Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Martin Rundkvist/archive1
- The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.
The article was promoted by Gog the Mild via FACBot (talk) 5 July 2021 [1].
- Nominator(s): Usernameunique (talk) 20:16, 19 May 2021 (UTC); Chiswick Chap (talk)
Martin Rundkvist has excavated a Viking boat grave, a sixteenth-century sword, and, last summer, a mead hall from the time of Beowulf, where he discovered nearly two dozen gold figures. And then there were the times he won six games on Jeopardy!, and spent a week at the helm of Sweden's official Twitter account, @sweden. Cool stuff.
This article, too, has an interesting history. It lasted for less than a month when it was created in 2008; within days of its recreation in 2020 it was brought back to the gents at AfD, where it again failed their discerning gaze. This year, Chiswick Chap and I thoroughly reworked the article, incorporating dozens of new sources and soliciting the input of half a dozen users with experience in this space, including Midnightblueowl, Johnbod, KJP1, The Rambling Man, and Amitchell125, even before MeegsC gave it a thorough good-article review. The benefit of this process is that the article is in pretty much the best shape it could possibly be in; it is therefore featured-article material. --Usernameunique (talk) 20:16, 19 May 2021 (UTC)
Support from Hurricane Noah
editScandinavian élite
I don't believe an accent is needed here. NoahTalk 21:54, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
- It's not a big deal, but I'm inclined to keep this one. The relevant guideline, for its part, says that "The use of diacritics (such as accent marks) for foreign words is neither encouraged nor discouraged". And the OED lists both forms.
- Link the first mention of Stockholm in the prose.
- Done.
- Link to amber since not everyone may know it is fossilized tree resin. NoahTalk 21:54, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
- Done.
- Link brooch. NoahTalk 21:54, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
- Done.
four of its 25 castles
Numbers shouldn't variate between numerical and word form in the same sentence. NoahTalk 21:54, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
- Done, per comparable values guidance.
Well done. I only found some minor issues with the article. I have a nomination up currently and would appreciate it if you were able to review it. NoahTalk 21:54, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
- Thanks, Hurricane Noah, I appreciate the review. --Usernameunique (talk) 04:54, 22 May 2021 (UTC)
- I support this nomination now. NoahTalk 23:37, 22 May 2021 (UTC)
- Comments from Spicy
(Not an image review). I have concerns over the licensing of the lead image. This was uploaded to Commons with the source listed as 'Directly from photographer' and the author listed as 'Kristina Ekero Eriksson'. The uploader doesn't seem to be the same person as Erikson, so this would require an OTRS release from the copyright holder. Spicy (talk) 22:07, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
- Resolved, permission has been received. Spicy (talk) 18:28, 23 May 2021 (UTC)
- Spicy, given your previous input, would you have any interest in conducting an image review for the article? Thanks, --Usernameunique (talk) 18:15, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
Comments Support from Aza24
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How fascinating! Looking through now. Aza24 (talk) 05:50, 2 June 2021 (UTC) Lead
- Hmm, may be picky (and perhaps incorrect) of me, but "He is particularly known for research into the Bronze, Iron, and Middle Ages of Scandinavia, and for significant excavations in the province of Östergötland" doesn't sound right. These are obviously huge spans of time and seem like a fairly large topic to be "particularly known for". My initial reaction is that people are particularly known for more specific things, such as "He specializes in medieval music and is particularly known for his work on Guillaume de Machaut—am I making any sense here? Maybe rephrase to "his research focuses on/lies in", "he studies" or something...
- Yes, I agree that could be worded better. It now reads: "His research focuses on the Bronze, Iron, and Middle Ages of Scandinavia, and includes significant excavations in the province of Östergötland." --Usernameunique (talk) 06:47, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- "research into" seems a bit vague, is there a qualifier for what kind of research we're talking about here? Archaeology seems like a broad subject for such a statement
- Addressed with the above rewording. --Usernameunique (talk) 06:47, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- Is there a name for this group of people Rundkvist is discovering all these things on?—or are they merely the inhabitants of said areas?
- The inhabitants; groups were often small in those times, and there were many different ones over the centuries of the Bronze, Iron, and Middle Ages. Chiswick Chap (talk) 07:26, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- It feels a little odd to exclude almost all the universities he has been associated with in the lead
- Added a new sentence to the third paragraph of the lead. --Usernameunique (talk) 07:17, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
Early life and education
- I presume nothing is recorded on his parents or secondary schooling?
- Not that I recall seeing, and certainly, not in a secondary source. --Usernameunique (talk) 06:36, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- Update: Found the names of his parents in the acknowledgements section of his dissertation, and added to the article. --Usernameunique (talk) 05:55, 9 June 2021 (UTC)
- "has lived entirely in Stockholm", just to check, though a researcher at Exeter and Chester for ~10 years, he still lived in Stockholm?
- Yep. See the paragraph beginning with "My main task" at the good-article review. --Usernameunique (talk) 06:36, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
Career
- "In January 2020"—would be nice to avoid the two sentences in a row that begin with "In"
- Reworded. --Usernameunique (talk) 06:36, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- The Bronze buckle is a nice picture, but confusing and out of place as there's no explanation for why it's there, what it is, or indeed anything about Barshalder until a later section. You may want to add to the caption, text or perhaps move it downwards
- Good point. Mentioned that it was one of Rundkvist's excavations in the caption. Chiswick Chap (talk) 07:28, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- Any date for the pic of Rundkvist?
- 2007, added. --Usernameunique (talk) 06:36, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- Planning to look at Research and the rest of the article tomorrow. Aza24 (talk) 06:21, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
Research
- Completely up to you, but it's been a while since Williams was mentioned, so I almost wonder if his full name should be used here again for his first mention (though me forgetting who he was could have easily been the result of returning to this article they next day). By no means necessary though
- I think using just the last name suggests that he was mentioned previously—and that someone trying to figure out who he is should look above—whereas a full name might suggest that he was not mentioned. So if anything, a second link is probably the way to go rather than a full name. I'm happy either way. --Usernameunique (talk) 22:07, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- Fair point, should be fine how it is then
- "Reported as far away as India" seems a bit odd, I mean, India has a huge media system and probably reports on a ton of archeological subjects. And either way, it might be more meaningful to say something like "widely reported in the media"
- Reworded with your phrasing. --Usernameunique (talk) 22:08, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- Maybe a wikitionary link for oblong? I had to look it up and I suspect others would have to as well
- Linked to rectangle, which discusses "oblong" (with a link to wiktionary) in the first paragraph. --Usernameunique (talk) 22:00, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- Would a link to "Late antiquity" for the Late Roman Period make sense? Might be a stretch but am not sure
- I think that's probably a bit too broad, but Chiswick Chap, what do you think (or any other ideas for links)? We could perhaps link it as "Late Roman Period". --Usernameunique (talk) 22:17, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- It's marginal; either of those two would do at a stretch. Chiswick Chap (talk) 05:43, 3 June 2021 (UTC)
Aska mead hall
- I feel a bit awkward to say I didn't know what "pendant" meant—so it could warrant linking—but this may just be me. As an aside, this seems like a broad category—is there a more specific characterization that could be used?
- Linked. I took a look, but couldn't find a more specific article. --Usernameunique (talk) 22:07, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- I'm not sure what the "stamped" either in this context. Does it literally have a stamp of somekind?
- Linked to Stamping (metalworking). Not a great article, but should get the point across. --Usernameunique (talk)
Other
- Well the "Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities" is dup linked, but the distance between is far enough that it could be warranted
- I don't think the duplicate linking was intentional, although I'm slightly inclined to keep the second, since arguably the link is more important there. But I could also be convinced to take it out. --Usernameunique (talk) 22:00, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- Seems to be retrieval dates missing from ref 6 and 7 of the Primary section
- These are archived URLs where the originals are dead. The "archived on" dates are thus the relevant ones: whatever day the archived URLs are accessed, they will still appear as the sources appeared on 11 February 2015 and 3 September 2014, respectively. --Usernameunique (talk) 22:12, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- Indeed. My rationale was merely that other archived refs have retrieval dates, so I assumed this was an oversight
- Most of the URL-sourced references have archived URLs as backups; only primary refs 6 & 7, and secondary refs 5 & 10, have dead URLs, and rely on the archived URLs in the first instance. Those four are the ones that don't have retrieval dates. --Usernameunique (talk) 05:03, 3 June 2021 (UTC)
- That seems to be it. First class work; looking forward to supporting. Aza24 (talk) 21:08, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- Thanks very much for the review, Aza24. I think we've responded to everything above. --Usernameunique (talk) 22:17, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- I left one response about retrieval dates, but I'm fine with it either way. Happy to support. Aza24 (talk) 02:41, 3 June 2021 (UTC)
- Responded above. Thanks for the support, Aza24.
Placeholder Support from KJP1
edit
Apologies, life is intruding, but shall certainly be back with comments, although probably not before the weekend. KJP1 (talk) 17:14, 2 June 2021 (UTC)
- I made some minor suggestions on this at the informal PR. It was a very good article then, and has been improved since. It is well-written, exhaustively researched and impeccably cited, nicely illustrated, and guides the lay reader through some, quite technical, concepts. I’ve re-read it for FAC, think it fully meets the criteria, and am pleased to Support it. KJP1 (talk) 11:03, 6 June 2021 (UTC)
- Thank you very much. Chiswick Chap (talk) 11:06, 6 June 2021 (UTC)
- Thanks, KJP1! Appreciate it. --Usernameunique (talk) 16:50, 6 June 2021 (UTC)
- Thank you very much. Chiswick Chap (talk) 11:06, 6 June 2021 (UTC)
CommentsSupport from Edwininlondon
edit
I am no expert in the field, and also apologies beforehand for any odd comments regarding prose, as I'm not a native speaker. My comments:
- wikilink Ph.D. to Doctor of Philosophy
- Done. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:08, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
- terms "the most-read archaeology blog on the Internet" --> given that this is now 14 years ago, should this not be past tense?
- Done. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:08, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
- Rundkvist has lived entirely in Stockholm --> this reads odd to my foreign eyes. I expected "his entire life"
- Done. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:08, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
- received his Ph.D. from the same institution --> in which field?
- Archaeology? This source suggests it is classified as "Social sciences and culture", "Historical sciences and archeology", and "Archeology". But absent a definitive source, it doesn't make sense to guess. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:19, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
- its connection to archaeology --> wikilink archaeology
- Done. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:08, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
- these were primarily research-related, but included contract work --> I don't get the "but": I have known people doing research as a contractor
- I agree they're not necessarily mutually exclusive, but it appears that for Rundkvist, contract work did not generally include research; he uses "but" himself ("I have made a living in archaeology since my graduation in 1992, now and then in contract work but mainly doing research into the Iron Age of Sweden's southern quarter."). --Usernameunique (talk) 17:19, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
- He likewise served --> like what? I don't understand what is being compared
- Changed to "He also served". --Usernameunique (talk) 17:15, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
- Rundkvist's research deals with the Bronze through Middle Ages in Scandinavia. --> a bit further on we have "Barshalder 3 detailed the Stone Age finds from the site", so I'm not sure this opening sentence is accurate
- Changed to "focuses on". As far as I can tell he doesn't do much Stone Age-related research; Barshalder 3 appears to have been more for the sake of completion than anything else, and Rundkvist admits in the introduction that the Stone Age is not his bailiwick ("In working with the Iron Age graves for my doctorate and preparing a basic report of the excavations, I ... had to bring order also to the Stone Age finds. I found this to be an excellent opportunity to learn something about Neolithic matters."). --Usernameunique (talk) 17:27, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
- analyzed --> is there a reason this is in American English? Given Rundkvist's connection with Exeter and Chester, BrE seems more appropriate
- Yeah, it was a bit of an unintentional medley—analyzed, but then artefact. I've tried to make it consistently British English, though may have missed a few—Chiswick Chap, any others that you see? --Usernameunique (talk) 20:37, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
- It seems fine now. Actually as a Brit I use -ize forms also, which Wiki-places me as 'Oxford English' ... though IRL others such as Scots use it too. Chiswick Chap (talk) 21:58, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
- where mead halls may have stood --> there is an earlier instance of mead halls that should be linked; and a bit further on there is a superfluous link: a mead hall measuring 47.5 metres
- Removed the duplicate link. The reason for not linking the first mention is to avoid having two links directly next to each other ("Beowulfian mead halls"). --Usernameunique (talk) 17:27, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
- I'm not sure about some of the quotes. Why is "the ostentatious manorial buildings where the Late Iron Age elite lived their lives and played their roles" a quote? Since there is a quote from an interview in the same paragraph, I think it would be better to reduce the number of quotes here and paraphrase.
- I just liked the line, but changed to "the large buildings that housed the Late Iron Age élite". --Usernameunique (talk) 20:37, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
- the Society's executive board --> I don't think that capital is right, and come to think of it, should it not be "the association's executive board?
- Done. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:15, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
That's all I could see. I'll have a look at the sources later. Edwininlondon (talk) 15:30, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
- Thanks much for the review, Edwininlondon. Responses above. --Usernameunique (talk) 20:37, 26 June 2021 (UTC)
OK, a bit more as promised (sorry for the delay). Looking the sources now.
Source reliability:
- What makes the Aardvarchaeology blog a reliable source to be used here?
- Aardvarchaeology is Rundkvist's own blog, and is cited sparingly. [R 9] (first cite), [R 42], and [R 43] are "self-published sources on the article's subject", and are used for his various positions and the precise dates thereof, which are uncontroversial. [R 9] (second cite) and [R 12] merely offer Rundkvist's quoted perspectives, but state nothing as fact (besides the fact of his words). Finally, [R 36] and [R 37], which add several details about Rundkvist's excavations at Aska, are "produced by an established subject-matter expert, whose work in the relevant field has previously been published by reliable, independent publications"—a standard which, appropriately enough, takes the shortcut WP:BLOGS. --Usernameunique (talk) 18:13, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
Spot check:
- R 1: ok
- R 2: ok, except source has 2014 not 2015 as start year Talinn Uni
- Fixed. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:11, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
- R 3: ok, except for source does not seem to cover "as a project leader, field archaeologist, and artefact specialist for Värmdö Municipality from 2007 to 2008"
- Added a second citation which covers it. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:20, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
- R 4: ok
- R 5: ok
- 34: the link does not take me to the review
- Removed. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:24, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
- 35: ok
- 37: ok
- 38: ok
- 39: Neither the original nor the archive link leads me to this book review. Google Scholar doesn't seem to have it, so not sure. What page is the book review on? The link shows the index
- It's on the bottom half of the last page (19) of the link. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:26, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
- R 23: ok
- R 30: I couldn't find anything that validates "near the town of Vadstena"
- That's taken from the article on Aska (and confirmed via Google Maps). It's an uncontroversial point that I added for clarity, but I can remove it (or look for a better source) if you prefer. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:33, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
- R 32: ok
- 50: ok
Formatting:
- I must admit I'm not so sure about the use of — — —. Just makes it a little too academic for me. Are there other FAs that use this format? I'm open to be convinced about it, but have not come this style across before.
- It seems a convenient notation, avoiding the need to repeat the subject's name many times down the list of sources. It's not obvious what else could take its place, as the symbol must look suitably blank so as to be unambiguous. Chiswick Chap (talk) 18:00, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
- ——— (2020) needs a language tag and translation
- Added, though it's just the Swedish translation of the work directly above it. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:39, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
- (1999) Grave matters: misspelled Göteborg
- Fixed. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:46, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
- (Spring 2010) and (April 2015) --> I would just say (2010) and (2015), but maybe this is a matter of taste. But if months are given for journal articles, it should be for all journal articles. A few in the Other section do not have a month and ref #35 #40 also do not have months.
- The convention here is to use the date listed on the cover or title page of the journal. Some journals—particularly those published once a year—have only the year, while others have a month or (particularly for quarterly journals) a season. --Usernameunique (talk) 18:01, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
- The last 2 works, ——— & Koskinen, Julia Schulte, are these self-published?
- They're excavation reports, so essentially yes. There was some discussion of this at the DYK nomination. Basically, their use is acceptable when "produced by an established subject-matter expert, whose work in the relevant field has previously been published by reliable, independent publications", as is the case here. But in any event, the language in the article was tweaked slightly (e.g., "Their survey reported") to reflect that these are not peer-reviewed works. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:59, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
- #13: Thunmark-Nylén 1995, Abb. 53:2 What does Abb. mean? Is this German?
- It's short for "abbildung", and means "illustration". (Note the title of the book: "Die Wikingerzeit Gotlands (I): Abbildungen der grabfunde", which translates as "Gotland's Viking Age: Illustrations of the grave finds".) It's the equivalent of "pl." for "plate". It's obvious when the work is in hand, because each illustration is labelled "abb." followed by the number. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:51, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
- #44: needs a language tag and translation
- Added. --Usernameunique (talk) 17:55, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
That's all I could find. Edwininlondon (talk) 17:04, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
- Thanks again, Edwininlondon. We've responded above. --Usernameunique (talk) 18:14, 28 June 2021 (UTC)
- I am satisfied with your explanations and changes, on prose and sources. I Support the nomination. A nice piece of work, well done. Edwininlondon (talk) 09:01, 30 June 2021 (UTC)
- Thanks, Edwininlondon! Appreciate it. --Usernameunique (talk) 19:19, 30 June 2021 (UTC)
- I am satisfied with your explanations and changes, on prose and sources. I Support the nomination. A nice piece of work, well done. Edwininlondon (talk) 09:01, 30 June 2021 (UTC)
Image review - pass
edit3D artistic items - which includes items such as coins - need two licences. One for the photograph and one for the original work. In the cases in this article where the latter is missing the objects portrayed are obviously out of copy right, but this still needs to be stated. See File:Stele des Polybios.jpg or File:CILI(2)p47fgtXXFastitriumphales.jpg for examples of how this might be handled. Images which seem to lack full licencing include the buckle, the chess piece and the foil figures. Gog the Mild (talk) 18:31, 29 June 2021 (UTC)
- Thanks, Gog the Mild. Added the licenses. --Usernameunique (talk) 19:15, 29 June 2021 (UTC)
- All images are appropriately licenced, positioned, captioned and alt texted. Gog the Mild (talk) 19:20, 29 June 2021 (UTC)
Comments by Wehwalt
editI imagine Edwin's comments above are equivalent to a source review, but if necessary I will do one. Substantive comments (I have only a short time tonight and more will come tomorrow):
- If he has lived in Stockholm almost all his life, then how does he fulfill the academic positions at non-Swedish schools?
- Thanks, Wehwalt. His position at Łódź is primarily research-based. See the comment beginning "My main task" at the good-article review. --Usernameunique (talk) 04:27, 30 June 2021 (UTC)
- More soon.--Wehwalt (talk) 22:56, 29 June 2021 (UTC)
- Support Only two minor things:
- Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities is linked twice.
- Fixed. Chiswick Chap (talk) 17:28, 30 June 2021 (UTC)
- Should "Fornvännen" be italicised as the name of a publication? (in the last sentence).--Wehwalt (talk) 17:06, 30 June 2021 (UTC)
- It's usual for the names of journals, regardless of language. Chiswick Chap (talk) 17:30, 30 June 2021 (UTC)
- Ping me if I'm needed to do a formal source review, though I imagine what Edwin did is sufficient.--Wehwalt (talk) 17:08, 30 June 2021 (UTC)
@FAC coordinators: No rush, of course, but just a heads up that all comments have been resolved. --Usernameunique (talk) 19:20, 30 June 2021 (UTC)
- Closing note: This candidate has been promoted, but there may be a delay in bot processing of the close. Please see WP:FAC/ar, and leave the {{featured article candidates}} template in place on the talk page until the bot goes through. Gog the Mild (talk) 17:42, 5 July 2021 (UTC)
- The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.