Apologies for cross-posting...


 The Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology's annual conference will this year be held at York University, Friday 7th - Sunday 9th September, on the theme of:

 *Routine and Ritual in the Post-Medieval Home*

 http://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/news-and-events/events/conferences/routineandritualinthepost-medievalhome/

 This conference seeks to shed new light on the material culture of both routine and ritual practices in post-medieval vernacular houses. In recent years, scholars across a range of disciplines have become increasingly interested in the potential of objects to shed light on social relationships and domestic practices within the family, household and neighbourhood. This has led to a rise in studies of inventories, as records of particular assemblages within the home, made at a particular moment in time, and of objects themselves, recovered through archaeological excavation or curated within museum collections. Such studies have made use of new theoretical and methodological approaches, such as the idea of ‘biographies’, and the power of objects in telling ‘stories’ about the past – and indeed the present. However, to date, much less attention has been paid to the spatial context of objects, and to the ways in which the groupings of objects recovered in excavation, re
 corded in contemporary documents or illustrations, or curated and displayed as Museum assemblages, can shed light on the social practices households from the early modern period, to the present day.

 Routine and Ritual seeks to being together academic and commercial archaeologists with scholars from other disciplines of cultural and local history, art history and the Museum profession, to discuss and debate the material culture of the post-medieval home and to facilitate dialogue across the disciplines and specialisms concerned with the interpretation of objects to academic and wider audiences. Contributors will think about the relationships between the people who inhabited houses, domestic practices including ‘routine’ activities such as cooking and eating, sleeping, socialising and working, but also more nominally ‘ritual’ activities such as the ritual protection of the home, or the marking of life-cycle rituals such as birth, marriage and death. What role did possessions - buildings and objects - play in these activities? What can we say about the sensory experience both within and between different kinds of home – levels of light, heating, ventilation, the 
 feel of furniture and furnishings, the smell of cooking, scent or sanitation? 
 This conference seeks to consider both the methodological challenges posed by the ‘material turn’, and the potential of buildings and objects to answer some of the questions posed above.
 Speakers include: Alasdair Brooks, Craig Cessford, Pete Connelly, Timothy Easton, Ian Evans, David Gaimster, Tara Hamling, Vesa-Pekka Herva, Audrey Horning, Nigel Jeffries, Eleanor John, Freya Massey, Angela McShane, Andrew Morrall, Paul Mullins, Alastair Owen, Vesa-Pekka Herva, Sara Pennell, Philippa Puzey-Broomhead, Greig Parker, Catherine Richardson, Jayne Rimmer, Rosemary Weinstein.

 The cost of attending the conference is £30, including lunches and refreshments. Further information about the conference, including the programme and registration, can be found here: http://www.york.ac.uk/archaeology/news-and-events/events/conferences/routineandritualinthepost-medievalhome/

 *The Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology is offering a number of student and conference registration bursaries*. Please contact Kate Giles ( [log in to unmask] ) if you would like more details.

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 Emma Dwyer
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