Evening Heritage Talk:Pots and people in the past and present
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As part of the Festival, we are pleased to announce a series of free evening talks at the Chester House Estate in July.
The talks will highlight amazing discoveries from recent archaeological excavations and new research taking place in Northamptonshire.
Thursday 28th July – ‘Pots and people in the past and present: Tales of creativity in Roman and modern Northamptonshire’ by Adam Sutton (Museum of London Archaeology)
Archaeology has much to tell us about the ways that people were creative in the past. Artefacts of all kinds bear traces of their production and use, and these allow archaeologists to establish the ‘norms’ of past creative practices as well as where people evidently innovated by diverging from these norms. These observations allow us to tell very human stories about how people worked, lived, and shared skills in the distant past. Creativity arguably occupies a very different place in modern society, but no less of an important one.
Recent work in archaeological engagement shows that creative practices such as crafting and artistic pursuits can both create excellent learning environments and promote participants’ wellbeing.
In this talk, archaeologist Dr Adam Sutton will discuss the results of Crafts and Community, his ongoing collaboration with the Northamptonshire Archaeological Resource Centre (ARC) at the Chester House Estate. Crafts and Community seeks to investigate creativity from different perspectives.
The first part of the project saw the pursuit of evidence of craft practices employed in pottery-making in early Roman Northamptonshire, using objects from the ARC Collection. Cutting-edge analysis has allowed these practices to be established and placed within the context of Romano-British industry. These results are themselves revealing of the different and highly creative ways that Romano-British potters worked, and allow us to start telling the stories of these craftspeople, who are often overlooked and are entirely absent from the historical record.
The second part of the project has seen this new information on Roman craft practices translated into a series of practical pottery-making workshops offered to communities in Northamptonshire. These workshops ran with creativity in mind: while structured around Roman techniques, participants were free to experiment and innovate as they wanted to, creating a rich and informal learning environment.
By blending archaeological research with creative engagement, a number of important insights have been made into the stories of both past craftspeople and modern communities, as well as learning points with which to improve engagement practice. These insights will be the focus of this talk.Dr Adam Sutton is the Iron Age and Roman pottery specialist for Museum of London Archaeology.
All talks are FREE but require booking. To read the abstract for a talk and to book a place please click the relevant link above.
All talks start at 7pm in the Threshing Barn at the Chester House Estate and are scheduled to take 45 minutes to an hour with time for questions.
If attending an evening talk, please park in the Lime Avenue Car Park. The bar will be open for refreshments before and after the talk.
Book tickets for Thursday 28th July by Adam Sutton (7pm)
The talks will highlight amazing discoveries from recent archaeological excavations and new research taking place in Northamptonshire.
Thursday 28th July – ‘Pots and people in the past and present: Tales of creativity in Roman and modern Northamptonshire’ by Adam Sutton (Museum of London Archaeology)
Archaeology has much to tell us about the ways that people were creative in the past. Artefacts of all kinds bear traces of their production and use, and these allow archaeologists to establish the ‘norms’ of past creative practices as well as where people evidently innovated by diverging from these norms. These observations allow us to tell very human stories about how people worked, lived, and shared skills in the distant past. Creativity arguably occupies a very different place in modern society, but no less of an important one.
Recent work in archaeological engagement shows that creative practices such as crafting and artistic pursuits can both create excellent learning environments and promote participants’ wellbeing.
In this talk, archaeologist Dr Adam Sutton will discuss the results of Crafts and Community, his ongoing collaboration with the Northamptonshire Archaeological Resource Centre (ARC) at the Chester House Estate. Crafts and Community seeks to investigate creativity from different perspectives.
The first part of the project saw the pursuit of evidence of craft practices employed in pottery-making in early Roman Northamptonshire, using objects from the ARC Collection. Cutting-edge analysis has allowed these practices to be established and placed within the context of Romano-British industry. These results are themselves revealing of the different and highly creative ways that Romano-British potters worked, and allow us to start telling the stories of these craftspeople, who are often overlooked and are entirely absent from the historical record.
The second part of the project has seen this new information on Roman craft practices translated into a series of practical pottery-making workshops offered to communities in Northamptonshire. These workshops ran with creativity in mind: while structured around Roman techniques, participants were free to experiment and innovate as they wanted to, creating a rich and informal learning environment.
By blending archaeological research with creative engagement, a number of important insights have been made into the stories of both past craftspeople and modern communities, as well as learning points with which to improve engagement practice. These insights will be the focus of this talk.Dr Adam Sutton is the Iron Age and Roman pottery specialist for Museum of London Archaeology.
All talks are FREE but require booking. To read the abstract for a talk and to book a place please click the relevant link above.
All talks start at 7pm in the Threshing Barn at the Chester House Estate and are scheduled to take 45 minutes to an hour with time for questions.
If attending an evening talk, please park in the Lime Avenue Car Park. The bar will be open for refreshments before and after the talk.
Book tickets for Thursday 28th July by Adam Sutton (7pm)