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| Photo: C Dear (from entwined / suainte exhibition) |
Welcome to String / Lines
This is a year-long project initiated by myself, Caroline Dear, to research string and rope making throughout our human past. String made from twisting and combining local plant materials, is a technology which is known to have been in use for at least 50,000 years. The ability to make string enabled composite technology - the combining of two artefacts (such as a wooden haft and a stone point) to make a third (a spear) - to develop. This is considered to be a key technological and cognitive development by prehistoric humans, that occurred long before farming. As recently as 2020, some three-ply string made from plant material was found in a cave in France, that had been inhabited by Neanderthals. I am collaborating with Dr. Karen Hardy, an archaeologist who specializes in the Palaeolithic. We plan to share our knowledge and learn from each other and expand to work with others in different disciplines.
The project consists of three interlinked strands, archaeological, cultural and mental wellbeing, each to be explored in collaboration with specialists and local organisations. As part of the project, we will be working with Viewfield Garden Collective, a community project focusing on the healing aspects of gardening, plants and sharing. Our project will take place over the summer and comprise artist publications and a series of string ceilidhs and eventually conclude in September with an exhibition in Portree at the Archive Centre. String / Lines is supported by Creative Scotland, ATLAS arts and Skye and Lochalsh Archive service, part of Highlife Highland.
As an artist I am interested in exploring the subtle and unsung connections which link people with place through plants. For the exhibition entwined / suainte in 2011, I made 100 ropes, one each day, using local plants, This expanded my understanding of both the rope making process and the different qualities of plants used. I have found that string and ropes are at the core of much of my work. I am really fascinated by how this simple process of making string from local materials combines an understanding of landscape and materials with skill and function through the interface of human handling.
String / Lines will considerably deepen and widen my knowledge and understanding of this fundamental technique and I am excited about working with other specialists from different disciplines. The aim is to make work which will be accessible on many levels highlighting contemporary issues through an ancient process.
Karen Hardy’s work covers the use of plants in the time before agriculture. She is particularly interested when and how twisting fibre technology, to make string, emerged in the deep Palaeolithic past and the social, cognitive and technological implications of this, were. Her interest began when working on ethnographic material from Papua New Guinea, a place where traditional fibre technology is still very much alive.
As part of this project we gave a joint talk for the Highland Archaeological Festival in September 2021.
String: the first 50,000 years by Caroline Dear and Karen Hardy
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| Left - Hardy & Sillitoe, 2003 Internet Archaeology 14. Right - C.Dear |