For our April session we learnt about Japanese culture and archaeology.\u00a0 The session was led for us by MAYA helper Caroline Pathy Barker.\u00a0 Our sessions usually concentrate on the archaeology of the British Isles so this was something really new and interesting for most of our members.\u00a0 Caroline is involved with the Online Resource for Japanese Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (ORJACH).\u00a0 She started out with a PowerPoint presentation about Japanese culture and history, followed by a short quiz to see if we were paying attention!\u00a0 Caroline also brought along some Japanese archaeological artefacts for us to look at, including pottery, obsidian tools and replica Haniwa statues from burial mounds.<\/p>\n
After break we made Japanese-style Jomon pots.\u00a0 The Jomon period dates from 14,500 BC right up to around 300 BC so this style of pottery is really old.\u00a0 We started out by coiling sausages of clay around a cardboard cup former, slowly building the coils up to around halfway up the cup.\u00a0 We then smoothed the clay with water to get a nice smooth finish.\u00a0 It was then time to decorate our pots, and Caroline had brought along a selection of objects that would have been used in the Jomon period \u2013 bamboo sticks, shells and woven string, which we pressed into the clay to make patterns.\u00a0 Very effective!<\/p>\n
The MAYANS took their pots home and after they have dried for a day or two they can remove the cardboard cup and end up with an authentic-looking Jomon pot.\u00a0 A big thank you to Caroline for a really fun and interesting session!<\/p>\n\n\t\t