Poul Kjærum. Worsaae medal

Abstract

Poul Kjærum - Worsaae medal

In 1959 a little book appeared from the Berlingske Publishers with the title "The Past for Revision". Its price of 5.50 kr was a lot for a conscript in the Engineer regiment in Randers, but I thought it was worth the money.

The soldier in question was born literally in a museum and nursed with archaeological rescue excavations. When a farmer found something unusual with his plough, what was rescuable had to be rescued at once so the farmer could get on with his work and my father, who was a dentist, with his patients, who had been sitting in his waiting room for an hour or so.

The first chapter in the little book explained chat there were many other archaeological sources than the farmer's plough. There was aerial reconnaissance, chemical analyses and electrical methods of measurements chat could reveal conditions underneath the plough layer making it possible to plan the best way of excavating before putting the spade in the ground.

There was also an exciting chapter on dating, with ingenious ways of building up a relative chronology, and completely new scientific methods of measuring age.

But my biggest surprise came in the chapter about interpretation. At home I had learned that everything except scattered finds was about cult, and when one's father had a rich imagination this was an exciting approach to life in prehistoric Denmark. To my boy's imagination they did little else in those days than sacrifice to Thor and Odin, not even holding back from a little cannibalism in the name of the gods.

The chapter in the little book went in the opposite direction. Before cult and religion could come into consideration all other possible interpretations had to be considered, like remains of daily and worldly acts, crafts, economic activities, or hunting and fishing, and these interpretations -glimpses into daily life- became deeply fascinating.

I think most have now guessed that the author of the little book was Poul Kjærum, or still is, for we are glad go say he is still present among us, nearly 40 years after his book appeared.

Ten years ago there appeared another little book called "Archaeological Chronicles". It was not written by Kjærum., but by a circle of his friends and colleagues about Kjærum and the museum world that became his life.

Also this book is exciting reading -a little piece of museum history, for Kjærum was one of the first students who did Danish archaeology from the very beginning.

In the book the late Mogens Ørsnes writes about the half score students who began the subject with Professor Brøndsted in 1945, in what he describes as "the mad summer". He continues, "We all had something to forget and plenty to catch up on: to learn, to read and to lie for our own sake only. To travel and experience that the world was more than a map with war fronts drawn on it. All this we

had in common in addition to archaeology".

And traveled there was -to Vallhagar on Gotland to the first international excavation after the war, and later on study tours into war-torn Europe. I think none of us, who came after can fully appreciate what that first encounter with the world and with foreign colleagues came to mean for that generation.

In the summer of 1950 the study trip only went to Mols Hills with the new Professor P.V. Glob as leader. The trip was a short one, but it was very important for Kjærum.

After completing his studies he applied for and was appointed curator under Glob in the old Prehistoric Museum in Århus.

Megalithic monuments from the Stone Age were Kjærum's special field, but he was not able to devote himself for long at a time to the dolmens and passage graves of Jutland.

He was soon back in the university, but now as lecturer to the first archaeology students in Jutland. He gets the following broadside in "The Archaeological Chronicles" from Mette Iversen and Torsten Madsen. "Kjærum was quite different. He was always ready to pour a cup of tea, light his pipe and talk. He listened to what one thought, and passed out his own thoughts generously. You could be sure that when he had read your essay it would be covered with comments, and they were certainly not always favourable, though they were always well intentioned. Looking back today one can be surprised that he could be so open, so obliging and helpful."

Glob and Bibby's expeditions to the Persian Gulf were difficult for Kjærum to say no to. He was in Bahrain for the first time in 1957, and after 1960 became the Kuwait excavation's "provincial governor" on the island of Failaka, where he laid the foundation of his international reputation as an interpreter of the small seals of the Dilmun Culture and their strange images.

Kjærum continued his lectures during the expeditions to Failaka, now in the field instead of in a dark lecture room with slides, and not to students, but to three self-taught museum people from Jutland. These were Oscar Marseen, who was curator at Ålborg Historical Museum with a past as a manufacturer, Peter Seeberg, who had just become leader of Viborg Diocesan Museum, a writer and M.A. in literature, and myself, who after my time in the army and the study of architecture had become leader of Vendsyssel Historical Museum.

Being isolated on a little island for months means either homicidal tendencies, or that permanent friendships are founded. It became the latter, and back in north Jutland the friendships were kept alive by frequent professional contacts. It was easy and safe to call Kjærum when one had found something one did not understand, and Kjærum came gladly on his little scooter, with trowel and rheumatism in the knees, and helped us patiently and carefully to sort out and explain our complicated finds.

I am sure it was easy for P. V. Glob to draw Kjærum into the work of he Jutland Archaeological Society. First it was as leader of the annual summer excursions, and soon afterwards as ocoeditor of Kuml. In 1967 he took on the job alone, and has held it ever since for nearly a lifetime. At the same time he has been editor of many large scholarly works in the Society's monograph series. And being editor did not just mean holding author's to their promises. Money had to be raised from funds, and endless dealing had to be carried out about printing and terms of delivery.

And Kjærum -now you must come up on the podium. One can say thmat your time in the Jutland Archaeological Society passed as expected. When Ole Klindt Jensen retired as general secretary of the society, you took over the job as a matter of course, and when P.V. Glob retired in 1982 it was naturally you that was elected president. And now you are ceasing to look after the Jutland Archaeological Society yourself.

Your little book from early days ends with the following words, which I cannot restrain myself from citing.

"Much has been achieved, but more remains. Despite their number and variety, the archaeological finds are but a drop in the ocean compared with what there originally were and what is lost forever. New discoveries will in the future continue to update our knowledge of the past, and the same will new techniques and new methods of research.

Since the people of the Renaissance began to gather memorials of our forbears the knowledge we now have has been accumulated gradually through the work of serious researchers. Each generation has added its stones to the building, as future generations will also do".

Dear Poul, it will not be easy for the next generation to replace your contribution by adding stones to the building, to use your image.

As one of the first archaeology students you are also one of the last with a complete knowledge of Danish archaeologists during a half century, and by your work as editor you have steadily updated your knowledge of the results of archaeological research for more than a lifetime. On the basis of these two qualifications you as editor have with amazing patience and praiseworthy loyalty helped when our "contributions to the building" were not quite up to the standard you thought they ought to be.

Your career in the Jutland Archaeological Society was a natural consequence of your efforts. When you retire there is something we all find equally natural -to present you with the society's greatest mark of honour, the Worsaae Medal.

Here you are, heartiest congratulations, and thank you for all you have done!

Palle Friis