Paul Åström

Paul Karl Fredrik Åström ( born January 15, 1929 in Sundsvall, † 4 October 2008) was a Swedish archaeologist. He was a leader in the study of the history of the eastern Mediterranean, particularly the Bronze Age Cyprus.

Academic career

Paul Åström studied in Lund and his doctorate with a thesis on the Cypriot Bronze Age, which he represented from the pottery. This dissertation was awarded in 1958 as the best work at his university. It is still regarded as a standard work. Åströmwar since 1957 lecturer, and later associate professor at the Institute of Ancient Cultures and Civilizations at the University of Lund. At the same time he was head of the Antiquities Museum. In 1958 he was appointed Director of the Swedish Archaeological Institute in Athens. At the same time he was cultural attaché at the Swedish Embassy in Athens. In 1967 he went to the same director function to Rome. Guest professorships led him during his time in Athens and Rome to Columbia University, the University of Copenhagen, the University of Bergen and the University of Edinburgh. In 1969 he was appointed as Professor of Ancient Cultures and Civilizations at the University of Gothenburg. During this time he was a member and later Vice- President of the Advisory Board of the Swedish Institute in Rome and a member and secretary of the Advisory Board of the Swedish Institute in Athens. Here he acquired through the promotion of his former research institutes great service. Since 1974, Åström was also president of the Swedish Research Centre in Cyprus. Åström 1993 became Professor Emeritus.

In the academic and scientific self-governance Åström was closely involved. From 1974 to 1979 he was head of the Association of University Professors and the Association of the human sciences. From 1977 to 1980 he was a member of the scientific advisory board of the University of Gothenburg and 1979-1983 of the University Teachers Association. From 1975 to 1980 he was Dean of the Faculty of Humanities. He also served from 1972 to 1977 representatives of the Swedish krona in the National Council for Research in the Humanities.

Åström participated in the late 1940s to prehistoric field research in Bornholm, Gotland and in 1950 in Labraunda in Turkey. In Kalopsida and Aghios Jakovos in Cyprus he directed from 1959 first excavations. Particularly persistent was his involvement in dendra, where he worked from 1960 to 1997, as well as the Hala Sultan Tekke excavations in Cyprus, which he headed from 1971 until shortly before his death.

He wrote 687 works, including 18 monographs and was co-author of 20 monographs. In his Paul Åströms Förlag 135 monographs and 170 paperbacks published in the series Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology. In addition to its publisher appeared the journal Journal of Prehistoric Religion and the rows Archaeology and Natural Science and Documenta Mundi. In the latter, 21 editions of the ancient classics appeared.

He was married to the archaeologist Elisabeth Åström, with whom he had three sons.

Awards and Affiliations

Åström was an internationally -respected expert on the archeology of the Aegean and Cyprus. In 1994 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of the University of Vienna, 1995, the University of Athens in 2001 and the University of Ioannina. In 1965 he became a corresponding member of the German Archaeological Institute, in 1991 the Austrian Archaeological Institute, 1992 Nathan Soderblom Society and 1977 Honorary Member of the Swedish - Cypriot society in which he became president in 1983. Åströms was also since 1973 a member of the Kungliga Vetenskaps -och Vitterhetssamhället i Göteborg, since 1975, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm and since 1998 the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres in Paris. From the Swedish king, he was raised to the Knights of the North Star Order, the Republic of Cyprus, he received the " Grand Commander of the Order of Merit " from.

Publications

See Elisabeth Åström: The published writings of Paul Åström. A bibliography compiled, in: Contributions to the archeology and history of the bronze and iron ages in the eastern Mediterranean. Studies in honor of Paul Åström, Vienna 2001, pp. 201-223.