Museum of Archaeology, Durham University

📣 Follow us on on our new page Durham University Things To Do!

Not only will you continue see fantastic updates from our Museum of Archaeology – such as details of our new exhibition 'Stories from the River: Exploring the history of Durham' - there’s the added bonus of exciting news and updates from our other venues across the city (including information on guided tours at Durham Castle – only a 2-minute walk from the museum 😊)

A huge thank you for following us and we look forward to seeing you over on Durham University Things To Do! 🥳

Don’t forget to head on over and like our new page, DU Things To Do to keep up to date with everything that’s going on across our museums, galleries and gardens! 🥳www.facebook.com/DUThingsToDo/

To find out more about our venues, visit our website: https://www.dur.ac.uk/attractions/

📢 Update to Facebook account

Our visitor attractions’ Facebook accounts have now joined forces on our new page, Durham University Things To Do! https://www.facebook.com/DUThingsToDo/

A one-stop shop for everything happening across our attractions, making it much easier for you to find out about all our venues in just one place 😊

Make sure to head over and like our page to keep up to date with all our exciting news and events at:

➡️ Botanic Gardens
➡️ Durham Castle Tours
➡️ Oriental Museum
➡️ Museum of Archaeology
➡️ Cosin’s Library

A huge thank you for following us and see you over on Durham University Things To Do! 🥳

📣 Update to Facebook account 📣

From next Monday, our visitor attractions’ Facebook accounts are joining forces on our new page, Durham University Things To Do!

This will be a one-stop shop for everything happening across our attractions, making it much easier for you to keep up to date with exciting news and events at all our venues, including:

➡️ Botanic Gardens
➡️ Durham Castle Tours
➡️ Oriental Museum
➡️ Museum of Archaeology
➡️ Cosin’s Library

Stay tuned for more information next week! 😊

To find out more about all our venues, visit our website: https://www.dur.ac.uk/attractions/

Looking for something to do.

Our free family-friendly gallery at Palace Green Library is open 11.00-16.00 on the 28th/29th/30th December.

If visiting with children, don't forget to pick up our children's trail at reception and find the lost Roman soldiers in the displays.

We will be open for a few days in between Christmas and the New Year, so if you are in and have some free time please do pop in and see our amazing collection.

Before we put our feet up to enjoy a mulled wine and a cheeky mince pie, our last day open will be Friday 23rd December 10am to 5pm.

We would like to wish all our past and future visitors a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. 🎄⛄️

This is Durham Durham Pointers Durham University, Visitor Attractions

We have had a very exciting week of moving the fossilised skeletal remains of Nigel the Giant Deer which is a part of our Biological sciences collection and is currently on display in the department of Biosciences at Durham University. 🦌

We only moved him from one side of a room to the other, but he is so large that it took a team of people to get the job done! We even had to remove his head in order to fit him under some of the ceiling beams! He was then cleaned in his new home.

Also known as an Irish Elk, these Giant Deer lived all around Europe during the Pleistocene, their fossilised remains have often remained in tact because they would wander into peat bogs and then get stuck in the mud, we think that this was due to their gigantic antlers.

Visit the Museum of Archaeology this weekend to see the Bronze Age hoards that are currently on display and learn more about them in our touchscreen exhibition 'Prehistoric Pioneers' which explores Bronze Age Britain and its treasures. All of our examples of which were excavated in County Durham!

For more information and for opening times, visit our website: https://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology.museum/

Last week we were busy processing the Bronze Age hoard that we have recently acquired!

Here are some action shots of us photographing and using a thermo- cutter to make a new foam mould for some of the objects to sit in without moving around in their box. 📸 🥰

We have received a new acquisition! This is just a small part of a hoard which dates to the Late Bronze Age and was discovered to the south of Durham County. We are in the process of cataloguing this hoard and can't wait to share more with you!

For now, you can visit the portable antiquities scheme website to find out more about the hoard and see more images. Here is a link to the record: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/969299

With only two weeks left of the 'Picturing the Romans' exhibition, why not come along to have a look at the fabulous work that our MA students produced in 2022!

Designed and installed completely by student on the Musuem and Artefact Studies MA course at Archaeology at Durham University, this exhibition focusses on samian ware and its use in a Roman Household. Closing November 14th!

You can also see the lovely artwork that some of our visitors have created 🥰

To help you plan your visit, go to: https://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology.museum/

It's getting close to Halloween! 👻🎃
Here at the museum of archaeology, we are thinking about museum horror stories, and nothing scares us more than bad packaging.

The other day we decided to repack some of our objects and top of the list were some very old and tattered boxes. Upon opening one of the boxes, we discovered this scary sight!

The objects appear to have been popped into any old bag that was lying around including an old butcher shop cool bag! 😵‍

You'll be pleased to know that the objects have now been completely repacked!

Do you have any ? Comment your story below! 👻

Celebrate Science - Durham University Our annual three-day science festival celebrates Durham University’s latest research with our local community, targeting 7 to 11 year olds and their families. Each year during the local schools’ October half-term holiday more than 200 staff and student volunteers from departments across the Univ...

This week we have been spending a bit of time documenting and cataloguing coins from the Piercebridge River Collection.

Two divers Bob and Rolfe spent nearly 30 years retrieving objects from the riverbed. The collection includes over 1400 coins, which were now condition checking and getting online into our Discover system.

This week we would like to share with you this Roman silver ring that was discovered in the river at Piercebridge, near Darlington. It features a carnelian intaglio that has a very fun engraving on it.

The engraving shows a man milking a donkey! As odd as this may seem to us, this engraving was a symbol of the abundance of rural life.

This image is used courtesy of the Portable Antiquity Scheme, the full record can be viewed here: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/649677/recordtype/artefacts

Here is a find from Lanchester, Co. Durham!

It is a Roman altar which is dedicated to the god Mars by Gaius Aurelius after undertaking his vow.

Its inscriptions says: To the God Mars, Gaius Aurelius, haven undertaken his vow (set this up) [DEO MAR(TI) G(AIVS) AV R(ELIVS) SVS(CEPTO) VOT(O)].

And standing at only 30cm it is a very cute, portable altar! 🥰

Where about in Durham would you like us to explore next? Is there a particular street in Durham City that you walk down every day?

Comment below!

The date of the State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen is Monday 19 September 2022. This will be a Bank Holiday.

In line with U.K. Government guidelines, the University has taken the decision to close on that day. This will include our libraries, study spaces and public venues.

Other than Monday 19 September, our University remains open and will operate as usual. For the latest updates, please visit the University webpages:

Her Majesty The Queen - Durham University We are deeply saddened at the death of Her Majesty The Queen. Our thoughts are with members of the Royal Family at this time.

Did you know that the Museum of Archaeology mainly cares for archaeological finds from Durham City? As well as this, we care for some archaeological material from all over County Durham. This week we will be focussing on a find from Witton Gilbert!

Prehistoric rock art with cup and ring marks on it have been discovered all around Britain, and Europe. In fact, you can find it all over the world!

This cup and ring stone was discovered just outside of Witton Gilbert and dates to the Early Bronze Age, making this stone approximately 4500 years old!

Where in County Durham would you like us to explore next?

Comment below!

Hello from the MA Museum and Artefact Studies group!

This week Coby, who has worked on research and interpretation of our exhibition, will share his favourite item from the exhibition. (5/7)

‘My favourite item is the bone scabbard slide. The patterns of wear on it indicate it rubbed against a sleeve for years before it was thrown away, meaning it was likely an everyday object for somebody. I've always been fascinated by artefacts with stories like this, and it makes me think of what sort of person would be using it for such a long period and why.’

military

Hello from the MA Museum and Artefact Studies group! 🦁🏃

This week Beini, who has worked on exhibition design, our learning resource and acted as our treasurer, will share her favourite item from the exhibition. (4/7)

‘Hi, my favourite object is the pottery piece with a man chasing by a lion. Instead of fighting the beast, the gladiator just fled from it, creating a comic scene. I even planed to base the poster on it and here is the sketch for that version. It’s not so bad right😏’

Hello from the MA Museum and Artefact Studies group!

This week Lois, who has worked on exhibition design and interpretation, will share her favourite item from the exhibition. (3/7)

‘My favourite object is the portable altar with the carving of a shrine on the front – I previously studied Classics and the carving reminds me so much of roman temples. I really enjoy the fact that people used this image on smaller shrines within their homes.’
🏛

Hello from the MA Museum and Artefact Studies group!

This week Lucy, who has worked on exhibition design and our learning resource, will share her favourite item from the exhibition.

‘My favourite item is the small Samian piece with a Hippocampus on it. It’s a mythical creature with the head of a horse and the tail of a fish. I just think it’s really cute, I love its little curly tail and the way it looks like it’s swimming across the piece!’

Did you know that the Prince Bishop's of Durham had the privilege of being able to mint their own coinage?

The coins would be minted in Durham City on Palace Green! This was the case up until the Tudor period when the Bishop of Durham, Cuthbert Tunstall gave back this privilege to King Henry VIII.

To learn more about this, you can visit Durham Castle's new exhibition 'Tunstall and the Tudors: The Calculating Bishop' where Tudor coins from the Museum of Archaeology collection will be on display to see.

This exhibition opens to the public this Sunday the 31st of July at Durham Castle, during a special free summer celebration of the Castle’s 950th birthday!

For more information please visit: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/knights-at-the-castle-tickets-359430053967

We would like to share with you this lovely Roman anamorphic horse brooch which dates to the second century AD and is a part of the Piercebridge river assemblage. 🐴

This is one of our favourite objects and our museum mascot was even inspired by it!
This brooch is currently on display in the Museum of Archaeology which is located within Palace Green Library.

If you fancy seeing this lovely brooch for yourself, we hope to see you soon! you can also find more info about us at: https://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology.museum/

Hello from the MA Museum and Artefact Studies group!

This week we’re going to take you behind the scenes of our exhibition and look at the design! As Samian Ware has been the focus of our project we thought it only right to explain a little more about it. Our exhibition features these diagrams which show the shape of the pottery vessel , with a cross section. These diagrams represent common shapes of Samian ware pottery and help to demonstrate what type of item the sherds in our collection may have come from!

Hello from the MA Museum and Artefact Studies group!

This week is the start of a small series where each team member will introduce their favourite item included in our exhibition, and explain why they love it.

This week is Nora, who worked on interpretation and was our team secretary! (1/7)

‘My favourite object is the glass beaker because it is quite rare for a glass object to survive in its entirety, and this is a good example of what wealthier individuals might have had. Often items that wealthy people used don't survive because they were made of glass, which often shattered, or metal, which was melted down into other objects.’

Hello from the MA Museum and Artefact Studies group!

Our exhibition has now been open for a couple of weeks – and whilst we all enjoyed the creation and installation of our exhibition, it has incredible to share our work with our families, our friends and the public!

You now have all summer to see the exhibition that we are all so proud of!

Here is a newspaper article on our Museum and Artefact studies MA students current exhibition 'Picturing the Romans: Daily Life Through Tableware'.

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/history/20218059.exhibition-roman-artefacts-display-durham-museum/

If you would like to see this exhibition for yourself, you can visit us in Palace Green Library. For more information, look here:

https://www.dur.ac.uk/archaeology.museum/