Session at EAA Conference, Helsinki (August 2012)

Life in the City: Environmental and Artefactual Approaches to Urban Europe in the Middle Ages

Organisers: Ben Jervis (English Heritage; UK), Lee Broderick (University of York; UK) and Idoia Grau-Sologestoa (University of the Basque Country; Spain)

Traditional approaches to the study of Medieval urbanism have focused upon the reconstruction of town plans and the study of trade and craft activity. The wider potential of environmental and artefactual remains has not been fully realised. The aim of this session is to explore the range of insights that detailed study of these remains can provide in exploring, for example:
- The levels of similarity and difference between urban and rural living. Did a continuum or a dichotomy emerge through everyday life in these different environments? How did engagements with objects and the environment contribute to a uniquely urban existence?
- Did urbanism foster a worldview in which similar material and environmental objects generated different symbolic meanings?
- How did experiences of urban life vary between individuals and households, based, for example, on their wealth, ethnicity, gender or profession?
- How did experiences of urban life vary between towns, for example, through the exposure of members of their population to international influences?
- The level of mutual dependence between urban and rural communities. How interdependent were towns and their hinterlands and cities and their regions (including smaller towns)?
- How can artefactual and/or environmental evidence help us understand the social structure of towns and cities?
The range of papers in this session will not only allow us to explore these themes using a variety of evidence, but to consider regional and temporal differences in experiences of urban life across Europe. Papers which combine different strands of evidence, to explore the role of artefactual and/or environmental assemblages in answering these questions are particularly encouraged. By moving beyond the characterisation of urban landscapes, this session will begin to question what it was to be urban in Medieval Europe, whether a single conceptualisation of this phenomenon can be reached, or if instead the study of this material leads to an acknowledgement of heterogeneity.

For more information please email bpjervis@googlemail.com

MPRG Annual Conference 2011

The MPRG Conference will take place on the Isle of Man from 21st-23rd June. The theme is 'Ceramics on the Edge'. Details and suggestions for accomodation can be found here: http://www.liv.ac.uk/manxstudies/MPRG_2012/index.htm

2010 European Archaeological Association Conference, The Hague, Holland

These photographs are of a fantastic display of ceramics, glass and other artefacts from recent excavations in The Hague, Holland. They were on display in the Town Hall as part of the opening ceremony of this years EAA conference. They include fine examples of Maiolicas, Stonewares and Weser and Werra wares. The MPRG delegates present, Derek Hall, George Haggarty, Maureen Mellor and Duncan Brown could only find one label to disagree with!

Click here for PDF with images.

Douai International Symposium

Click here for the provisional programme for the Early Medieval Pottery Workshops conference to be held in Douai in early October.

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The 1st International Congress on Ceramic Studies

Tribute to Mercedes Vegas will be held in Cadiz from 1st-5th November 2010.

The event is aimed to anyone who is interested in ceramic studies,The congress will be a forum to analyze and synthesise recent advances in the techniques of cermaic analyisis, including methodology, morphological and typological classifications, graphical representations, new technologies in data processing, experimental studies, and scientific techniques.

Proposals for papers or posters are welcome. For more information, click here.

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Medieval Domestic Cultures Conference

To be held at Rewley House, Oxford, 24th-26th September 2010.

The Society For Medieval Archaeology's autumn conference will examine the evidence for the interiors of late medieval domestic buildings. It is jointly organized with the Vernacular Architecture Group and brings together for the first time in recent years, scholars from all the relevant archaeology, history and architectural history to review the latest work in this field in England, Scotland and Wales.

Click here for more information.

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Launch of Festschrift for Frans Verhaege

Some photos from the launch of Festschrift for Prof Frans Verhaege (a very old friend of the Medieval Pottery Research Group) that took place in Bruges, Belgium, on Thursday 29th April 2010.

Click here to download a pdf of the images.

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