REVERSEACTION travels to Nariño (March 2025)
From the 17th to the 23rd March 2025, REVERSEACTION was back in Nariño! Rosie and Kate arrived first, heading to the Museo Madre Caridad Brader, Pasto, to 3D scan and XRF a variety of ceramic objects from the Maridiaz archaeological site. The pair had a very successful and enriching three days, with a particular highlight being a visit from local university students. Thank you to everyone at Santuario Eucarístico de Maridíaz, for being so accommodating!
Once Marcos arrived, the team took a day’s excursion to Consacá to analyse another corpus of ceramics from nearby excavations. The weather was beautiful and the scenery was absolutely stunning – how fortunate we were to have this as an office for the day. Thank you to Germán Escandón and family for your hospitality. That evening, the team were also invited by our wonderful collaborator, Carlos López, to the Museo del Oro, Narino, by to share and discuss REVERSEACTION’s ongoing work on ceramics from the region.
On Friday 21st March, Rosie, Kate and Marcos were joined by Sandra Eraso Villota and Valery Salas on a visit to the workshop of Maestro Miguel de la Cruz, in Ipiales. The day was spent learning how the Maestro creates replica pre-Hispanic Narino ceramics, including getting the chance to have a go at creating and applying clay-slip, burnishing, and adding negative decoration. The knowledge shared was invaluable, and lots of fun was had along the way – thank you Maestro Miguel!
On the final day of the trip, the team visited the village of Inchuchala to hear about conservation work being done by the Asociación Chalguar and to visit the newly renovated Museo Comunitario El Chalguar. REVERSEACTION shared the results of chemical and microscopic analyses of local clays, collected by members of the Asociación Chalguar and Sandra Eraso Villota, and exciting discussions were had about future collaboration and experimental work. To end a fantastic day, members of the Asociación and REVERSEACTION gathered at the house of don Guillermo Arévalo, to prepare and share traditional local food. REVERSEACTION also brought a taste of Cambridge in the form of Earl Grey tea and biscuits, with the tea being aptly brewed over a hand-built pottery kiln. Thank you so much to everyone at El Chalguar, we look forward to returning later on this year!
