October 22, 2007

IDAHO iPODS

Introduction to Book Arts students are usually assigned to create one pre-book structure such as a scroll (http://english.boisestate.edu/ethiopian/index.html); however, fall of 2007 I decided inflict a new plot on students, a plot I had been considering for 25 years: utilizing Idaho clay to make a tablet. I had been galvanized to concoct this assignment by news that the Idaho State Historical Society (ISHS) in Boise had Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets over 4,000 years old-among the oldest examples of writing in the Gem State.

I called this assigned tablet an "Idaho iPod" and defined it as "a real-time, full-text, random-access, read-only information storage and retrieval device."

The project began with field trip to ISHS where students learned of the tablets' provenance from Director Linda Morton-Keithley and were allowed to inspect the ancient tablets "gloved-hands-on"!

Students visited two pits to obtain clay for their tablets. The first site was on US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) property and is located between the small town of Grandview and C. J. Strike Reservoir in SW Idaho. BLM clay is white and very pure.

The second site was located by Geo-Archeologist Jerry Jerrems and is found near Cartwright Road (CR) on soon-to-be developed private property in the northwest Boise foothills. (Both BLM and CR sites required permission from property owners, prior to removal of clay.) CR clay is dark grey and often contains sediments and artifacts.

Basic tablet construction advice was provided by Rick Jenkins of the Boise City Arts Center. Student lab fees purchased dowels and rolling pins used in the construction process which concluded with either air or sun-drying or kiln firing.

Clays from seven Idaho pits or sites had been obtained over the summer by the instructor and all were test fired by Jenkins-who also made city kilns available for student tablet firing.

Results of test firings of Idaho clays, student (and instructor) iPods, and one deck of US Army "Heritage Resource Preservation" playing cards (which feature a cuneiform tablet on the back of each card-and tablets, seals, and other historical artifacts and structures in Iraq-ancient Mesopotamia-on the face side) were then placed on display at BSU.

A selection of iPods by eight students (asterisked captions are followed by photographs taken by Carrie Quinney of BSU Photographic Services):

PAIGE WEBER: A "traditional" tablet made from Cartwright Road (Boise) clay. Tablet emulates the cuneiform markings of a Babylonian tablet. (2 ¾ x 4 ½")*

       Paige's tablet


FRANCES SUTTON: Round "tokens" have been created out of three Snake River Valley, Cartwright Road, and BLM clays. (Each approx.1 ¼ x 1 ½")*

      Frances's tablets


ISAAC GUNTHER: Tablet made from BLM clay simulates a real iPod. (3 ¾ x 2 ¼")*

      Isaac's tablet


JESSIE BEARD: A punning "eye" pod tablet (from BLM clay). (1 ½ x 2 ¼")

      Jessie's tablet


TABBY JOLLEY: Jolley's punning, painted and decorated tablet is an Idaho spud-a plural iPod (eyes of the potato-get it?). (3 x 6")

     Tabby's tablet


AMBER TRENT: A Winco supermarket receipt tablet. Trent is emulating hundreds of thousands of Babylonian tablets which are receipts, receipts for sheep, honey, land sales, etc. She has used Cartwright Road clay. (2 ¾ x 2 ¼")*

     Amber's tablet


HOLLY GERE: Air or sun-dried tablets are far more fragile than fired tablets. Breakage has rendered Gere's message (on BLM clay) ominous and/or ironic…. (4 ¼ x 7 ½")

     Holly's tablet


RANDY PURVIANCE: BLM and commercial clay have been mixed-much as the elements in Purviance's cutting-edge tablet. It's a "green" tablet (wind powered-note propeller?) that turns a spool on which have been affixed a 19th century ( Eadweard Muybridge) sequence of photos:

     Photo 1
     Photo 2

which may then be viewed on (through?) a 21st century screen (square hole?) in the clay:

     Photo 3

 


Credits: Many individuals assisted in the Idaho iPod project. Many thanks (in alpha order) to: Gary Bettis, Scott Brown, Cort Conley, Virginia Gillerman, Felicia Burke Halter, Mark Hofflund, Sharon Hubler, Clinton Hughes, Rick Jenkins, Jerry Jerrems, Rick Just, Linda Morton-Keithley, Coyote Short, Paul Swiergosz, Mike Wardle.

For more information about all Mesopotamian tablets in the Gem State, see my forthcoming article, "Iraq in Idaho," Idaho Yesterdays (Spring/Summer 2008).

 

 


  
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