis 1998 and paper in press) to the Teouma excavation in Vanuatu (Pacific), directed by S. Bedford and M. Spriggs. I am responsible for digital data documentation there (2008 and 2009). Themes that I have crossed and taught on the way are: migrations, colonisation, ethnicity, regionality studies, burials and rituals, settlement archaeology, ethnoarchaeology, GIS and database organisation of excavational data. I have more than a decade experience in directing field work at large scale projects.   

I am currently involved in several major projects:

1) The first is an ARC (Australian Research Council) Discovery grant headed by Professor Matthew Spriggs and ARC QEII Fellow, Dr Stuart Bedford, in the Pacific islands of Vanuatu. The project is called: “Persistence and Transformation in Ancestral Oceanic Society: the archaeology of the first 1500 years in the Vanuatu archipelago”. This project will run from 2008-2012 and will involve excavations at several major Vanuatu sites dating to between about 3000 and 1500 years ago. I manage digital data, the end goal being research and publications. (se link: forsknings.no)

2) My second project (2010--)is a project where the ethnogenesis of the Germanic people (AD 200-1300) in Denmark is synthesised in a multi-ethnic perspective.

3) The third project (2011-2012): "Viste boy revived" is a joint collaboration with mainly forensic artist Jenny Barber on the reconstruction of the skull of the Viste boy– an important find from Rogaland in south-western Norway and the oldest known skeleton of a boy from the early Stone Age in Norway (8222 BP-Cal). This reconstruction revealed a healthy-looking boy but also an abnormal elongation to the skull

4)The fourth project (2010-2011) is a research-preparing network project funded by the (NFR) Norwegian Research Council, and directed by Dr. Håkon Glørstad at Historical Museum in Oslo. I am coordinator for the network "Agrarian settlement in Norway" - a research project that is aimed at creating a better understanding of aspects of agrarian settlement where the emperical basis will be formed by material from rescue excavations in the collections of the five University Museums in Norway. 

5) The last is a newly established research program of Scientific Archaeological Laboratory studies (SALS) at University of Stavanger of which I am coordinator. More information to follow.

 
Selected publications:

Ravn, M. 2011a: Ethnographic analogy from the Pacific: just as analogical as any other analogy. In: Debates in World Archaeology in: World Archaeology Vol. 43(4): 716–725. Debates in World Archaeology ª 2011 Taylor & Francis ISSN 0043-8243

Ravn, M. 2011b. The Early Neolithic Volling site of Kildevang- its chronology and intra-spatial organisation. In: Early Pottery in the Baltic – Dating, Origin and Social Context. in Bericht der römisch germanische Kommission 2011.

Ravn, M. 2003. Death Ritual and Germanic Social Structure. British Archaeological Reports. International Series 1164 (Archaeopress, 2003). Oxford.



Popular research report:

Vandkilde, H., Suhr Nielsen, C., Rasmussen,A.E., Ravn, M. & Varberg, J. 2007. Globalisering i fortid og nutid
Aarhus Universitets antropologiske og arkæologiske feltarbejde i Manus, Papua New Guinea 2006-2007 (se link)

Journal articles:

Ravn, M. 2009: Hammel- en jernalderplads i Østjylland. In: AmS Varia 49, (eds. Nitter, M. & Pedersen, E.S.), 53-66.

Ravn, M. 2004. De danske arkæologiske museers vidensproduktion og dennes skiftende samfundsrelevans i et historisk perspektiv. [a CRM polemic summary of the antiquarian system in Denmark and on the need to prioritise] 2004. In:”Museernes historie og teori” (eds.). Rune Gade et al. 2004, Pp. 49-60. Copenhagen University.

Ravn, M. 2000. The use of symbols in burials in Migration Age Europe - A theoretical and methodological approach”. In: Form, Function & Context. Material Culture studies in Scandinavian archaeology. (eds. Deborah Olausson & Helle Vandkilde), Acta Archaeologica Lundensia, series in 8, No. 31, Lund 2000, Pp. 275-297.

Ravn, M. 1999. Nybro. En trævej fra Kong Godfreds tid. [English summary]: Nybro – A wooden track from the age of King Godfred].  In: KUML: 1999, Pp. 227-257

Ravn, M. 1999. “Kan vi erkende religion i forhistoriske grave?”. In: L.Bredholdt Christensen & S.Sveen (eds.), Religion og materiel kultur. Aarhus University Press, 1999, Pp. 78-93.

Ravn, M. 1997. Med Müller til Aftenselskab i Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek”, (English summary). In: Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie 1996 (1997), Pp. 153-171.

Ravn, M. 1993. "Analogy in Danish prehistoric studies". In: Norwegian Archaeological Review 26:2 (1993), Pp. 59-75.

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