Somehow I have accumulated a whole stack of things that wait to be shared, and since the holidays are very close now, I'd better start sharing them right away...

First of all, there are two calls for papers, both for sessions at the EAA, or more precisely the 22nd Annual Meeting of the EAA in Vilnius 2016 (31st August – 4th September).
All relevant information about the EAA conference, conditions, fees, accommodation etc., can be found on the conference web page, http://eaavilnius2016.lt/:1. Conference and membership fees and conditions: http://eaavilnius2016.lt/registration-fees-and-conditions/2. Accommodation: http://eaavilnius2016.lt/registration-fees-and-conditions/ and http://www.vilnius-tourism.lt/en/information/accommodation/3. Guidelines for speakers and poster presentations: http://eaavilnius2016.lt/general-info/guidelines/4. Deadlines: http://eaavilnius2016.lt/general-info/deadlines/
Untold Stories: Technology, Linearity and Complexity in Archaeological Thought.

The material record naturally lends itself to long-term perspectives. In few areas is this as apparent as the study of technology, which has historically been closely intertwined with the disciplines of archaeology and anthropology. But has our focus on the long-term caused us to unwittingly shape a unilinear, technologically deterministic picture of the past? And is there something to be learnt from the parts of the story which have been pruned from this evolutionist model?

The papers presented in this session will explore examples of how our pattern-seeking approaches have excluded interesting aspects of the story of the relationship between humanity and technology, and the methods by which we can reinstate these. We argue in favour of complexity (but not as a rule); of the little details which can enrich or subvert archaeological grand narratives, while acknowledging that the latter are also an integral part of our discipline.

This session is intended to stimulate discussion of our current approaches to the archaeology of technology, and to consider ways in which they can be developed in order to inform broader theoretical and methodological developments.

The deadline for submissions is February 15. More info and abstract submission:  http://eaavilnius2016.lt/
And another session at the same conference:

TH1-13: ‘Tradition and innovation in textile technology in Bronze Age Europe and the Mediterranean’ has been provisionally accepted in the theme "Interpreting the Archaeological Record", and the call for proposals of papers and posters has now been opened.

Textile craft with its complex technology and socio-cultural significance has been a key craft in the societies of Bronze Age Europe and the Mediterranean. However complex and socially and economically important, textile technology has often been considered as being rather traditional and non-innovative throughout many centuries of the Bronze Age.
The present session aims to examine textile technology in search for its traditional and innovative elements, through investigating the evidence of archaeological textiles, textile tools and their diachronic changes, botanical and faunal environment, textual sources and imagery of textiles and cloths. The session will focus on the Bronze Age in Europe and the Mediterranean, although papers referring to transitional periods from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age, and from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age will also be welcomed.
We particularly welcome all papers discussing various aspects of traditions and innovations traced in textile technology, especially these regarding raw materials and their processing, textile techniques, textile tools and equipment, organisation of textile production and dynamics of its specialisations, cross-cultural and cross-craft interactions, and changes of textile craft in relation to socio-cultural transformations of the past societies.

All paper and poster proposals should be submitted electronically at: https://www.eventure-online.com/eventure/welcome.form?type=abstract&congress=152_EAA&c=bd4350a3-56f9-46d1-8d66-514d76e0eb3c by 15 February 2016.
EXARC invites to a meeting called Goals and perspectives for experimental archaeology and archaeological open-air museums, Leiden (NL), taking place March 10 to 13, 2016. More about the meeting can be found here.

In addition, there's a PhD project in Glasgow, with a spot for a student. The research project will develop nanoparticles for the treatment of textiles found in the Mary Rose. More about this and contact for application can be found at the Glasgow Textile Conservation blog.
And that's all conference and job links I have for now...

Time for a few links for your reading delectation!

Maney's  Journal of the Month is Costume, the journal of the Costume Society. Which means they are offering 50 articles for free access until the end of this month. Most (if not all of them) are post-medieval and modern in focus.

Not enough reading? Not early enough? How about some Egyptian stuff? A 2010 conference at the Egypt centre had quite a few textile-related topics. The conference papers have now been published in book form, and there's also a streaming archive on this website so you can download the individual presentations in podcast form.

Not medieval enough? Go over to historyextra, where Gillian and I co-wrote an article about 7 weird and wonderful medieval facts in celebration of the Beast's publication.

There's a nice little video with Latin text from the Physiologus (with English subtitles) that will teach you totally true facts about hedgehogs. You can watch it at discarded images.

Another manuscript tells us that if you want to enchant your lover, you should feed him catnip. Nice, eh?

Speaking of manuscripts, there's a conference about 14th century manuscripts in London on December 1, and more places are available should you like to attend.

I'm back from a breathtakingly wonderful conference! It was lovely all around: the venue with the absolutely brilliant and incredibly helpful staff, the papers and, of course and most important of all, the people. The only more-exciting-than-necessary part of the journey was the journey itself, where I had regular adrenaline spikes due to delayed trains. (I arrived in time, and safely, on both legs of the journey even if it did include some running.)

Quite a few of the topics in the conference were things that I had heard of before and that I had a basic concept of, but the papers gave me a far deeper insight and in some cases real revelations. I have learned so much more on the possibilities of sprang alone that my mind still feels slightly boggled. I'm also feeling a very noticeable desire to run into the basement, put my sprang frame together again and finally delve a little deeper into the technique. The possibilities shown at the conference... let's just say my skills need to improve.

Sadly I couldn't stay in London for longer, and I did not get to see too much of the city (the walks that I did, most of my concentration was focused on something else, such as chatting, or looking for a specific place, or shop). I got to meet with some friends, though, who took the trouble of travelling into London just to hang out with me for a few hours. I also got the compulsory shopping done, among that consolation biscuits for the most patient husband of them all, and mustard powder, and clotted cream. Things you just can't get in Germany.

Even though I had a few days off to relax and take a breather afterwards, the NESAT is still on my mind. It was a wonderful time with old colleagues and friends and the opportunity to meet new people, and I enjoyed every second of the conference.

NESAT is special, and this year it was extra-special, with the opportunity to visit the archaeological excavations in the bronze age salt mines, and a tour around Hallstatt. In case you haven't been there and have no idea about how it looks there, let me tell you: Hallstatt is spectacular, in more than one way. You have alpine scenery with those big, imposing mountains all around; the Hallstatt lake which is large and quite clear and very beautiful; and the combination between those two is really breathtaking. The weather throughout the week was wonderful, hot and sunny, and only very slightly overcast on some days, so we all got to enjoy summery weather. That included ice cream splurges and sitting outside for dinner in the evening.

The papers and posters were very interesting, and everybody kept to the time, so we all got to enjoy the breaks as scheduled (with minimal changes here and there, as is usual at a conference). It was so nice meeting and chatting with all the other textile folks - and the days went by in a blur, they passed so fast. At the end of the conference, I was quite happy that it was over, while at the same time very much regretting that it was already over. (A brain can only take so much archaeological textiles at a time... even if everything is wildly interesting.)

It's a pity that NESAT is only every three years, and then only for about four days. On the other hand, it's a big thing to organise, and handling all this every three years only is obviously much easier for the NESAT board than doing it every or every second year. I'm already looking forward to the next one in 2017, myself - it will be in the Czech republic, that time, and getting to see and to know some more of the Eastern colleagues will be a wonderful thing.

(Sorry for the very late blog post - sometimes my Firefox acts up, and it takes beyond forever to load a page... that was the case this morning, so internet work got delayed.)

There's this conference, started years ago by two textile archaeologists who felt it was a lonely occupation. It's taking place every three years, and it has grown a lot over time. Once upon a time, after it started, it was a smallish, private-ish conference where you needed to know someone to get in, and give a paper too. By now, it has become much more open (starting with the one in Copenhagen 2008, the first one that I attended), and you can just register and participate... provided you can stand the idea of having a large bunch of textile archaeologists talking textile, textile, textile, for several days in a row.

I'm talking about NESAT, of course. The wait is over, and after spending the weekend frantically getting everything that needed to be done before end of next week wrapped up, I am now on my way to Hallstatt. Where I will meet lots of lovely colleagues again, and finally get to see the glorious salt mines of Hallstatt. Where I will probably stay up way too late and chat way too much and have loads and loads of fun. Where I will have absolutely no time, and no inclination, to write a blog post for you (sorry, but that's the plain truth).

So I'm taking a blog break until June 2 (I'll be taking a few days off after the conference). Have a good time until then!

The time has come - the Call for Papers and the registration form for our next Textile Forum are online. As usual, you can find them at www.textileforum.org.

This year, our conference will take place from 3-9 November, and our focus topic is "Plant Fibres: Materials, Techniques, Problems". We've touched on plant fibres now and then in the previous Forums, but there's usually much more been said and done on wool and silk, so we would like to have this as the focus topic for a change.

Just like we did last year, we're planning to make it a combination of papers and practical sessions, and we're looking forward to the suggestions and proposals coming in.

If you're interested in the Forum, or know someone who might be interested, please pass on the Call for Papers - we're happy to see it spread out!