Welcome to the first episode of Tuonen Portti’s new podcast! Most of the upcoming content will be in Finnish but from time to time we will release English content as well.
Dr. Martin Locker — archaeologist, resident researcher in Andorra, and founder of the Perennial Pyrenees project — is the first guest of the Mycelium Signal. Across two conversations, we move from the material record of a mountain civilisation to the conceptual architecture behind it: what makes a place sacred, what survives the c...
Welcome to the first episode of Tuonen Portti’s new podcast!
Most of the upcoming content will be in Finnish but from time to time we will release English content as well.
Dr. Martin Locker — archaeologist, resident researcher in Andorra, and founder of the Perennial Pyrenees project — is the first guest of the Mycelium Signal. Across two conversations, we move from the material record of a mountain civilisation to the conceptual architecture behind it: what makes a place sacred, what survives the collapse of a culture, and where the boundaries of the archaeological frame break down. Part 1 covers the deep history and folklore of the Pyrenees, the question of tribe as a living rather than historical category, and the ethnographic soundscape recordings Locker has made as a parallel document to his written research.
Attention: *The conversation continues in Part 2: Enter the Numinous, where the discussion moves into genius loci, the liminal, ur-occultism, the numinous, and the German philosopher Ludwig Klages.
Key themes in this episode:
- The archaeology and folklore of the Pyrenean range: Andorra as a case study in layered historical continuity
- Tribe as a living concept — not merely historical or anthropological, but operative in contemporary highland communities
- The relationship between physical landscape and cultural memory
- Ethnographic soundscape as documentary method: field recordings as a parallel archive to written scholarship
- The Perennial Pyrenees project as a model for multi-disciplinary regional research outside institutional frameworks
Watch the episode in Youtube:
https://youtu.be/3x_lPPBrwj0
Episode page including show notes:
https://tuonenportti.fi/mycelium-signal-1-perennial-pyrenees-with-martin-locker-part-1/
GUEST BIOGRAPHY:
Martin Locker holds a doctorate in Medieval archaeology from University College London (2013) and has excavated across Europe. Following postdoctoral work in education, heritage tourism, and commercial archaeology across Britain, Spain, and Switzerland, he settled in Andorra, where he founded the Perennial Pyrenees project — a multi-disciplinary research platform covering the archaeology, folklore, and traditions of the Pyrenean range from the Basque Country through Aragon, Andorra, and Catalonia.
Alongside peer-reviewed publications, he produces field recordings and has published eight books, five of them fiction, through Mons Culturae Press — the publishing wing of the project — and through Mount Abraxas Press.
LINKS:
Website
Instagram
Audio recordings
Blog
Books:
The Tears of Pyrene: Archaeology, Folklore & Traditions of the Pyrenees* (Mons Culturae Press, 2019)
The flagship non-fiction work: 278 pages drawing on sources across the Pyrenees to examine Palaeolithic-to-present human occupation, bear cults, witchcraft sites, animal and plant lore, and rural calendar traditions — the first study of its kind in English. https://perennialpyrenees.com/purchase/
Bountiful Borderlands: A History of Pyrenean Livelihoods* (Mons Culturae Press, 2021)
Traces the material and cultural history of herders, hunters, woodsmen, blacksmiths, and smugglers in the Pyrenees, drawing on sources in Spanish, Catalan, Basque, French, and English. 285 pages.
https://perennialpyrenees.com/purchase/
Protection & Property: Apotropaic Marks on Rural Andorran Buildings* (Mons Culturae Press, 2023)
A monograph on apotropaic carvings on door panels and frames across Andorra — data gathered across eight months and over three hundred sites.
https://perennialpyrenees.com/purchase/
All publications (including fiction):
https://perennialpyrenees.com/purchase/
Related episodes:
Mycelium Signal #1, Part 2: Enter the Numinous — With Dr. Martin Locker —
Genius loci, the liminal, ur-occultism, the numinous, Ludwig Klages
CREDITS:
Sound editing: Konstantin Tuonihovi
Music: Matias Takala
RIHMASTOSIGNAALI & TUONEN PORTTI
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