Study Group for Roman Pottery - Newsletter March 2004

Study Group for Roman Pottery (SGRP) SGRP Homepage

NEWSLETTER 36 - March 2004

Secretary’s news

   Welcome to the 36th SGRP newsletter. Thanks to all who, following the last newsletter, have updated and corrected their contact details – particularly to those who have provided new email addresses. Not only does this save me a lot of work (photocopying and filling envelopes), it also saves the group money and, most importantly, means that we can disseminate important information rapidly. Those of you receiving the newsletter by ‘snail mail’ will, for example, find a couple of important fliers enclosed - a call for papers for the SGRP conference in July, and information about the Digital Archiving seminar in April. We were able to circulate these by email as soon as they came in. If you are receiving this newsletter by post but think you have given me an email address, please contact me. Some emails have been bouncing back, so our record of your email address may be incorrect.

Treasurer and Subscriptions

   The committee is delighted to announce that Louise Rayner has volunteered to act as Treasurer for the group. Louise already has a great deal of experience on the committee, having acted as Hon Secretary. Louise reports as follows:

   Having taken over as Treasurer, I am just beginning to get to grips with the post!

   Subscriptions for 2004 were due in January but as the post was vacant no reminders were sent out. SO this is your reminder and if you haven’t yet paid your subscriptions for 2004 please do so by sending a cheque for £15 (20 GBP for Overseas) made payable to ‘The Study Group for Roman Pottery’. If you would like to arrange payment by Standing Order please download a form from the website or request one from the address below.

   If you have sent a cheque I will acknowledge its safe arrival – it might take a while before they are cashed due to handover of account documentation, so please bear with us.

   All subscriptions, requests or queries to Louise Rayner, Flat 2 121 Church Road, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 8QH

Committee News

   The next committee meeting will be held in London on March 20th. A summary of the meeting will be included in the next newsletter.

The Membership

   One of our members, John Dove, having reached a distinguished age, has now decided to retire from the Group. John, who has a keen interest in archaeology and pottery, has been a Group member for a number of years. He has been active in and around Eastbourne, where a number of significant sites have come to light in the last few years. John will no doubt maintain his interest in the subject, and we wish him a long and happy retirement. John sent his best wishes for the future of the group.

Notice Board

STANDARDS FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL ARCHIVES

   Duncan Brown, chair of the IFA Finds Group, is currently working on a ‘Review of Standards in England for the Creation, Preparation and Deposition of Archaeological Archives.’ The project is being carried out under the auspices of the Archaeological Archives Forum (AAF), funded by English Heritage and supported by the Institute of Field Archaeologists. It has the following aims:

To provide an overview of existing standards for the creation, compilation, preparation and delivery of archaeological archives.

To identify areas where no commonly held standards exist, or where there are inconsistencies, and to make proposals that may rectify any such situation.

To gain an understanding of how the archive process is managed by considering the roles of different institutions and organisations and the relationships between them, and indeed how they perceive their own responsibilities and position within the archive process.

To establish the feasibility of producing a set of national standards for the preparation and deposition of archaeological archives.

   The consultation period for this is now complete and a report has been drafted. We’ll keep you informed of progress.

‘OASIS’ AND GREY LITERATURE

   Those concerned about the increasing problem of inaccessible ‘grey literature’ may be interested to hear about the Archaeology Data Service’s OASIS Project. The OASIS project – Online AccesS to the Index of archaeological investigationS – intends to provide an online index to the mass of archaeological grey literature. To find out more see http://ads.ac.uk/project/oasis.

CONFERENCES

IFA CONFERENCE, Liverpool, 6^th-8^th April. The range of sessions includes one on ‘Improving our skills,’ in which Phil Mills will be talking about the Roman pottery specialist training programme.

Digital Archiving for the Pottery Specialist made easy 24^th April 2004 (See flier)

IFA FINDS GROUP Meeting and AGM, with a study day on ‘Metals’ 10^th June

PREHISTORIC CERAMIC RESEARCH GROUP AND PREHISTORIC SOCIETY joint conference, University of Bradford, 22^nd-24^th October

Remember, If you would like to add an item to the Queries/Research section, or have any suggestions as to how the website many be developed, please contact Ted Connell

Please remember to keep your contact details up to date, including any new e-mail addresses. The secretary’s contact details can be found at the beginning of the Newsletter.
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