Bertil Almgren (27 September 1918 – 4 March 2011) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

archaeologist and the son of Oscar Almgren, the country's first archaeology professor. Following

Sune Lindqvist Sune Lindqvist (20 March 1887 – 23 March 1976) was a Swedish archaeologist and scholar. He worked at the Swedish History Museum, where he was responsible for the finds from the boat graves at Valsgärde, and later at Uppsala University, where h ...

, he was a professor at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

from 1965 to 1984.

Early life and education

Almgren was the son of Oscar Almgren, Sweden's first professor of Scandinavian and Comparative Archaeology. Bertil Almgren was born when his father was in his 50s and going blind, and so as a child would read him scholarly texts out loud. He would also accompany his father to the

Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities also called simply the Royal Academy of Letters or Vitterhetsakademien abbreviated KVHAA ( or or ) is the Sweden, Swedish Swedish Royal Academies, royal academy for the Humanities. Its ...

, taking notes of lectures and discussions. Educated in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

, he graduated in 1936, and obtained his Ph.D. in 1955.

Career

In 1956 Almgren he became a lecturer in Uppsala, a position he kept until 1962. That year he became a university lecturer, and in 1965 he succeeded Mårten Stenberger as a professor of Scandinavian and Comparative Archaeology. Almgren focused his research on the Northern

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

, but included in his studies the periods from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

to historical times. He traveled extensively for his research, including across Europe, to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. In the 1930s he excavated with Axel W. Persson in

Dendra Dendra () is a prehistoric archaeological site situated outside the village with the same name belonging to the municipality of Midea in the Argolid, Greece. The site was inhabited during the Neolithic and Early Helladic periods, and is known f ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, and twenty years later he excavated in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

with Carl Nylander ( sv) and Hans Henning von der Osten ( de). One of Almgren's major works was ''Vikingen'', later translated into English as "The Viking" as well as into Danish, Norwegian, German, French, Italian, Dutch, and perhaps other languages. The book was a collaboration between Almgren as researcher and an illustrator, and provided a popular account of the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

, and one of the most influential.

Personal life

Almgren was married to Inga Almgren (born Henning), who died in the summer of 2010. He died in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

on 4 March 2011.

Publications

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Almgren, Bertil Swedish archaeologists 1918 births 2011 deaths Academic staff of Uppsala University