Potted History On Screen

In terms of media work, it's been a busy couple of years and I'll be linking to a few of the resulting videos in the coming months, this one was made for English Heritage, Stonehenge, for whom you may recall from earlier posts, I made the replica Grooved Ware and Beaker pottery displayed in the Stonehenge Visitor Centre Museum and in the replica Neolithic Houses. This obviously shows a very much speeded-up version of the creation of a Neolithic Grooved Ware pot, but it does give an idea of the processes involved. Early in 2019 I'll be starting a subscription Vlog in which I'll produce monthly lecture/demo videos taking you through all aspects of Prehistoric Pottery making. I'll go into detail on everything from the selection and preparation of materials, the making and use of authentic tools, forming and decorating many different types of Neolithic, Bronze-Age and Iron Age pottery and the firing process. If you'd be interested to hear more about this, or keep informed about forthcoming workshops and replicas, sign up to my Mailing List. Or to book onto one of my one day workshops have a look at our website Potted-History.co.uk  

Visit my website at www.pottedhistory.co.uk

Prehistoric and Anglo Saxon Pottery Workshops

When I talk about making Prehistoric Pottery, Neolithic, Bronze-Age and Iron-Age, or indeed Post Roman Anglo Saxon/Early Mediaeval  ceramics, I often get the response "Oh, that's coiled isn't it?".  Coiled pottery is a term that jars with me, it conjours in the mind images of primary school classrooms with pots made of little clay sausages, gradually falling apart as they dry. The range of techniques used by potters before the Romans introduced the potters' wheel to Britain and in the centuries after Roman Rule ended, are wide and varied, they are robust and were carefully chosen to create strong, functional vessels. The same is true of their choice of tools, materials and firing method.  In a one day workshop, I can't teach you everything there is to know about Ancient Ceramics, but I can give you a pretty good grounding in the basic methods, I can show you how to select the best materials for the job and I can get you to make a couple of decent replicas. The first three workshops at our Rothbury Studio, for 2019, are now available for booking on our website 

https://potted-history.co.uk/collections/workshops

Visit my website at www.pottedhistory.co.uk

Skara Brae Neolithic Pottery Demonstrations

At Easter 2017 you'd have found me absolutely in my element, working for Historic Environment Scotland, at Skara Brae, the amazingly well preserved Neolithic Village on the Bay of Skaill, Orkney Mainland not far from the Ness of Brodgar, the Ring of Brodgar, The Stones of Stenness and Maeshow. Built about 5000 years ago, that's before the stones were erected at Stonehenge and before the first Egyptian pyramids were constructed, Skara Brae is a truly remarkable survival. Occupied for about 500 years it was abandoned around 4500 years ago and as relatively quickly covered with sand, preserving not only the structure of the buildings and some wonderful artefacts, but the flagstone furniture as well; beds, storage tanks and display shelving know as "the dresser".  Several of these houses are preserved almost to level of the roof, the exact structure of which is not known.  For conservation reasons it's not possible to enter the original houses, so Historic Environment Scotland have created a replica of house seven and it was here that I was stationed, inhabiting the space, making replicas and filling up the dresser with my pots.

During the five days that I was there, using tools that were based on finds from the site, I made several large Grooved Ware vessels and a few Unstan Ware Bowls. This was a great experience for me and it seemed to be much appreciated by the visitors, many of whom stayed for some considerable time, talking to me about the houses, life in Neolithic Orkney, but mostly the pottery. Two guides who brought several groups round the site during my time there, were most emphatic that I must stay permanently and that the dresser should remain filled with my pots. Unfortunately that's not going to be possible at present but i am hoping that Historic Environment Scotland will invite me back again.

Visit my website at www.pottedhistory.co.uk