| Subject | Pottery in Archeology- By Mr. Shashank Babu |
| Session | Offline |
| Year | 2024 |
| Date | 16th December, 2024 |
| Time | 3 p.m. |
| Venue | Conclave 1 (PiCA, 3rd Floor) |
| No. of Students attended | 46 |
| No. of Faculty attended | 7 |
| Faculty Co-ordinator | Neha Sayed |
| Guest Speaker | Shashank Babu (Archeologist) |
To sensitize students about how archeology is rich source of information that is derived from small partial or wholistic remains form the past was the main aim of this lecture.
This lecture was arranged specially for Semester 3 – Architectural Design Studio where students have already started studying what is pottery? Scope of pottery in current context. Traditional methods of Pottery and Modern methods.
Students realized the fact that pottery in ancient times was a house hold activity, each house use to shape and fire their own pots as per their own needs and slowly and steadily it became profession of certain group of people and artistic pottery came into existence which is used for purposes other than daily needs.
Today’s guest Mr. Shashank Babu is a dedicated archaeologist pursuing his PhD at Deccan College Post-Graduation and Research Institute, Pune.
His research focuses on the settlement patterns of the Prabhas Culture.
He has specialization in Archaeological Ceramics.
Shashank has extensive field experience, having participated in archaeological excavations and explorations across India, including Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.
His Master’s thesis, titled “Ceramic Analysis of The Mature Harappan Site of 43GB, Sri Ganganagar District, Rajasthan,” highlights his ability to conduct detailed archaeological research.
He has published articles in reputed journals and presented papers at international conferences, showcasing his contributions to the field. Shashank’s work has been recognized through various grants and awards, including the Andrew Sherratt Fund for his project on exploration in Gujarat.
He has also worked as a research assistant for the Seshat Global History project for the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford and the Archaeological Survey of India, enhancing his skills in pottery analysis and other aspects of archaeology.
Students and faculty were curious to know about how remains in Archeology were carefully traced and excavated to give wonderful information about the culture, lifestyle and ear. It also had relationships with the trade that happed in-between the nation and outside India since its influences were reflected into pottery styles and methods of its decoration and making of it.
Shashank introduced various sites of excavation, methods of excavations, relationships of the pottery with the household courses.
He was also able to show small kilns that were of household nature found intact during excavation. The status of the people was also identified from the kind of pottery remains found during excavation.
From the archeological remains Shashank could also demonstrate methods and types of clay used in pottery, its methods and its articulations.
He also mentioned that most of the pottery remains are showcases in the deccan college museum.
The students went for live case study of the traditional potter and modern potter, and after that they were introduced to the guest lecture of pottery in Archeology that made the link of today’s scenario with the past existence and glimpses of how pottery was day to day activity where men and women designed their own earthen pots for cooking and eating. It also sensitized students that the topic that they are designing a house and workshop for a potter, as they realized the importance of pottery from ancient times and got deeper understanding about the subject. It created awareness about pottery as activity as important element from human settlement and cultural reflection through the variety of pots made, clay content, usage of the pottery made and its outer form and decoration.
