Behind the scenes in a museum – a conservator’s view
Rhian Ward, a Conservation Student at Durham University, answers questions on her placement with the University of Cambridge Museums. What are you studying and how did you get to work with the University of Cambridge Museums? I am a final year student on the MA Conservation of Archaeological and Museum Objects at Durham University, and as part of this we…
Kiribati weaving workshop
In April the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, in conjunction with the British Museum held a one-day workshop on Kiribati armour. Coconut fibre armour, from the Republic of Kiribati, is a distinctive composite artefact found in many museum collections around the world. It consists of a number of different components including trousers, sleeves, a cuirass with a high back piece,…
Don’t Believe Everything You’re Told…
In museums, we are used to coming across many wonderful objects made from a variety of fantastic materials. But is everything really what it appears? When presented with a Kiribati shark-toothed sword, from the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, decorated with braids of human hair, I started to think of ways I could interrogate these materials and find out what…