The Boundary Objects project hosted three workshops (online):
Workshop 1. Connecting Scottish grave goods: information flow, digital connectivity and improved online access
Friday 21 May 2021, 10.00-13.00 (online)
Key aims:
• To reflect on the interpretative potential of Scottish grave goods and the existing processes via which data about archaeological objects are captured (e.g. by fieldwork units, regional and national museums, HERs and Canmore)
• To identify key tasks to be completed in order to improve the flow of information about archaeological objects between different digital locations/repositories
• To collate ideas about how to design a simple, effective and sustainable system for marrying existing information about grave goods (e.g. in museum records) and their contexts of discovery (e.g. in HER/Canmore records): a standalone ‘finds hub’, hosted by the ADS
Workshop 2. Harnessing the power of Scottish grave goods: engaging volunteers in finds work
Friday 28 May 2021, 10.00-13.00 (online)
Key aims:
• To consider current levels of volunteer involvement in Scottish museums and heritage bodies and identify how prehistoric grave goods can play a role in engaging wider audiences
• To examine current best practice in finds-related volunteer opportunities and in Citizen Science practices more widely
• To design targeted pilot programmes aimed at actively involving volunteers in specific aspects of grave goods research
Workshop 3. Celebrating progress, thinking towards a future for finds
Friday 18 March 2022, 10.00-13.00 (online)
Key aims:
• To share key project findings with heritage professionals across Scotland and the UK more widely
• To reflect on the implications of BOP for project partners and stakeholders
• To consider if, and how, successful elements of the project might be sustained and scaled-up in future
We organised two conferences as part of the original Grave Goods project:
Grave Matters: Interpreting objects and death
in later prehistoric Europe
Our first project conference was held on Friday 29 June 2018 at the University of Manchester. This event brought together scholars working on related themes across Europe, providing a disparate body of researchers with the opportunity to get together to discuss the critical subject of grave goods. Speakers included: Joanna Brück, Harry Fokkens, David Fontijn, Daniela Hofmann, Laurent Olivier, Katherina Rebay-Salisbury and Alison Sheridan, along with the project team.
Objects and death: on the trail of grave goods
(past, present and future)
Our second conference took place on Friday 31 May 2019 at the British Museum. Death is one of the rare constants of the human condition. The conference investigated how people have explored, explained and come to terms with death through objects across time and around the world. What connections can we find, and what differences exist, when we face death through objects? Our exciting programme of speakers included artists, anthropologists, Egyptologists and archaeologists and touched on past, present and future societies. The conference was aimed at all levels of interest, as well as academics and professionals working on different aspects of death, memory and remembrance. Speakers: Rob Heard, Lucy Jeffery, Richard Osgood, Paul Pettitt, Gaye Sculthorpe, Julian Stair, Julie-Marie Strange, Helen Strudwick, Lib Taylor and the Grave Goods project team.