Medieval Pottery training and analysis days by Mercian Archaeological Services CIC - The Skegby Archive

Mercian Archaeological Services CIC' s David Budge has been using his expertise to train volunteers in Medieval pottery and pottery analysis techniques based around a University of Nottingham Museum archive from excavations in Skegby in the 1960's.

The project has ran for 3 days so far - with a fantastic turnout amounting to over 42 volunteer days or 8.5 weeks of outreach so far- with days still to go!

The project so far has been fantastic with volunteers being educated and trained to the highest level (beyond the usual sorting and washing available at other units) with a range of activities have been taught including:

Sorting the finds into context groups, 
Washing and re-marking finds where necessary, 
Re-packaging and labelling the material to comply with modern museum standards to allow more effective curation of the assemblage, 
Sorting the pottery into ware and fabric types,
Weighing and recording the pottery, 
Using microscopes and electronic microscopes and computers to analyse minerals in the pottery fabric,
Illustrating important rims / bases / profiles.
Training sessions on ceramic fabrics and medieval pottery identification .
Training in the standards and guidance of the Medieval Pottery Research Group.

There will be other opportunities for more learning and training soon!

Mercian Archaeological Services CIC