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FRG Latest News...

The lastest FRG news, including information about forthcoming meetings will appear here.
 
 
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Get involved!

The Finds Research Group welcomes expressions of interest from dynamic members wishing to join the Committee. We have two active roles available:

Communications Co-ordinator

The role includes:
  • Monitoring our email account and responding to enquiries
  • Forwarding enquiries to appropriate committee members, as necessary
  • Circulating information to our members including newsletters, details of meetings and emails of interest from other groups/organisations
  • Ensuring that the members’ contact list is up to date
  • Contacting new members and sending an email ‘welcome’ pack of newsletter and recent datasheets

You will liaise closely with the Membership Co-ordinator and the Treasurer. The post is not too onerous but you will need to be able to respond actively and efficiently to enquiries, contribute to in-person and virtual committee meetings (typically two in-person a year), and support the Group by attending some of our membership meetings.

Meetings Co-ordinator

This role includes:
  • Actively encouraging Finds Research Group members to suggest topics and venues for our Meetings
  • Providing practical support to those organising meetings and less formal exhibition visits
  • Sitting on steering groups for joint meetings with other bodies
  • Supplying information to advertise events via the Finds Research Group’s email circulation, website and social media campaign
  • Liaising directly with the Treasurer regarding any financial arrangements, and with other Committee members for information dissemination
  • Contributing to in-person and virtual committee meetings (typically two a year), and by attending membership meetings.

You will be encouraging, enthusiastic and effective. You will not be expected to organise meetings yourself, but rather help co-ordinate and support others to do so.

As with all our committee roles these are voluntary posts, but reasonable travel expenses to committee meetings can be offered. If you feel this is an opportunity for you to contribute, please send an expression of interest by email to the Chair Christine McDonnell via findsresearch@gmail.com

We’d ideally like to hear from you before 30th April 2024.
 
 
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Members meeting to Leiden.

Ellie Drew, beneficiary of the FRG Research Fund, review of our members meeting to Leiden, November 2023...
Thanks to the generous funding received from the Finds Research Group, I was able to attend the group’s visit to Leiden in November 2023. This was a highly enjoyable and valuable visit, and I am very grateful to the committee for providing the funding which enabled me to take part.

The visit began on the morning of Friday the 10th when we were greeted at the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden with a fascinating introduction to the new exhibition “The Year 1000” by curator Annemarieke Willemsen. This provided us with some background to the decision to put on an exhibition covering a period which has not necessarily received the same attention within the museum previously. Following this initial talk, Annemarieke and project assistant Pleun van Lieshout led us up to the main exhibition itself for a guided tour.

“The Year 1000” is a very well-presented exhibition, making good use of multimedia displays, but as is to be expected the real stars of the show are the artefacts. This combination of objects from the museum’s own collection and loans from across the Netherlands and further afield provides a clear overview of both daily life and the area’s position with a broader network of trade, politics, and religion in the early medieval world. In terms of display several artefacts, notably the ship timbers reused within domestic buildings, were of particular interest as they have clear parallels with items in the York Archaeology collection which we have recently put on display for the first time. Other highlights included the Middle Eastern fabrics transported to the Netherlands as wrapping for relics, preserving fragile materials which might have otherwise been lost, and providing a transmission point for decorative motifs.

Following lunch, my group was taken on a guided tour of the Roman galleries by curator Jasper de Bruin. For me, the highlight of these galleries was the cavalry helmet from Peel, an exceptional piece of work with an unusual and striking post-depositional patina. We were then taken into the collections store by Pleun to see the recently acquired Henk van Wijk collection of medieval and early modern pewters. Pleun’s expertise was especially helpful in terms of understanding the devotional items of pilgrim badges and ampullae.

After a short walk across town, we arrived at the Textile Research Centre where Dr Gillian Vogelslang-Eastwood gave us a good introduction to and tour of the large collection, made up principally of donated clothes and costumes from across the world, including a fragment of textile from Çatalhöyük. We also had time to explore the contrasting exhibition of 1920s fashion curated by an intern at the centre, which included some interesting colonial adaptations of Western costume...

You can read Ellie's full account of the Leiden members meeting here.
 
 
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Changes to Geoff Egan awarding criteria and assessment.

New changes are in place for the awarding of the annual Geoff Egan Prize. The award is open to all new scholars working on medieval and post-medieval artefact studies. Applicants may self-nominate or, in the case of students, be nominated by their supervisors, tutors, or Boards of Examiners. There is no need for a supporting statement from the Board, though a sentence outlining the nature and context of the piece of work (essay, dissertation, magazine article etc) from the applicant will be helpful.

Applications may be submitted on a rolling basis, and will be reviewed twice yearly ahead of each of our committee meetings, with work awarded or highly commended. The panel will be looking for originality of thought, professionalism of approach and presentation, and ultimately, awarded submissions will show evidence of the researcher’s exceptional talent and potential for further work in finds research.

Submissions should be made to Christine McDonnell, Chair of the Finds Research Group, York Archaeological Trust, 47 Aldwark, York Y01 7BX - email: cmcdonnell@yorkat.co.uk.
 
 
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Research Fund now £650!

The Finds Research Group Fund has been set up to support research into the finds of early medieval to post medieval Britain, with awards now up to £650. Applications are open to any members of the Finds Research Group requiring funding to support research into finds of post-Roman date which relate to Britain; Awards may be made to support travel, attend a conference or training, illustration or publication costs, or other research costs as required, at the discretion of the awarding panel.