Friday, May 17, 2013

Isle of Man Ballacagen Excavations

 photo IMG_1943copy_zpse0578642.jpg  photo IMG_1947copy_zps0eda414a.jpg
There were illustrations I completed for Dr. Harold Mytum of the University of Liverpool, in the summer of 2012. I was working as a project illustrator and supervisor at the field school run by Dr. Mytum through Liverpool and the Centre for Manx Studies. These artefacts were from a previous excavation of the site...I can't currently remember which one it was (either the original excavation by Gerhard Bersu in the 40's or another one possibly done in the 80's...eep!). Not found last year though! The cross sections were measured and drawn in person, during a visit to the Manx Museum. I used a set of digital callipers and rulers to get the measurements as accurate as possible. Objects were then photographed by Dr. Mytum next to a set of rules and on 1mm gridded paper. These photographs allowed me to re-create accurate illustrations of the artefacts back at the Centre for Manx Studies. This process was undertaken because we only had access to the artefacts for one afternoon, and it would take me the next nearly 2 weeks to complete all of the illustrations. What you see in those two images are 2 pages of the large set I did, reduced to about 70%. The first page, with the massive perforated stone is my favourite! It's most likely a large weight for a loom or a thatched roof, but I spent the entire time at the Centre calling it my 'giant spindle whorl'. There are spindle whorls drawn, as well as some interesting long stones, which were most likely used as sharpening stones for blades. The objects that look like small broken rings are just that, and the small broken pieces next to them are something unknown. They might have been decorative ceramics for..something. We're unsure. The large stone with the cross is something particularly interesting! The cross is a naturally occurring cross of two seams of quartz in the middle of the stone, but this stone had some shaping, and was found inside a round house. This indicates that the possessor most likely found it and saw the cross, and brought it home because of the image. It's very exciting!