SEM2010 - SEM & Microanalysis in the study of historical technology, materials and conservation, 9th-10th September 2010

The British Museum will be hosting a conference on SEM and Microanalysis in the study of historical technology, materials and conservation on Thursday 9th and Friday 10th September 2010. For more information visit www.britishmuseum.org/sem2010 or click here for the event flyer.

Early Medieval Finds from the British Isles - A day conference on theoretical and practical approaches to material culture Saturday, May 29th 2010

A one-day conference is being held at the University of Oxford entitled: Early Medieval Finds from the British Isles: A day conference on theoretical and practical approaches to material culture, to be held on Saturday, May 29th 2010. The aim of this conference is to allow researchers and post-graduate students engage with current approaches to early medieval material culture.

We would like to invite proposals from current post-graduates for the poster session at this conference, with the possibility of papers being published in a resulting monograph.

The conference is free to attend, but space is strictly limited. Registration forms can be sent to either christopher.ferguson@arch.ox.ac.uk or jane.kershaw@arch.ox.ac.uk

Click here for the conference programme.

SEMPER Meeting "Aspects of Pottery". 17th April 2010

The South East Midlands Pottery Research Group SEMPER (incorporating the East Anglian Pottery Group) will be holding a meeting entitled Aspects of Pottery on Saturday, 17 April 2010, to be held at Harlow Museum. This meeting is being held to discuss subjects that were close to the heart of Wally Davey, who died recently. As usual, there will be plenty of opportunity to view pottery, including examples of wasters, so please bring along your problems (ceramic only, please!) as well as any interesting (or not so interesting!) sherds – not necessarily linked to the themes of the day.

Booking form and location maps can be downloaded here.

North and south: tobacco pipe studies in the western Mediterranean and their north-western European connections. 4th-7th November 2010

The 26th conference of the Académie Internationale de la Pipe will be held in Grasse, Alpes-Maritimes, France from the 4th to the 7th of November 2010 at the Bibliothèque Municipale. It will focus on the magnificent collection of European pipes of all types made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Alice Baroness Rothschild, which was donated to the library after her death in 1922. The collection will be made accessible for detailed study by members of the conference and a number of background papers will be presented about it. There will also be a series of presentations of new archaeological evidence for pipe production and consumption in southern France, northern Italy, Spain and further afield. Anyone interested in giving a paper or attending the meeting, please contact Dr Susie White at:susie_white@talktalk.net.

Opinions sought on unidentified vessel...

A pottery vessel recovered from a middle Iron Age enclosure at Beckford, Worcestershire, remains unidentified and undated despite a great deal of study. The authors are hoping that one last attempt at circulating information about the vessel might result in a firmer identification. Because of the nature of the recovery there are no associated finds and the vessel cannot be assumed to be contemporary with the enclosure. If you can provide any parallels, or information on the date of this vessel we would be very pleased to hear from you. Please send your thoughts to the MPRG webmaster who will pass them on.

Click here for more information about the vessel or click here to contact the webmaster.

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