During Dr Oliver Gosselain’s guest lecture

From left to right: Dr Ina Berg (organiser),
Dr Valentine Roux (guest speaker),
Dr Olivier Gosselain (guest speaker)

Prehistoric Ceramics Research Group Conferences

Details of Conferences:
BREAKING THE MOULD: CHALLENGING THE PAST THROUGH POTTERY
6th - 8th October 2006: The School of Arts, Histories and Cultures, University of Manchester.

The 3rd International Conference on Prehistoric Pottery, entitled ‘Breaking the Mould: Challenging the Past through Pottery’, was held recently by the Department of Archaeology on behalf of The Prehistoric Society and the Prehistoric Ceramics Research Group (PCRG) at the Humanities Bridgeford Street Building, University of Manchester. The conference was sponsored by the British Academy and the University of Manchester (CIDRA).

More than 50 delegates from Britain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and the Republic of Macedonia presented papers on interdisciplinary ceramics research across the globe. The conference began with an excursion to the Gladstone Pottery Factory in Stoke-on-Trent to explore the social history of one of the last bottle-oven factories in the country. On Saturday, the presentation programme kicked off with an outstanding guest lecture by Dr Valentine Roux who proposed a new approach to modelling technological innovations. Subsequent lectures explored a wide range of issues, including technology, chronology and methodology. On Sunday, an inspiring guest lecture by Dr Olivier Gosselain on his ethnographic work on potters’ identities in Africa set the scene for the day and the theme of identities continued to be explored by subsequent speakers in relation to other regions and context. Overall, the conference demonstrated the potential of ceramic studies for elucidating the socio-historical context of ceramics production and consumption. The conference proceedings will be published in the near future.