Mortensen, E. & Raja, R. (eds.) 2019. Store danske arkæologer. På jagt efter fortidens byer. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.

On the 16th of August, the book Store danske arkæologer. På jagt efter fortidens byer (Great Danish Archaeologists. In Search of the Cities of the Past) was published. The book is edited by research assistant Eva Mortensen and professor and centre director Rubina Raja and published by Aarhus University Press.

Store danske arkæologer. På jagt efter fortidens byer focusses on some of the huge names in Denmark within archaeology. The book revolves around those archaeologists who have been searching for the cities of the past in Denmark as well as abroad, and who have put their mark on the development of the study of past cities and those people constructing them, living in them, using them, and destroying them.

In eight chapters as well as an introduction, ten researchers write about important archaeological achievements, great personalities, and excavation projects which shed light on past urban societies and which are still the basis for new research and fieldwork projects. We are going with P.O. Brøndsted to the Greek island of Kea, with K.F. Kinch to southern Macedonia and Rhodes, with Harald Ingholt to Palmyra, with Frederik Poulsen and Ejnar Dyggve to Kalydon, with P.V. Glob to Bahrain, with P.J. Riis to Hama and Tell Sukas, with Kristian Jeppesen to Bodrum, and in the end we return to Ribe, where we meet many important Danish archaeologists. The reader will also be introduced to the archaeologists’ daily life during fieldwork, to wars and local politics effecting the work, to the new results from Danish archaeological excavations in Denmark and abroad, and much more.

The book has received publication support from Aarhus University Research Foundation, the Carlsberg Foundation, Landsdommer V. Gieses Legat, the Lillian and Dan Fink Foundation, and the New Carlsberg Foundation.