Excavating the Extra-Ordinary - Challenges & mMrits of Working with Small Finds, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, April 8–9, 2019

In times of post-processual archaeology and contextualizing from an emic point of view, the merits of working with even the tiniest archaeological evidence have come to the foreground in most Egyptological fieldwork undertakings. Long gone are the times of throwing away fragmentary and unspectacular objects, of burning undecorated coffin fragments or brushing off organic remains from "more interesting" artifacts. Every excavator and scholar knows that astonishing conclusions can be drawn from analyzing seemingly “ordinary” finds. And yet, the challenges of working with ancient material still remain unchanged: huge amounts of pottery, often fragmentary heaps of worked wood, an abundance of poorly preserved ropes, baskets and bandages or infinitesimal traces of metal and so much more - often found in a disturbed or mixed context. A difficult setting to work with, because how can we deal with situations in which the results remain inconclusive? And how can we increase awareness of the importance of publishing information on even large amounts of “ordinary” objects?

The workshop aims at facing these challenges and highlighting the merits of working with disturbed contexts and seemingly unimpressive object groups. We wish to bring together scholars from all areas of object centered work, e.g. from excavations, museums and universities. In our discussion-centered workshop setting we intend to exchange ideas about methods, modi operandi and best practices, among others, but not exclusively focusing on:

• How do you deal with largely disturbed contexts?
• How do you manage a huge quantity of finds?
• How do you identify specific items among mixed groups?
• Which deeper insights do you gain by analyzing difficult objects and contexts?
• Which methods proved useful to you and which not?
• How do you cope with inconclusive results?

In addition to our experienced keynote and impulse-speakers we would like to invite scholars and researchers on all career levels to present a paper or poster about their research activity addressing the challenges and merits of working with difficult finds and contexts. We especially ask young researchers to present challenges they are working on at the moment.

The language of the workshop is English.