Graham's Potted History

I'm a potter and experimental archaeologist, that means that I create replicas of ancient pots, make reconstructions of ancient kilns, firings, workshops etc. This blog is a journal of some of my recent work. All text and images are copyright if you wish to use them please ask.

Wednesday, 1 April 2009

Canopic Jars and Standing Stones

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Wednesday is our day off so I only unpacked a kiln before setting of on an archaeological visit, a set of canopic jars that I've made fo...

Monday, 30 March 2009

Back to the Wheel

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Ok so I started in January with the enthusiasm of the newly converted and then............................ well I guess that the work got i...

Monday, 19 January 2009

The job isn't finished till the paperwork's done!

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I have just finished putting together my accounts for the Tax Man, I have great empathy with Vimes from Terry Pratchett's novel "T...

Wednesday, 14 January 2009

Conversations With Pots

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When I handle an ancient pot it’s a little like shaking hands with the original potter; a handshake across thousands of years. I can feel th...

Sunday, 4 January 2009

This month I'll be mostly making Saxon Pots

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OK it's New Year and I have a mountain of Pots to make . To add to the Nottingham Pots and Samian Ware for another museum The Gefrin Tr...

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Monday, 29 December 2008

Replica Pots for Christmas....what else?

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I am guessing that all the people who ordered from me, replica pots for their loved ones, will by now have given them so that I can now reve...

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Tuesday, 23 December 2008

Mediaeval Pottery Kiln at Shotton

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A few days ago I was invited to visit the archaeological excavation of a pottery production site at Shotton, to the north of Newcastle upon ...

Sunday, 21 December 2008

Roman Replicas for Nottingham University

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Over the next few weeks I will be making a collection of Replica Roman Pottery for the Archaeology Museum at the University of Nottingham. M...

Saturday, 20 December 2008

Roman Pottery at Newcastle YAC

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I spent today working with a great group of young people at the Newcastle branch of the Young Archaeologists' Club (YAC). The theme for ...

Friday, 19 December 2008

Prehistoric firing

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Last week you'd have found me bent over a small fire in the corner of a Northumbrian field, replicating the firing techniques of the N...

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About Me

pottedhistory: Rothbury, Northumberland, United Kingdom; When I handle an ancient pot it’s a little like shaking hands with the original potter; a handshake across thousands of years. I can feel the impressions made by their thumbs, the pressure of their fingers pushing the wet clay into the palm of the hand to swell out the belly of the pot, the sweep of a tool to decorate the surface. All of these movements are like frozen, or possibly more correctly, fired moments in time, preserved and waiting for me to decode. When I come to emulate their actions and re-create one of these prehistoric masterpieces, I get to know the potter a little better. A conversation takes place … “Oh I see why you did that” ….”What did you use to make that mark?”.........”Now that’s clever, decorating it like that”. The conversation may seem a little one sided but the answers come back to me from the clay. Above all the act of making a piece gives me a deep sense of respect for a fellow craftsperson.

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