I saw that they moved some rocks onto the grass field in front of the museum today. I suppose they were bits and pieces of the abbey or the hospitium. Our own little Stonehenge, out there now. Wonder how Olivier in his vest will cut the grass around those, if indeed he cuts grass? Outside the gardens got a bit of a face lift, inside we sat, with our cups of tea discussing christmas wish lists, songs and decorations. We had a very exciting moment when some of the decorations on our tree fell off, which was further induced as we realized this had happened before - found a ball under the tree. I also discovered some gifts there, however they were sadly empty boxes with wrapping paper, oh the tragedy! If Christmas hasn’t come early then the dinner will on Wednesday, with yummy yummy food. And lovely punch. The good kind.
Young Archaeologists Raid Store!
Well, two Young Archaeologists choose some lovely objects to display, at least.
Some of you may remember my earlier post mentioning that the winners of the Young Archaeologist of the Year Award were coming to the museum. James and Jocelyn, and their families, had a great time exploring the stores. They examined, and handled, all sorts of artefacts including Roman glass, medieval pottery, prehistoric axes and Viking antler. As part of their prize the two winners picked some interesting objects to go on display, including a sword, stone tools and some gold.
Nicky Milstead, who helps run the Young Archaeologists’ Club, popped over to the museum today to help us put it all together. The objects Jocelyn and James chose make a really fun case full. I’m hoping we’ll leave the display in for a few weeks to allow other budding archaeologists to see what James’ and Jocelyn’s favourites were. Who knows, maybe they will be putting museum displays together in a few years time?
Archaeology Made Live
I went down to the Yorkshire Museum today and was in for a big surprise!
All these fantastic demonstrations were by modern day professionals who used their specialist knowledge, together with information from the Museum, to try to recreate lost skills.
A link to more info on the: Community Archaeology Project.
Alien squirrels in York
If there was a squirrel Olympics in
No chance of childhood squirrel obesity with the level of exercise they maintain – although maybe they are pushing the boundaries of fat intake on the footpaths of the gardens.
Young Archaeologist of the Year Award
Following a nation-wide competition, we’re going to be receiving some special visitors the weekend after next - the winners of the Young Archaeologist of the Year Award, which is run by the Young Archaeologist’s Club. The winners are going to come for a VIP visit to the Yorkshire Museum stores, and will be able to see and handle all sorts of objects which aren’t usually on display. I’m really looking forward to it because we are going to ask them to pick a few objects each, which will go on display in the museum foyer. I can’t wait to see what they choose!
Naked women, autopsies and strange stone heads.
Naked women, autopsies, Dick Turpin and strange stone heads - quite a random selection of words really. In fact if you got those words in a pub quiz and had to find the common link it could take you a while to come up with an answer, although a pint or two may speed up the process. However I can pretty much guess that York
How to Look Good Naked took over the
Roman Glass at the Yorkshire Museum
This is from our internal ‘Collections Snapshot’ by Katherine:
Sometimes objects which don’t make the best photographs are really exciting. This Roman glass vessel is around 2000 years old, made of really thin and delicate glass and yet is virtually complete. It’s unusually large for this type of vessel, and we’re not sure what it was used for – perhaps for cosmetics, or oil, or even offerings. After being placed into a grave, it was not disturbed until the railway station was built at the end of the 19th century.
