- Title
- Artefacts and Insights: A reflective account of an archaeological illustrator
- Creator
- Drabsch, Bernadette
- Relation
- The Elephant's Leg: Adventures in the Creative Industries p. 144-165
- Relation
- https://doi.org/10.18848/978-1-86335-244-4/CGP
- Publisher
- Common Ground
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2021
- Description
- Balancing the romantic ideal and the brutal realism of working on an archaeological dig in the Middle East has been part of my research journey for the past ten years. Being in an exotic and ruggedly beautiful country such as Jordan and working on artefacts that no one has handled for 10,000 years certainly appeals to the creative and romantic side of me. However, working with precise scientific detail for 9 hours a day, 6 days a week, being woken before dawn by the call to prayer, and sharing a compound with 30 other people is always a challenge and often has me questioning why I continue to do what I do. The answer is multi-faceted, like most things in life. One of the reasons I continue to visit Jordan and work collaboratively with the University of Sydney Pella Project is because all of the questions are not yet answered. Every time I work on the artefacts from Teleilat Ghassul near the Dead Sea, or visit Pella in the North Jordan Valley, more clues about the people who lived in those sites for the millennia before me come to the surface, slowly, one by one, and I am one of the few people who has the opportunity to handle each object, observe it, think about it and ultimately draw it. Each artefact not only provides glimpses into the lives of the individuals living at that site, but also offers insights into the larger story of humanity, our story. I ponder who the original artisans were and what the role of 'creatives' in those ancient societies might have been. I 'read' the visual narratives which, like a mirror, reflect the social structure of communities that flourished 6000 years ago, and look to these for clues as to why those rich and complex societies ultimately collapsed. I ponder the continuum of power that existed between the ritual leaders and their secular counterparts and notice how the artefacts record the pendulum swinging backwards and forwards between the two. I look at how each artefact was created and stand in awe of the craftmanship and techniques long since lost. I see the fingerprints of the long-gone artists impressed into the clay and wonder about the individuals who lived, worshipped, and died at that site. I wonder what they would think if they could see me - holding their pot in my hands in a landscape that would undoubtedly be recognisable but from a culture vastly different. In this chapter I will share a reflective account of my journeys to Jordan and will touch upon some of the insights into these ancient communities that I have gathered along the way.
- Subject
- drawing; illustration; archaeology; fieldwork
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1448888
- Identifier
- uon:43515
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780949313812
- Language
- eng
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