Gustav Oscar August Montelius, known as Oscar Montelius (9September 18434November 1921) 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 who refined the concept of seriation, a relative chronological dating method.

Biography

Oscar Montelius refined the concept of typology, a relative chronological dating method. Typology is the procedure of working out a chronology by arranging material remains of a cultural tradition in the order that produces the most consistent patterning of their cultural traits. Typologies are the basis for seriation, a technique developed by English Egyptologist

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyp ...

(1853–1942) based on his excavations in Egypt. Montelius' impetus was at first to provide relative dates for artifacts in museum collections that often lacked rigorous records, by making comparisons with other artifacts within a comparable geographical area. Montelius' method created a timeline specific to the location, based on material remains. Later, when combined with written historical references, objects could be provided absolute dates. He took the

three-age system The three-age system is the periodization of human pre-history (with some overlap into the historical periods in a few regions) into three time-periods: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age; although the concept may also refer to ...

( Stone Age,

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 prin ...

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 mostl ...

), originally devised by Danish antiquarian

Christian Jürgensen Thomsen Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (29 December 1788 – 21 May 1865) was a Danish antiquarian who developed early archaeological techniques and methods. In 1816 he was appointed head of 'antiquarian' collections which later developed into the Nat ...

(1788–1865) to organize Danish museum collections of archaeological materials, and sub-divided it further. He divided the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

into four numbered periods, I-IV, and the

Nordic Bronze Age The Nordic Bronze Age (also Northern Bronze Age, or Scandinavian Bronze Age) is a period of Scandinavian prehistory from c. 2000/1750–500 BC. The Nordic Bronze Age culture emerged about 1750 BC as a continuation of the Battle Axe culture (th ...

into six I-VI. He was the first to establish that the numerous Swedish petroglyphs were from the Nordic Bronze Age, by comparing axes portrayed in the petroglyphs with archaeological finds. Further he supported Thomsen's typology of gold

bracteate A bracteate (from the Latin ''bractea'', a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age (including the Vende ...

s from the migration period. By taking calendrical dates from the recently deciphered hieroglyphics of Ancient Egypt, Montelius employed a complex system of cross-dating through typologies and associated finds to apply absolute dates to archaeological finds and features all over

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. His diffusionist theories were eventually displaced by more complex views of cultural interaction but following refinement his system of sub-divisions is still effectively in use. Montelius was made a member of the Swedish Academy in 1917.

Personal life

Oscar Montelius was married to Swedish philanthropist and feminist Agda Montelius née Reuterskiöld (1850–1920). They are buried in a dolmen grave (a type of grave that was common in Sweden during the

) in

Norra begravningsplatsen Norra begravningsplatsen, literally "The Northern Cemetery" in Swedish, is a major cemetery of the Stockholm urban area, located in Solna Municipality. Inaugurated on 9 June 1827, it is the burial site for a number of Swedish notables. Notabl ...

Solna Solna Municipality ( sv, Solna kommun or , ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is one of the ...

, Sweden.

References

External links

Oscar Montelius
Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 8 May. 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Montelius, Oscar 1843 births 1921 deaths Germanic studies scholars Scientists from Stockholm Swedish archaeologists Uppsala University alumni Members of the Swedish Academy Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) 19th-century Swedish people Prehistorians Burials at Norra begravningsplatsen

Biography

Personal life

Further reading

See also

References

External links