Whats the Big Idea?

Society for Museum Archaeologists Annual Conference 2013 The Mary Rose Museum, 6th and 7th November Wednesday 6th November Session One: Were going to need a bigger boat (museum)
The Newport Medieval Ship Project: A Decade of Discoveries Toby Jones, Curator, Newport Medieval Ship Project Since its discovery in 2002, the Newport Medieval Ship has captured the publics interest and imagination in Wales and beyond. Following the rescue excavation in 2002 and 2003, the postexcavation phase of the ship project has focussed on the cleaning, recording, modelling and conservation of the hull remains and the thousands of associated artefacts. Many archaeologists, conservators and volunteers have worked to systematically document the remains of the 15th century clinker-built merchant vessel. Recent discoveries include identification of the origin and date of the oak hull planking to after 1449 in the Basque country, and considerable environmental and waterlogged plant remains analysis suggesting trade links with the Iberian Peninsula. A French coin found inserted in the keel of the ship was minted in 1447, while dendrochronological dating indicates that the vessel came to rest in Newport in the late 1460s. Current efforts are devoted to on-going conservation of the waterlogged wood, synthesising and archiving the huge amounts of collected data and preparing a variety of authoritative publications. The use of advanced three dimensional digital recording and modelling technologies, in the form of contact digitising, laser scanning and 3D printing, has allowed for unprecedented documentation and analysis of the hull remains and artefacts.

Conserving one log boat is bad enough, but having to deal with eight all at once, is a daunting prospect..... Ian Panter, Principle Conservator, York Archaeological Trust This paper discusses the recovery and conservation regime proposed for eight waterlogged prehistoric logboats recovered from a quarry near Peterborough, East of England during the winter of 2011/2012. The assemblage represents one of the largest finds in the UK and is therefore unique and of national, if not international, significance. Following discussions with all concerned parties, the decision was taken to recover each vessel intact, instead of cutting into more manageable sections, and this has influenced the conservation programme. Once lifted, each vessel has been housed in temporary storage whilst funding was sought to construct a bespoke cold store/conservation facility at the Flag Fen Bronze Age museum.

Session Two: Thinking big

Collecting Creswell Maria Smith, Learning Officer, Creswell Heritage Trust The Ice Age site of Creswell Crags has been the subject of excavation work from the 1870s up to the present day. This work has resulted in the development of the UKs most celebrated collection of Ice Age artefacts, including stone / bone tools and the earliest figurative art, as well as an invaluable Pleistocene animal bone assemblage spanning the last 120,000 years. However, the majority of this excavation work took place prior to any established museum at Creswell Crags, resulting in most researchers either retaining the material and integrating it into their own collections or donating it to other institutions. Consequently, over this past 140 years of research material has become dispersed among just less than forty different museum departments. In 2001, Creswell Heritage Trust with the assistance of the late Dr Roger Jacobi undertook an audit of the dispersed collections as part of the Creswell Crags Conservation Plan. This work summarised the location, range and quantity of the dispersed material in the UK. However, since that work was undertaken other collections have surfaced, including material in the United States of America, and opportunities to disseminate metadata about collections have developed. This created the need to extend the breadth and depth of the 2001 audit, remove any existing barriers as a result of dispersal, and provide new channels of communication through which new research and wider uses of the collection in future exhibitions could be serviced. Collecting Creswell, funded by the Museums Association through the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation developed information that was specific to the dispersed Creswell Crags archive and collection with a view to creating a searchable web portal attached to the Creswell Crags website which will provide rich research-based metadata about the collections. Pompeii and Herculaneum in London Paul Roberts, Senior Curator at the British Museum and curator of the Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibition In AD 79 a catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in southern Italy buried Pompeii, and its smaller sister city Herculaneum. Since their rediscovery in the eighteenth century the cities have offered unparalleled insight into the daily lives of the people of those cities and very likely much of the empire as a whole. The recent exhibition at the British Museum Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, brought together over 400 objects, set against the context of an idealised Roman home. These ranged from bronze and marble sculptures, mosaics and wall paintings, to silverware jewellery, glassware kitchenware and even furniture and other objects in wood. This paper gives an idea of the background to the exhibition and then looks at the creation of the show, from choosing the objects and imaging the sites, to the exhibition process of design, interpretation and the visitor experience. Finally there is an overview of the exhibition itself, looking at selected objects, some star some very ordinary, and discussing whether and how these can be used to investigate the lives of ordinary Romans.

Session Three: The bigger picture

Why archaeology? Interviews with artists Mark Hall, History Officer, Perth Museum & Art Gallery This paper provides a short introduction to the work of selected artists that have created installations at archaeology museums throughout the world or have otherwise been inspired by archaeology. We also will present the results of qualitative interviews with some of these artists. Our questions focus on their motivations for the engagement with archaeological topics, the feedback by the press and the public and if/how their interaction with archaeology has affected later artistic ideas and careers. We hope to illustrate some of the transformation processes that are at work when an artist produces art inspired by archaeological objects. Looking back Brian Graham, artist This paper gives a brief summary of how early prehistory has influenced and informed Brian Grahams output as a painter and will be followed by observations on his interactions with professional archaeologists and academics. He will then talk directly about his work using accompanying examples to illustrate his ideas. There will be an opportunity to view some of Brians work during conference breaks.

Seeing More: Computational Photography and Archaeology Nicole Beale and Gareth Beale, Archaeological Computing Research Group, University of Southampton, This paper will present the technique of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), a computational photography method, as a way to record archaeological objects using imaging. The method, which results in high fidelity data capture, uses open source software and requires very little specialist equipment, and is therefore a useful addition to every archaeological curators toolbox. The Archaeological Computing Research Group has been using RTI in the wild for five years, and this paper will give examples of the wide variety of uses of the technique, including outdoor recording of huge wall paintings to identifying microscopic level ceramic use-wear. We will also discuss tips and tricks for quick Highlight-RTIs in the field. After the presentation, different set-ups of the equipment will be available to test out; from the more expensive portable automated RTI Dome, to a more costeffective community project kit which uses a snooker ball and a torch. There will be an opportunity to view Nicole and Gareths work during lunch

Session Four: The state of the nation

A round up of the latest thinking and strategy from lead organisations across England, Scotland and Wales.

Session Five: Bigger, bolder, better?

The Wessex Museums Partnership David Dawson , Director, Wiltshire Museum, Jon Murden, Director, Dorset County Museum and Adrian Green, Director, Salisbury Museum Three independent museums, two archaeological societies and a partnership. The Partnership has worked together with the support of the Arts Council to foster stronger links, build synergies and build capacity. Find out about exciting new displays, innovative approaches to archaeological archives and the imminent opening of the new Stonehenge Visitor Centre.

Where do we start? Cataloguing, researching and displaying Barnsleys repatriated archaeology Dr Vicky Crewe , Project Co-ordinator for the Barnsley Esmee Fairbairn Project at the Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield and Jemma Conway , Community Heritage Curator for Barnsley Arts and Museum Service. Recent funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and European Regional Development Fund has allowed Barnsley Council to develop a new museum in the town centre. Experience Barnsley opened in June 2013, and as the first museum dedicated to telling the regions history as a whole, archaeology was deemed an integral part of its remit. Yet archaeological finds from Barnsley had traditionally been archived in Sheffield and Doncaster museums and, in advance of the museum opening, these archaeological collections were transferred back to the town. However, having never stored archaeological collections before, and with no archaeological curator, the Museum Service needed a strategy that would allow them to catalogue, research, interpret, display, and make publically accessible their newly-returned finds. A bid to the Esme Fairbairn Fund enabled the Museum Service to link up with the Department of Archaeology at Sheffield. This has allowed us to develop alternative ways of dealing with the archaeology collections without specialist curatorial expertise and through research and community engagement to enable local people access to their archaeological heritage for the first time. In this talk we intend to introduce the project and its aims, and discuss our experiences of working on the project from each partners perspective. We will present some of the uses to which the archaeology has been put so far, and the important role that University of Sheffield students are playing in supporting the project. We will also consider how this 2-year arrangement might be made sustainable after the end of the project in 2014.