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Greensburg, Ks —
The moment I stepped into Matt Deighton’s man-cave, I felt like I was part of the most energetic show-and-tell in the history of the world. In fact I’m not sure if it could be considered an “interview.” I would ask a question and Deighton would only get through a few words before suddenly rediscovering a piece of his collection, then passionately opine on its possible purpose and origin.
“This is a water jug,” explained Deighton. “What they would do is tie leathers through [the handles] throw it into the water and when it sinks down, they would pull it by the leathers and get their water. Isn’t that cool?”
Piece-by-piece he meticulously lists the exceptional and fascinating features of each clay pot, stopping periodically to elaborate on a previous piece or to double check his information in a nearby pottery reference guide.
“I find this [piece of pottery] interesting because of its fine detail,” said Deighton who slows his show-and-tell leapfrogging to admire the tiny clay jug. “This one has very little handles, which are impractical. This was made for a child to play with where this other piece [with much larger handles] was probably for everyday adult use. These pieces of pottery tell me that they were thinking about children. That their kids had lives also.”
Deighton is almost giddy when describing some of his favorite pieces, including a 10-inch earthen pot that was designed to look like it was wrapped in rope, with a spiraling almost weaved design.
He stops flipping through the spiral bound pages of his reference book, to show me the first piece of pottery he collected; a small black and white painted jug that is about the size of a juice glass.
“This was the one that started it for me,” he states confidently. “It could have held any other type of liquid other than water. Maybe nectar of a cactus? Or it could have been body fluids, who knows? Maybe from cows. They did all sorts of things with fluids. They used everything. I look at things like this and I evaluate and think about it. I look at this jug and I think ‘why would it be this small?’ It’s just awesome.”
While some collect for monetary value, aesthetic value or archival purposes Deighton says he has an interest in the anthropological history of each of his acquisitions.
The moment I stepped into Matt Deighton’s man-cave, I felt like I was part of the most energetic show-and-tell in the history of the world. In fact I’m not sure if it could be considered an “interview.” I would ask a question and Deighton would only get through a few words before suddenly rediscovering a piece of his collection, then passionately opine on its possible purpose and origin.
“This is a water jug,” explained Deighton. “What they would do is tie leathers through [the handles] throw it into the water and when it sinks down, they would pull it by the leathers and get their water. Isn’t that cool?”
Piece-by-piece he meticulously lists the exceptional and fascinating features of each clay pot, stopping periodically to elaborate on a previous piece or to double check his information in a nearby pottery reference guide.
“I find this [piece of pottery] interesting because of its fine detail,” said Deighton who slows his show-and-tell leapfrogging to admire the tiny clay jug. “This one has very little handles, which are impractical. This was made for a child to play with where this other piece [with much larger handles] was probably for everyday adult use. These pieces of pottery tell me that they were thinking about children. That their kids had lives also.”
Deighton is almost giddy when describing some of his favorite pieces, including a 10-inch earthen pot that was designed to look like it was wrapped in rope, with a spiraling almost weaved design.
He stops flipping through the spiral bound pages of his reference book, to show me the first piece of pottery he collected; a small black and white painted jug that is about the size of a juice glass.
“This was the one that started it for me,” he states confidently. “It could have held any other type of liquid other than water. Maybe nectar of a cactus? Or it could have been body fluids, who knows? Maybe from cows. They did all sorts of things with fluids. They used everything. I look at things like this and I evaluate and think about it. I look at this jug and I think ‘why would it be this small?’ It’s just awesome.”
While some collect for monetary value, aesthetic value or archival purposes Deighton says he has an interest in the anthropological history of each of his acquisitions.
“I like [collecting the pottery] because it gives me a chance to investigate previous civilizations and find out what their daily routine was like. Who made the pottery, why was it made and how long did the pottery stay in use. I find the techniques and how they were made to be the most interesting. The style is very interesting to me,” he continued.
Amidst the variety of pottery and pottery pieces, Deighton has a number of boxes filled with beads, arrowheads and minerals. He says the boxes are a few trades that he has yet to sort though and after explaining that one of the large gray rocks was “petrified dinosaur poop,” he talked about another aspect of his collection.
“Collecting the pottery has also brought me into the tools. They had to have tools to create the pottery. I started looking and I found honing tools. They can be something that’s round like this big smooth rock that they could use to form the pottery. Then a rock becomes a tool. They might use a tooth to do some scribing.”
Acknowledging that he still has a long way to go before he can compare his pottery collection to other more established collectors, Deighton has found beauty in his small but already impressive array of ancient dishware.
“I want to use it as a learning tool that I can learn from and then eventually share it with others. I’m such a novice; I’m such a beginner. I’m still learning.”
Do you or anyone you know collect strange or interesting items? Call us at (620)723-2115
