Mårten Karl Herman Stenberger (27 March 1898 – 19 January 1973) was a Swedish archaeologist, who from 1952 to 1965 served as professor of archaeology at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) 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 opera ...

. Before his professorship he took part in many excavations, including in

Öland Öland (, ; ; sometimes written ''Øland'' in other Scandinavian languages, and often ''Oland'' internationally; la, Oelandia) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area ...

, in

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

, and in

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

Early life and education

Mårten Stenberger was born on 27 March 1898 in

Göteborg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, to Karl Nilsson Stenberger, a merchant, and Beda Kristina Stenberger (née Eriksson). He obtained a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in geography, geology, mineralogy and Scandinavian and comparative archaeology, though was most interested in geology. In 1933 he obtained a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

; his dissertation, entitled ''Oland under äldre järnåldern'' ("Oland during the Early Iron Age"), is considered to be the first one in Sweden with a clear architectural-archaeological orientation.

Career

Stenberger participated in numerous excavations throughout his career. Many summers were spent excavating

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

settlements in

, Sweden's second largest island, and in the 1930s he joined a Danish excavation to

, where he dug out

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

houses. From 1934 onward, Stenberger spent his summers in Oland, and his winters lecturing in Uppsala. Further excavations from 1946 to 1950, of a town with stone houses, took place at Vallhagar ( sv) in

, and in 1955 he published a description of these in two extensive volumes. From 1952 to 1965, following after

Oscar Almgren Oscar Almgren (9 November 1869 – 13 May 1945) was a Swedish archaeologist specializing in prehistoric archaeology. He published a dissertation on Nordic types of brooches in 1897. He was also the father of Bertil Almgren, who followed in his fat ...

and

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 he ...

, and coming before

Bertil Almgren Bertil Almgren (27 September 1918 – 4 March 2011) was a Swedish archaeologist and the son of Oscar Almgren, the country's first archaeology professor. Following Sune Lindqvist, he was a professor at Uppsala University from 1965 to 1984. Early ...

, Stenberger served as a professor of archaeology at

Personal life

Mårten Stenberger died on 19 January 1973, in

Stockholm County Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or '' län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm ...

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stenberger, Marten 1898 births 1973 deaths Swedish archaeologists 20th-century archaeologists Members of the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy