Category Archives: Material culture

A tale of two buttons and some supernatural events

Posted on September 27, 2020 by sarthure

I’ve been cataloguing buttons from Baker’s Flat. The ones in the picture below are known as trouser buttons (suspender buttons if you’re in the US) and were used mainly on work trousers and shirts. These four hole, sew through buttons … Continue reading →

Posted in Baker's Flat, Cataloguing, Material culture, South Australia | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Fizzy drinks, the Codd patent bottle and some experimental archaeology

Posted on August 27, 2020 by sarthure

When aerated mineral water drinks were first manufactured way back in the eighteenth century, they were stored in stoneware bottles. But the gas often escaped, the fizz disappeared and the drinks became flat. When glass bottles were used, a different … Continue reading →

Posted in Material culture, Research, hmmm, South Australia | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

We’re building a wall and adding a foundation deposit

Posted on October 14, 2018 by sarthure

So, we like gardening, although we’re often neglectful and the plants that thrive do so because they’re hardy.  This weekend’s project, in which I played a minor role, was to build a three-course curved wall around the fence that holds … Continue reading →

Posted in Excavation, Folk traditions, Foundation deposits, Ireland, Irishness, Material culture, South Australia | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on We’re building a wall and adding a foundation deposit

Christmas jigsaw puzzle of the ceramic variety

Posted on January 1, 2018 by sarthure

Christmas is an excellent time for jigsaw puzzles. One of my longtime favourite novelists, Margaret Drabble, asserts that ‘jigsaws are a joy at Christmas, the ideal gift, the perfect employment’. Further, she says, they ‘give you an illusion of order and progress when … Continue reading →

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Unearthed: an exhibition inspired by Baker’s Flat

Posted on April 29, 2017 by sarthure

Unearthed is an exhibition of paintings by Lynn Mack, inspired by some of the ceramic and glass artefacts excavated at Baker’s Flat. It’s part of South Australia’s History Festival, and you can find it at the entrance to the Central Library at Flinders University. … Continue reading →

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