Birger Nerman

Birger Nerman (6 October 188822 August 1971) was a Swedish archaeologist, historian and philologist who specialized in the history and culture of Iron Age Sweden.

Nerman was educated at Uppsala University, where he began his career as a lecturer in Nordic philology. He participated in archaeological excavations on Stone Age and Iron Age Sweden, and became noted for his efforts to combine archaeological and philological evidence. Areas investigated by Nerman include Gamla Uppsala and Gotland.

From 1923 to 1925, Nerman was professor of archaeology at the University of Tartu, during which he made contributions to the development of archaeology in Estonia. In subsequent years, he conducted excavations at Grobiņa and other places, with the aim of investigating relations between Sweden and the eastern Baltic in the Iron Age.

Nerman was director of the Swedish History Museum from 1938 to 1954, during which he organized several exhibitions on Swedish history. He was a Swedish nationalist who opposed both Nazism and Communism, and a noted advocate for the independence of the Baltic states. Nerman was the author of several scholarly works on Iron Age archaeology, and popular works on the culture and history of early Sweden.

Early life and education Birger Nerman was born in Norrköping, Sweden, on 6 October 1888. He was the son of Janne Nerman, a bookseller, and Ida Nordberg.

Nerman became a student in philology at Uppsala University in 1907, where he gained his doctorate in 1913 with a dissertation entitled Svärges hedna litteratur (Sweden's Pagan Literature), which was concerned with the Ynglingatal. In studying Old English and Old Norse literature, Nerman argued that works such as Beowulf contained traces from Swedish oral literature of the Migration Period. His dissertation was criticized by several philologists for its use of archaeological evidence. This criticism encouraged Nerman to focus more on archaeology rather than philology, although he throughout his remaining career would continue to advocate cooperation between the two disciplines. The finds at Grobiņa encouraged Nerman to conduct further research at Apuolė and Wiskiauten in 1931.

Selected works

(With Oscar Almgren)