Teacher Ann Nicgorski, who leads Willamette University’s archaeology program, made the long drive to Brookings to take a look at a handful of ancient artifacts.
She was going to the seaside home of Fred Neumann, who as a pastime when gathered artifacts while residing in Egypt.
“I thought it was going to be a collection of a couple dozen things,” Nicgorski remembered. “I walked into his house and he had it laid out on his dining room table. It was pretty overwhelming.”
The dining-room was ringed with boxes with more plates, bowls and other ancient housewares.
“We were there for eight hours,” she said.
That journey led to Neumann contributing more than 200 artifacts, now on show and tell in Salem. The display at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, 700 State St., continues through April 22. Admission is complimentary for those under 17, teachers and trainees, $5 for elders and $8 for grownups.
“They are amazing examples of everyday life of someone living in the ancient world.”
–Emma Canchola, previous Willlamette College student scientist
Nicgorski will share how the collection landed at Willamette and discuss the history of the products in a lecture scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9. The complimentary occasion will remain in the Paulus Lecture Hall at Willamette’s College of Law, 245 Winter Season St. N.E.
This is no collection of the ownerships of kings and queens.
The display screen exposes a history of ancient Egypt, Cyrpus, Rome and Greece “which is often hidden from view by the more well-known narratives of famous people and elite ruling classes, major monuments and inventions,” according to an exhibition description.
These are, Nicgorski described, “ordinary artifacts from out of daily life.”
That consists of an uncommon container from Egypt.
“You can imagine people – women, servants, slaves – heading to the Nile River to fill these buckets with water and bringing them back to the house,” she said.
The majority of the artifacts associate with cooking and consuming – cups, utensils and storage vessels.
“We have a ladle that looks exactly like a ladle does today but made out of clay from 4,000 years ago,” Nicgorski said. “When you see something like that, you think, gosh there really is continuity to the human experience.”
The display likewise includes 4 infant feeders, which each function a spout on the side in the shape of a nipple. Checking on such feeders reveals that ancient moms utilized animal milk for babies much previously in time than had actually when been understood.
She said Neumann in the 1970s handled operations in Egypt and lived throughout from a museum in Cairo.
“He became friends with the curator,” Nicgorski said. “At that time, small artifacts could be purchased from vendors and antiquities dealers and could be legally exported out of the country. He just became really interested in artifacts that reflected ancient, everyday life.”
When he went back to the U.S., he brought with him boxes of artifacts however stopped gathering.
“Apart from a few pieces in a case in his home, mostly he had them stored away in boxes,” Nicgorski said.
In 2019, he looked for a brand-new home for the treasures, getting in touch with Willamette University the list below year.
That’s when Nicgorski made her seaside journey.
Typically when examining such products, Nicgorski pulls on white gloves to deal with the products.
“No, you can’t use those white gloves,” Neumann informed her. “You need to touch them with your own hands. Once they are in a museum, they will never be touched.”
The belief struck Nicgorski.
“That really indicated what these things meant to him,” she said. “Human touch is a human sense. It is a way that we can connect with other people – even with people that are long gone.”
That journey led to Neumann’s contribution of 249 products.
Back at Willamette, Nicgorski hired trainees to research study each product.
Each artifact needed to be unpacked, numbered, tagged and put in trays.
Then the research study began to determine what was each item and the duration of history it was from. That implied taking a look at publications and online info from other museums to date and determine the products.
“It can be very rewarding when you find the answer,” she said.
Emma Canchola, who finished in 2022, said she investigated Egyptian frog oil lights.
“I measured the length, width and height of each lamp as well as the diameter of both the wick and fill holes and weighed them,” Canchola described in an email. “I then did a visual assessment, looking at the condition of the lamps (seeing if they were intact, if there were any cracks, chips, signs of use or scorching) and then categorized the shape of the lamps.”
Canchola said “the most interesting part of my research was learning about the mythology of frogs in ancient Egypt. Frogs lived in the marshlands along the Nile River and were associated with several creation gods and often used to symbolize rebirth, fertility and regeneration.”
Senior Ursula Townsend assisted determine the date and culture of products and after that prepared item labels. Her work associated to a kind of ancient container was especially fulfilling.
“The most interesting thing I found was the situla decoration being mislabeled as a balance weight,” she said.
Among Nicgorski’s preferred products out of the Neumann collection is among those lights. These little products had holes for oil and a wick. She prefers one formed like a flipper with a flower pattern, dating to the Byzantine Empire.
The light is “covered in rich green glaze,” Nicgorski said. “It’s got color, which a lot of ancient artifacts don’t have.”
Neumann, who now resides in Grants Pass, participated in the opening of the display.
“He seemed to very pleased,” Nicgorski said. “He was really amazed at how professional it looked. He was just excited to see some of his things.”
The trainees motivate individuals to explore the display.
“They are amazing examples of everyday life of someone living in the ancient world,” Canchola said. “These things would have been handled almost every day and give a glimpse into what life would have been like in the past.”
Townsend said the usage by typical individuals makes the artifacts engaging.
“They are not the flashiest, but they stand as a reminder that people still kept living despite the political changes happening. The lamps are a particular example,” Townsend said. “And the bronze cat is pretty cool.”
News suggestion? Contact Editor Les Zaitz: [email protected]
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