Meredith Laing - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
PhD from University of Leicester. Researching children in the prehistoric past through burials, fingerprints and fingertip impressions.
Also a lawyer, and currently working in the legal team at the Heritage Fund.
Supervisors: Colin Haselgrove and Jo Appleby
Address: Wells, United Kingdom
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Papers by Meredith Laing
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
Ancient fingerprints preserved in clay artefacts can provide demographic information about the pe... more Ancient fingerprints preserved in clay artefacts can provide demographic information about the people who handled and manufactured them, leaving their marks as an accidental record of a moment’s interaction with material culture. The information extracted from these ancient impressions can shed light on the composition of communities of practice engaged in pottery manufacture. A key component of the process is a comparator dataset of fingerprints reflecting as closely as possible the population being studied. This paper describes the creation of a bespoke reference collection of modern data, the establishment of an interpretive framework for prehistoric fingerprints, and its application to assemblages of Iron Age briquetage from coastal salterns in eastern England. The results demonstrate that briquetage manufacture was constrained by age and sex.
Oxford Journal of Archaeology
Fingertip impressions preserved in the surface of clay artefacts can provide demographic details ... more Fingertip impressions preserved in the surface of clay artefacts can provide demographic details about the people who manufactured and decorated pottery vessels, and by extension allow exploration of the composition of communities of practice engaged in pottery manufacture. This paper describes the development of a method of measurement and analysis of fingertip impressions which were sometimes used as decorative motifs on pot surfaces. The technique can be applied to pottery from across archaeological periods; however, the research presented here focusses on communities of practice among Early and Middle Bronze Age potters of eastern England, and assessing their demographic make-up through analysis of fingertip impressions. The preserved fingertip impressions reveal potting communities comprised children and women, but adult men were seemingly excluded, and suggest a connection between craft activity, age and sex.
Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 2022
Fingertip impressions preserved in the surface of clay artefacts can provide demographic details ... more Fingertip impressions preserved in the surface of clay artefacts can provide demographic details about the people who manufactured and decorated pottery vessels, and by extension allow exploration of the composition of communities of practice engaged in pottery manufacture. This paper describes the development of a method of measurement and analysis of fingertip impressions which were sometimes used as decorative motifs on pot surfaces. The technique can be applied to pottery from across archaeological periods; however, the research presented here focusses on communities of practice among Early and Middle Bronze Age potters of eastern England, and assessing their demographic make-up through analysis of fingertip impressions. The preserved fingertip impressions reveal potting communities comprised children and women, but adult men were seemingly excluded, and suggest a connection between craft activity, age and sex.
The Treasure Act 1996 has paved the way for acquisition by museums of a legally defined class of ... more The Treasure Act 1996 has paved the way for acquisition by museums of a legally defined class of artefact. The Act's sponsoring department, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport asserts that acquisition of treasure benefits the public at large by conserving artefacts, allowing the public to access them, and permitting research. This study examines whether the Act is meeting its (inferred) public benefit remit by assessing the level to which acquired treasure is actually accessible to the public, and whether research is happening and whether its results are available in the public domain.
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
Ancient fingerprints preserved in clay artefacts can provide demographic information about the pe... more Ancient fingerprints preserved in clay artefacts can provide demographic information about the people who handled and manufactured them, leaving their marks as an accidental record of a moment’s interaction with material culture. The information extracted from these ancient impressions can shed light on the composition of communities of practice engaged in pottery manufacture. A key component of the process is a comparator dataset of fingerprints reflecting as closely as possible the population being studied. This paper describes the creation of a bespoke reference collection of modern data, the establishment of an interpretive framework for prehistoric fingerprints, and its application to assemblages of Iron Age briquetage from coastal salterns in eastern England. The results demonstrate that briquetage manufacture was constrained by age and sex.
Oxford Journal of Archaeology
Fingertip impressions preserved in the surface of clay artefacts can provide demographic details ... more Fingertip impressions preserved in the surface of clay artefacts can provide demographic details about the people who manufactured and decorated pottery vessels, and by extension allow exploration of the composition of communities of practice engaged in pottery manufacture. This paper describes the development of a method of measurement and analysis of fingertip impressions which were sometimes used as decorative motifs on pot surfaces. The technique can be applied to pottery from across archaeological periods; however, the research presented here focusses on communities of practice among Early and Middle Bronze Age potters of eastern England, and assessing their demographic make-up through analysis of fingertip impressions. The preserved fingertip impressions reveal potting communities comprised children and women, but adult men were seemingly excluded, and suggest a connection between craft activity, age and sex.
Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 2022
Fingertip impressions preserved in the surface of clay artefacts can provide demographic details ... more Fingertip impressions preserved in the surface of clay artefacts can provide demographic details about the people who manufactured and decorated pottery vessels, and by extension allow exploration of the composition of communities of practice engaged in pottery manufacture. This paper describes the development of a method of measurement and analysis of fingertip impressions which were sometimes used as decorative motifs on pot surfaces. The technique can be applied to pottery from across archaeological periods; however, the research presented here focusses on communities of practice among Early and Middle Bronze Age potters of eastern England, and assessing their demographic make-up through analysis of fingertip impressions. The preserved fingertip impressions reveal potting communities comprised children and women, but adult men were seemingly excluded, and suggest a connection between craft activity, age and sex.
The Treasure Act 1996 has paved the way for acquisition by museums of a legally defined class of ... more The Treasure Act 1996 has paved the way for acquisition by museums of a legally defined class of artefact. The Act's sponsoring department, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport asserts that acquisition of treasure benefits the public at large by conserving artefacts, allowing the public to access them, and permitting research. This study examines whether the Act is meeting its (inferred) public benefit remit by assessing the level to which acquired treasure is actually accessible to the public, and whether research is happening and whether its results are available in the public domain.