history museums pragmatic historian

The Antikythera and the Bog Shoe

Hubby and I watched the fifth movie in the Indiana Jones series last weekend. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was released in 2023, so we’re only a few years behind. A forewarning … if you haven’t seen the movie, there are spoilers in this article. I noticed right away that the plot is super simple. There’s the background setup, where a younger Indiana and his archaeologist friend Basil Shaw manage to get half…

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history pragmatic historian time

Unsettled by the Metal Detector Man

One day last week, our dog’s insistent barking (he rarely barks) announced that someone was near the yard. A man with a metal detector came to the door and asked if he could search our yard. He was attracted to our house because it is old. This is the second time this has occurred. Last year, a different man with a metal detector asked if he could search our yard because our house is old.…

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history pragmatic historian

Doug Birk – A Pragmatic Historian of the Highest Order

This past Friday I had the opportunity to attend the Council for Minnesota Archaeology’s annual conference at St. Cloud State University. A large portion of the conference was dedicated to celebrating the life of famed Minnesota archaeologist Doug Birk. I say “famed” not because Doug would have liked that term … he would have hated it … but because of the awe and regard in which so many of his colleagues, friends, and acquaintances held…

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