Rune Iversen
Biographic Data
| ID | 634776 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rune Iversen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rune |
| FAMILY NAME | Iversen |
| SIGNATURE | IVERSEN R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Copenhagen |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7618-625X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 37 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 64 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Gamifying the Past
This article is a proof-of-concept that archaeologists can now disseminate archaeological topics to the public easily and cheaply through video games in teaching situations or in museum or heritage communication. We argue that small but realistic, interactive, and immersive closed- or open-world 3D video games about cultural heritage with unscripted (but guardrailed) oral conversation can now be created by beginners with free software such as Unr…
Counting and comparing
As Neolithic figurative finds – that is to say anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, vessels, applications and impressions – were uncovered in Europe and the Near East, it was quickly apparent that they all shared common features over several millennia and thousands of kilometres: they were made of clay, usually depicted women, and were found in settlements. This led to cross-cultural comparisons and, in turn, wide-ranging interpretations reg…
Sun stones and the darkened sun
The discovery of more than 600 whole and fragmentary engraved stone plaques in the early third millennium BC infill from the ditches of a causewayed enclosure at Vasagård, on the Danish island of Bornholm, represents a unique find in Neolithic miniature art. Termed 'sun stones' in reference to the rayed images that characterise many of the plaques, the stones were deposited en masse over a short period. This article offers a fundamental classific…
Figurative Representations in the North European Neolithic—Are They There
This article offers a comprehensive survey of figurative finds from Neolithic northern Europe. The survey shows that the immediate absence of figurative representation in the region is real and that the almost complete lack of figuration stands out from the previous Mesolithic and the contemporary northern and northeastern European Neolithic hunter-gatherer groups. Furthermore, the absence of figurative representations contrasts strongly with the…
Ginnerup Revisited. New Excavations at a Key Neolithic Site on Djursland, Denmark
New excavations of an enclosure-related site at Ginnerup on Djursland, Denmark, in 2020 resulted in the identification of several features containing depositions of marine shells. One of these, A4, is a natural depression with a fill comprised of four consecutively deposited layers, forming an undisturbed stratigraphy, dated by several 14C dates to between c. 3150 and 2950 BC. The oldest layer contained finds from phase MN A Ib of the Funnel Beak…
The Blurry Third Millennium. “Neolithisation” in a Norwegian Context
In this article, we critically review recurrent tropes, implicit frameworks, and unexplained concepts in current research on the process of “Neolithisation” in the western part of southern Norway. Two models are on offer, as also seen elsewhere in the European research: either 1) the transition to agriculture is rapid and substantially carried by migrants, or 2) the Late Neolithic transition builds on a long history of local adaptation. After out…
Muddying the Waters
This paper explores the current narratives of migration for the start and spread of the Neolithic with a particular focus on the role that the new ancient DNA data have provided. While the genetic data are important and instructive, here it is argued that archaeologists should also consider other strands of evidence. More nuanced appreciations of migration as a long-term process can be created by exploring modern mobility studies alongside consid…
The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasian steppes
Domestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare 1 . However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling 2–4 at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 bc 3 . Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia 5 and Anatolia 6 , have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic,…
Titelseiten
Reconsidering the Pitted Ware chronology
The Pitted Ware culture continues to attract attention from scholars. Being chronologically situated in the Neolithic, the Pitted Ware phenomenon breaks with our traditional view on cultural and social evolution by representing a return to, or continuation of, an otherwise abandoned hunter-gatherer lifestyle. One of the key issues for trying to understand the Pitted Ware Culture is its chronology – when and where did this phenomenon emerge for th…
Neolithic Cupmarks from Vasagård on Bornholm, Denmark
This article presents the first evidence for cupmarks in the southern Scandinavian Middle Neolithic, in the form of two cupmarked stones recovered during excavations at the Neolithic enclosures of Vasagård on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. Until now, cupmarks, which are frequently found on dolmen capstones, have been associated with the rich and figurative rock art known from the Bronze Age ( c . 1700–500 bc ). The evidence from Vasagå…
Big-Men and Small Chiefs
This paper investigates to what extent the significant material changes observable at the end of the Neolithic reflect transformations of the underlying social dynamics. Answering this question will help us to understand the formation of Bronze Age societies. The analysis concerns southern Scandinavia with a certain focus on Denmark. The assumption is that the creation of Bronze Age societies must be understood as a long formative process that pa…
Re-theorising mobility and the formation of culture and language among the Corded Ware Culture in Europe
Talking Neolithic
In this article, we approach the Neolithization of southern Scandinavia from an archaeolinguistic perspective. Farming arrived in Scandinavia with the Funnel Beaker culture by the turn of the fourth millennium B.C.E. It was superseded by the Single Grave culture, which as part of the Corded Ware horizon is a likely vector for the introduction of Indo-European speech. As a result of this introduction, the language spoken by individuals from the Fu…
Arrowheads as indicators of interpersonal violence and group identity among the Neolithic Pitted Ware hunters of southwestern Scandinavia
Bronze Age acrobats
A Danish eighteenth-century find of some bronze figurines tells the story of the practising of similar ritual performances across Bronze Age Europe from Egypt to Scandinavia. The Danish figurines, as well as Swedish rock carvings, show backwards-bending female acrobats doing backward handsprings. The exact same appearance is found on Egyptian depictions related to ceremonies and festivals.OnMinoan Crete backwards-bent acrobats are related to bull…
The People from East – Migration as an Explanation
The Pitted Ware Way – Towards an Independent Self-Perception
Rooted In A Mesolithic Tradition – The Sub-Neolithic Societies
Pitted Ware Settlement Sites
Verifying the Tanged Point Chronology
The Archaeological Record
Zones of Pitted Ware Activity
Concluding Remarks
Towards a New Understanding – Reconsidering the Pitted Ware Complex
Re-theorising mobility and the formation of culture and language among the Corded Ware Culture in Europe
Talking Neolithic
In this article, we approach the Neolithization of southern Scandinavia from an archaeolinguistic perspective. Farming arrived in Scandinavia with the Funnel Beaker culture by the turn of the fourth millennium B.C.E. It was superseded by the Single Grave culture, which as part of the Corded Ware horizon is a likely vector for the introduction of Indo-European speech. As a result of this introduction, the language spoken by individuals from the Fu…
Figurative Representations in the North European Neolithic—Are They There
This article offers a comprehensive survey of figurative finds from Neolithic northern Europe. The survey shows that the immediate absence of figurative representation in the region is real and that the almost complete lack of figuration stands out from the previous Mesolithic and the contemporary northern and northeastern European Neolithic hunter-gatherer groups. Furthermore, the absence of figurative representations contrasts strongly with the…
Reconsidering the Pitted Ware chronology
The Pitted Ware culture continues to attract attention from scholars. Being chronologically situated in the Neolithic, the Pitted Ware phenomenon breaks with our traditional view on cultural and social evolution by representing a return to, or continuation of, an otherwise abandoned hunter-gatherer lifestyle. One of the key issues for trying to understand the Pitted Ware Culture is its chronology – when and where did this phenomenon emerge for th…
Neolithic Cupmarks from Vasagård on Bornholm, Denmark
This article presents the first evidence for cupmarks in the southern Scandinavian Middle Neolithic, in the form of two cupmarked stones recovered during excavations at the Neolithic enclosures of Vasagård on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. Until now, cupmarks, which are frequently found on dolmen capstones, have been associated with the rich and figurative rock art known from the Bronze Age ( c . 1700–500 bc ). The evidence from Vasagå…
Bronze Age acrobats
A Danish eighteenth-century find of some bronze figurines tells the story of the practising of similar ritual performances across Bronze Age Europe from Egypt to Scandinavia. The Danish figurines, as well as Swedish rock carvings, show backwards-bending female acrobats doing backward handsprings. The exact same appearance is found on Egyptian depictions related to ceremonies and festivals.OnMinoan Crete backwards-bent acrobats are related to bull…
Counting and comparing
As Neolithic figurative finds – that is to say anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines, vessels, applications and impressions – were uncovered in Europe and the Near East, it was quickly apparent that they all shared common features over several millennia and thousands of kilometres: they were made of clay, usually depicted women, and were found in settlements. This led to cross-cultural comparisons and, in turn, wide-ranging interpretations reg…
Sun stones and the darkened sun
The discovery of more than 600 whole and fragmentary engraved stone plaques in the early third millennium BC infill from the ditches of a causewayed enclosure at Vasagård, on the Danish island of Bornholm, represents a unique find in Neolithic miniature art. Termed 'sun stones' in reference to the rayed images that characterise many of the plaques, the stones were deposited en masse over a short period. This article offers a fundamental classific…
The Blurry Third Millennium. “Neolithisation” in a Norwegian Context
In this article, we critically review recurrent tropes, implicit frameworks, and unexplained concepts in current research on the process of “Neolithisation” in the western part of southern Norway. Two models are on offer, as also seen elsewhere in the European research: either 1) the transition to agriculture is rapid and substantially carried by migrants, or 2) the Late Neolithic transition builds on a long history of local adaptation. After out…
Big-Men and Small Chiefs
This paper investigates to what extent the significant material changes observable at the end of the Neolithic reflect transformations of the underlying social dynamics. Answering this question will help us to understand the formation of Bronze Age societies. The analysis concerns southern Scandinavia with a certain focus on Denmark. The assumption is that the creation of Bronze Age societies must be understood as a long formative process that pa…
The Pitted Ware Complex in a Large Scale Perspective
The People from East – Migration as an Explanation
The Pitted Ware Way – Towards an Independent Self-Perception
Rooted In A Mesolithic Tradition – The Sub-Neolithic Societies
Pitted Ware Settlement Sites
Verifying the Tanged Point Chronology
The Archaeological Record
Zones of Pitted Ware Activity
Concluding Remarks
Towards a New Understanding – Reconsidering the Pitted Ware Complex
Some Shorter Notes about the Pitted Ware Economy
The Pitted Ware Story so Far – And What Next
In a World of Worlds
L’auteur s’interesse ici a la culture de la ceramique perforee au Danemark dans ses developpements culturels, economiques, chronologiques et geographiques. Differents points tels que la culture materielle, la repartition des differentes occupations ou encore celle des tombes megalithiques sont examines dans le but de mieux comprendre les raisons de son evolution culturelle particuliere
The Use of Monumental Tombs
Another World – Neolithic Europe
Placing the Pitted Ware Horizon Chronologically
Some Chronological Issues
In a World of Worlds – The Pitted Ware Horizon seen from Above
Preconditions for a New Understanding – The Funnel Beaker Legacy
Catalouge
The Pitted Ware Complex in a Large Scale Perspective
Funnel Beaker Sites, Hunting Sites and Environmental Changes
Bronze Age acrobats
A Danish eighteenth-century find of some bronze figurines tells the story of the practising of similar ritual performances across Bronze Age Europe from Egypt to Scandinavia. The Danish figurines, as well as Swedish rock carvings, show backwards-bending female acrobats doing backward handsprings. The exact same appearance is found on Egyptian depictions related to ceremonies and festivals.OnMinoan Crete backwards-bent acrobats are related to bull…
Arrowheads as indicators of interpersonal violence and group identity among the Neolithic Pitted Ware hunters of southwestern Scandinavia
Big-Men and Small Chiefs
This paper investigates to what extent the significant material changes observable at the end of the Neolithic reflect transformations of the underlying social dynamics. Answering this question will help us to understand the formation of Bronze Age societies. The analysis concerns southern Scandinavia with a certain focus on Denmark. The assumption is that the creation of Bronze Age societies must be understood as a long formative process that pa…
Re-theorising mobility and the formation of culture and language among the Corded Ware Culture in Europe
History (32 works) · Geography (27 works) · History (27 works) · Archaeology (26 works) · Ancient history (23 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (20 works) · Art (8 works) · Historical and Archaeological Studies (7 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (7 works) · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies (5 works)