Endangered Material Knowledge Programme, The British Museum, London (2026)

01/09/2026

NEW EMKP COLLECTION RELEASE - Documenting Endangered Traditional Handicrafits: Three-legged Stools (Barcuma) and Coffee Culture in Jimma, Southwest Ethiopia ⬆️ A project hosted by Jimma University

Congratulations to Jira Choroke and the team for completing their project and collection, which is now available on the repository.

This project documents the indigenous material knowledge systems of tripod stool (barcuma) making in Jimma. To highlight the intricate link between the past and the present, the project also documented the collections at Jimma Museum in Jimma city, as there are longstanding traditions involving the tripod stool and the Oromo coffee ceremony in this part of Ethiopia.

During fieldwork, the project team realised the severe depletion of the Cordia africana tree, from which the stools are crafted. The entire documentation of the chaîne opératoire of the tripod stool carving was conducted in Kersa district, where few wood carvers are available due to coffee-growing traditions of the Oromo community. However, Cordia africana is the most preferred and abundant tree species in coffee farms in the Kersa district, as the farmers plant the seedlings of the Cordia africana every year as a succession plant. This fact enables the relative availability of mature Cordia africana trees for carving tripod stools.

Click here to learn more: https://www.emkp.org/barcuma-stools-coffee-culture/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS // "We extend our gratitude to the communities of the Seka, Sokoru and Kersa districts, and staff of Culture and Tourism Offices of Seka District and Jimma Museum for their cooperation. We are grateful for the master woodcarver and the cultural custodians who shared their knowledge during the documentation process."

IMAGE CREDITS // Choroke Jira Mekonnen, 2024 // ALL IMAGES LICENSED UNDER CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

27/08/2026

NEW EMKP COLLECTION RELEASE - Preserving the Past: Documenting Endangered Knowledge of Traditional Mongolian Wooden Cradles for Nomadic Infants ⬆️ A project hosted by Tsakhim Suvarga Cultural Heritage Explorers NGO

Congratulations to Gerelmaa Erdenechuluun and the team for completing their project and uploading it to the repository!

Among Mongolia’s nomadic herding communities, the wooden cradle is a traditional implement of exceptional importance in child-rearing and upbringing. Crafted and used for more than 3,000 years, this cradle represents a valuable cultural heritage passed down from generation to generation. Mongolia’s many ethnic groups have developed and used different types of cradles—such as hollowed, woven, and framed—adapted to their specific environments and ways of life. In particular, the willow-wood canopy cradle was once the most widespread and distinctive form. Today, however, the traditional techniques of cradle-making and the associated cultural knowledge are at serious risk of disappearing. In response, this project documents traditional cradle-making knowledge through the participation of local herders who still retain these skills. For nomadic communities, the cradle historically played a vital role in raising children. Given Mongolia’s extreme climate, the cradle was ingeniously designed to keep infants warm in winter and cool in summer, protect them from sun and wind, and ensure hygiene through a drainage system—thereby supporting children’s health and physiological well-being.

Click here to find out more: https://www.emkp.org/mongolian-wooden-cradles-nomadic-infants/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS // "Sincere gratitude to the communities of Bayan-Ulgii Province, especially the residents of Ulgii city and Buyant soum. Special thanks to heritage bearers Badel Duuren, Bayanmunkh Tumur, and Javzan Bayar, as well as all participating families, artisans, and local institutions."

25/08/2026

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS MUSEUM (MIM) AND THE EARLY RECORDINGS ASSOCIATION (ERA)

"Sounds Matter: Early Recordings, Sound Heritage, Cultural Change, and the Materiality of Listening" (Brussels, 10-12 December 2027)

Sounds Matter explores the past, present and future of recorded sound in light of its materiality. Held on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of both the MIM and the invention of the phonograph, the conference reflects on how sound recording has transformed music, memory and society. Whilst this phenomenom has been extensively addressed in past scholarship, the extent to which this is shaped by materiality (carriers, contexts of production, use and diffusion) remains an open field of research. The conference seeks to examine not only how the creation, collection, and diffusion of early recorded sound changed people's behaviours and mindsets, but also how its preservation can be made meaningful for contemporary audiences and contribute to their understanding of the past. Early recordings are more than historical artefacts preserved behind glass or stored in archives: they are living documents that continue to inform research, performance, and listening practices.

Particular attention will be given to the role of historical recordings in shaping social practices and intellectual perceptions. The conference will also explore the challenges and opportunities presented by emerging technologies, digital platforms, and new forms of public participation. The event welcomes contributions from musicology, sound studies, history of technology, media studies, archival science, anthropology, museum studies, conservation science and related disciplines.

The Call for Papers will be released in autumn 2026. For further information on suggested topics and the conference in general, please contact [email protected].

IMAGE CREDIT // Incipit-CSIC, 2021 // IMAGE LICENSED UNDER CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

21/08/2026

NEW EMKP COLLECTION RELEASE - The Uke: Montserrat's Last Locally Crafted Musical Instrument ⬆️ A project hosted by Montserrat National Trust

Congratulations to Samantha Lauren and the team for completing their project!

This collection documents the endangered tradition of uke making and string band performance on Montserrat. Although the instrument is locally referred to as a “uke,” it differs in important ways from the standard Hawaiian ukulele and reflects a broader history of Caribbean musical exchange, adaptation, and vernacular instrument-making traditions. Following Hurricane Hugo and the Soufriere Hills Volcanic eruptions, most of Montserrat’s population emigrated, including musicians who crafted their instruments from locally available materials. Local instrument production is now reduced to two makers, each in their 70s. Out of seven local instruments, only ukes are still made.

The uke is central to local string band music, introduced by Venezuelan immigrants in the 19th century. String band music played a vital role in community life, accompanying public events and rites of passage. In the 20th century, radios and stereos began to replace live performances, and by 1949, Trinidadian steel pan music supplanted string bands. The 1970s and 80s saw a brief revival of traditional music, but today, globalization, technology, and commercialization have replaced local instruments and sounds. The last Montserratian string band, the “Rude Boyz,” has not performed for two years, and the remaining uke makers have no market.

Click here to learn more: https://www.emkp.org/uke-montserrat-local-musical-instrument/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS // "We thank the Montserrat National Trust, the National Museum of Montserrat, Mr. Edward Semper, Mr. Wilfred White, Mr. James Benjamin Baker, Mr. Randall Greenaway, Mr. Sam Greaves, the workshop musicians/participants, and the many supportive community members."

IMAGE CREDITS // 1 & 3-5. Montserrat National Trust, 2025 / 2. Montserrat National Trust, 2024 // ALL IMAGES LICENSED UNDER CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

18/08/2026

Last week, the EMKP team visited Gabriel Ramón's exhibition at the French Institute of Andean Studies in Lima on his project, 'Andean Potter's Knowledge: Ceramic Production, Circulation and Use in Southern Ecuador and Northern Peru.' The team was joined by Maria Elena del Solar, Principal Investigator of the project, 'The "real design" knowledge among Huni Kuin weavers from the Peruvian Amazonia.'

Gabriel's project seeks to produce a record of the material knowledge of the potters of the Southern Ecuadorian Andes (SEA) and the Northern Peruvian Andes (NPA), two regions geographically adjacent but rarely studied together. This project breaks with this traditional political and academic border to study the production of domestic pottery in two countries.

Congratulations to Gabriel and the team for a fantastic exhibition, and good luck to them as their research continues!

To read more about the project, please click here: https://www.emkp.org/andean-potters-knowledge-ceramic-production-circulation-and-use-in-southern-ecuador-and-northern-peru/

13/08/2026

NEW EMKP COLLECTION RELEASE - Documenting Garden Fencing Structures in Northern New Ireland, Papua New Guinea ⬆️ A project hosted by the University of Bristol.

Congratulations to Graeme Were and the team for completing their project and uploading it to the repository!

This project documented plant-based garden fence structures amongst the Nalik of northern New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, erected to protect crops from marauding pigs. These structures are fabricated using locally sourced timbers, cordylines, leaves and palms, and employ a range of cordage and lashings techniques in their design. Garden fences are becoming increasingly rare in Nalik communities due to lifestyle changes and the practices used in their construction have never been recorded in detail. Fences are erected in the forested interior by households in anticipation of mortuary feasts, and so they are linked to key elements of the ritual lifecycle.

This project documented the different types of materials, tools, and techniques used in assembling fencing. It paid particular attention to their stylistic variation and the wider cosmological significance of their design, especially in relation to how certain types of materials are selected for their relation to land, genealogy and identity, and so might be considered informational. Visual documentation of the materials, processes, techniques and fences created an enduring record of the knowledge that has been handed down through generations, but today is under threat from imported materials and changing lifestyles. This project employed participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and recording (audio-visual and photography) to identify, map and document the garden fencing design. The results—distributed widely in association with the local chiefly organisation—provide a lasting digital record of plant-based enclosures of use to community and scholars.

To find out more, click here: https://www.emkp.org/garden-fencing-new-ireland-papua-new-guinea/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS // "The work in this project would not have been possible without the contributions of communities in the Nalik and Kara speaking areas of New Ireland, especially those in Madina, Lugagun and Panamafei villages."

IMAGE CREDITS // Graeme Were, 2023 // ALL IMAGES LICENSED UNDER CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

11/08/2026

Congratulations to Andrea Yankowski for publishing an article in the International Journal of Intangible Heritage, titled ""Revitalising and representing the endangered intangible cultural heritage of traditional salt making (asin tibouk) in Bohol, Philippines."" The article relates to their EMKP project, 'Documenting the construction of a trditional kamalig (salt workshop) and the making of asin tibuok (native salt): the indigenous skills and knowledge systems of an endangered craft tradition in Alberqueque, Bohol, Philippines.'

If you would like to read the article, it can be accessed free of charge via this link: https://ijih.org/volumes/article/1250

If you are interested in learning more about Andrea's project, click here: https://www.emkp.org/documenting-the-construction-of-a-traditional-kamalig-salt-workshop-and-the-making-of-asin-tibuok-native-salt-the-indigenous-skills-and-knowledge-systems-of-an-endangered-craft-tradition-in-albur/

IMAGE CREDIT // 1 & 3. Andrea Yankowski, 2022 / 2. Lenjun Vincent M Boiser, 2022 // ALL IMAGES LICENSED UNDER CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

09/08/2026

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE WORLD'S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Today, we celebrate the rich cultures, knowledge, and traditions of Indigenous Peoples around the world. According to UNESCO, Indigenous Peoples occupy or use around 22% of the world's land area and represent a significant share of global cultural diversity. This day is an opportunity to recognise the invaluable indigenous knowledge systems that have sustained communities for generations and to celebrate the important work being done to document and preserve this knowledge.

Explore the slides below to see 10 examples of EMKP projects focused on indigenous material knowledge. To learn more about these projects, you can follow these links:

1. https://www.emkp.org/indigenous-women-spinning-wool-ecuador-highlands/
2. https://www.emkp.org/cloth-codices-fiber-art-mexico/
3. https://www.emkp.org/ethnic-minorities-and-threatened-materialities-in-western-ethiopia-2/
4. https://www.emkp.org/etching-ink-making-sikkim-india/

IMAGE CREDITS // 1. Martha Beatríz Masaquiza Masaquiza, 2023 / 2. María Luisa Guamán Carlosama, 2023 / 3 & 4. James Ojascastro, 2026 / 5 & 6. Incipit-CSIC, 2021 / 7. Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia, 2025 / 8. Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa, 2025 // ALL IMAGES LICENSED UNDER CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

06/08/2026

FRESH FROM THE FIELD - Addisu Fekadu Andeta and his team share an update on the project 'Documenting Indigenous Enset Food System of the Gamo People in Southern Ethiopia', hosted by Arba Minch University.

This project documents the endangered enset-based food system of the Gamo people in southern Ethiopia—an indigenous agricultural and culinary tradition central to community identity and food security. The documentation not only preserves the cultural and technical knowledge of enset farming and food preparation, but also supports future research and education on sustainable indigenous food systems.

Project Investigator Addisu sent us this message:

“Documenting the enset food system is not only about preserving tools and practices, it is about safeguarding a living knowledge that sustains communities. This project has shown us how deeply culture, ecology, and resilience are interwoven in Gamo livelihoods.”

Good luck to the team as they continue with the project!

To find out more, please click here: https://www.emkp.org/documenting-indigenous-enset-food-system-of-the-gamo-people-in-southern-ethiopia/

IMAGE CREDIT // 1 & 3. Yhenew Wubu Endalew, 2025 / 2. Eyob Defersha Shanka, 2025 // IMAGE LICENSED UNDER CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

04/08/2026

Congratulations to William Milliken for his new article in Kew Gardens' blog, titled "In the Amazon: Saving indigenous knowledge before it's lost." The article relates to their EMKP project, 'Weaving rivers and connecting communities: Documenting endangered traditional practices and associated knowledge among the Ye'Kwana indigenous people, Brazil.'

If you would like to read the article, it can be accessed free of charge via this link: https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/saving-indigenous-knowledge

If you are interested in learning more about William's project, click here: https://www.emkp.org/weaving-rivers-and-connecting-communities-documenting-endangered-traditional-practices-and-associated-knowledge-among-the-yekwana-indigenous-people-brazil/

IMAGE CREDIT // Majoí Gongora, 2014 // IMAGE LICENSED UNDER CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Endangered Material Knowledge Programme

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