Greta Arwidsson
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Greta Arwidsson (5 July 1906 – 31 January 1998) was a Swedish
archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
. Alongside other work, she is known for her study of the
Valsgärde Valsgärde or Vallsgärde is a farm on the Fyris river, about three kilometres north of Gamla Uppsala, the ancient centre of the Swedish kings and of the pagan faith in Sweden. The present farm dates from the 16th century. The farm's notability ...
graves, published from the 1940s until the 1970s.


Early life and education

Greta Arwidsson was born on 5 July 1906, in
Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat 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 inha ...
,
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 ...
. Her father's line traced to a soldier who died in the
Battle of Napue The Battle of Napue (, , ) was fought on 19 February 1714 ( O.S.) / 2 March 1714 ( N.S.) at the villages of Napue and Laurola in the Isokyrö parish of the Swedish Empire (modern Finland) between the Swedish Empire and the Tsardom of Russia. I ...
in 1714; her great-grandfather, Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, was a historian and intellectual, her grandfather, Thorsten Adolf Arwidsson ( sv), a
cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...
and naval officer, and her father, Ivar Arwidsson ( sv), a
zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
. Both parents worked at the
Nordic Museum The Nordic Museum ( sv, Nordiska museet) is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (in Swedish history, it is said to be ...
. Her mother, Anna Arwidsson (née Jacobsson), recorded oral folk tradition, and during her travels around the country collected many items for the museum's collections. Arwidsson's parents took her to public lectures as a child, including talks by
Oscar Montelius Gustav Oscar August Montelius, known as Oscar Montelius (9September 18434November 1921) was a Swedish archaeologist who refined the concept of seriation, a relative chronological dating method. Biography Oscar Montelius refined the concept ...
and
Gabriel Gustafson Gabriel Adolf Gustafson (8August 185316April 1915) was a Swedish-Norwegian archaeologist. He was responsible for the excavation and conservation of the Oseberg Ship (''Osebergfunnet'') . Biography Gabriel Gustafson was born in Visby, in Got ...
about the
Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to 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 se ...
Oseberg finds. Matriculating 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 ...
, she obtained a
Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...
in 1930 with studies in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, geography and history, and designs of going on to teach. While studying under Sune Lindqvist she began working on the
Valsgärde Valsgärde or Vallsgärde is a farm on the Fyris river, about three kilometres north of Gamla Uppsala, the ancient centre of the Swedish kings and of the pagan faith in Sweden. The present farm dates from the 16th century. The farm's notability ...
excavations, however, and began investigating and publishing the boat graves found therein. She obtained her
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 ...
in 1942, the same year that she published her first Valsgärde monograph, ''Valsgärde 6'', with the dissertation ''Vendelstile: Email und Glas in 7.-8. Jahrhundert''.


Career

While still in school, from 1936 until 1941 Arwidsson periodically served as an antiquarian at the Statens Historiska Museum, first in the
Stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
and
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
department, and then in the
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 ...
department. From 1942 until 1946, she was a lecturer in Scandinavian and Comparative Archaeology at Uppsala University, working at the Jämtland Museum during the summers of 1943 and 1944. Arwidsson became Sweden's first female professor of Scandinavian and Comparative Archaeology in 1956, when she took the post at
Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...
. From 1958 until 1961 she also served as dean of the Faculty of Humanities and as a member of the college board. She taught in that role until 1973, when she became a
professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
. In retirement Arwidsson published some of her earlier works. In 1977 she published ''Valsgärde 7'', having previously published ''Valsgärde 8'' in 1954, and from 1984 to 1989 edited a collection of articles on
Birka Birka (''Birca'' in medieval sources), on the island of Björkö (lit. "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as many parts of the European continent and ...
, including 36 that she penned herself.


Personal life

Arwidsson died on 31 January 1998, and is buried in Uppsala old cemetery. She neither married nor had children.


Publications

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References


Bibliography

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Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arwidsson, Greta 1906 births 1998 deaths Swedish archaeologists Swedish women archaeologists 20th-century archaeologists Swedish women academics Burials at Uppsala old cemetery Uppsala University alumni Academic staff of Uppsala University Academic staff of Stockholm University 20th-century Swedish women writers