How Ceramic Shards Talk: Revealing a Wealth of Information

4.00pm Sunday, 21 July 2019
Visitors’ Briefing Room, Level 1
National Library Building
100 Victoria Street
Singapore 188064

Ever wonder why archaeologists love a bucket full of broken pot shards? There is arguably more research and cultural data available from a basket of fragmented shards than a prized set of complete pots. This talk explains how archaeologists work, and how they maximise data collections from shards: composition, sourcing, design, form, function, volumetrics, social implications, economic value, distribution and consumption. After this talk and handling session, next time one spots a display case of shards in a museum, one will have a whole new understanding of how the shards open up doors of information to archaeologists and historians.

About Dr D. Kyle Latinis

Dr Kyle Latinis is a working field archaeologist with over 25 years of experience in Southeast Asia. He earned a PhD in Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore (2008) and a PhD in Ecological Anthropology at the University of Hawaii (1999). Earlier research includes extensive fieldwork in Indonesia and the Pacific throughout the 1990s. He is also a former Visiting Fellow at the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, ISEAS, and the former Director of an annual NSC Archaeological Field School.

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This talk is free and open to the public, SEACS members and their guests. No RSVP is required but seating is limited and on a first-come-first-served basis. The program will begin at 4pm promptly and end at approximately 5.30pm. Parking is available in the National Library basement carpark and the closest MRT stop is Bras Basah.