Museum Of Archaeology & Anthropology

Looking for something to do in Cambridge this weekend? Museum Shop Sunday is on the 25th, and at the MAA we're celebrating with a universal discount, craft activities, a tour with a curator, and mulled wine!

Lovely to have some very young visitors in the galleries yesterday and today to explore the Pacific with the help of the Fitzwilliam Museum Education Department. Our Pacific cases & outreach program are all thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

The Day of the Dead altar is set up and ready for visitors! Drop-in today, tomorrow or Sunday to make a tissue paper flower for the altar, a mask or some skull bunting to take home. Friday 26/10 and Saturday 27/10 11am - 4pm Sunday 28/10 12pm - 4pm

A beautiful cover for the Star Carr trail, drawn by Erin. Thanks for sharing it with us! Don't forget we are open all half-term with family activities 11am - 4pm Tues - Sat and 12pm - 4pm on Sunday. http://maa.cam.ac.uk/category/whats-s-on/ events/

Don't forget we have lots of family activities happening for Festival of Ideas next week! We're looking at ocean pollution and making things from plastic waste 23rd, 24th and 25th of Oct, 11am - 4pm. Learn how to read a Cuneiform Inscription 23rd and 24th of Oct, 11am - 4pm. Help build a Day of the Dead altar with the Mexican Society 26th and 27th of Oct, 11am - 4pm and 28th of Oct, 12pm - 4pm. http://maa.cam.ac.uk/category/whats-s-on/ events/

We were 'live' this morning talking about some of the contemporary Pacific Islands objects on display at MAA.

As it's Friday afternoon we thought it might be fun to share another set of photographs from our collections, but with a slight twist. Spot the difference - spot the dog.
"Beqa Island, Fiji." and "Carriers at Beqa Island, Fiji." Photos collected by Thomas Strickland, 1938 P.86668.ACH2 and P.86667.ACH2

Please join us on 25 November for Museum Shop Sunday. We will be open 12 - 16:30 PM and we have a lot of activities lined up!
- 10% off all purchases all day in the museum shop.
- A Pacific paper-weaving craft activity will be taking place in the Maudsley Gallery for children aged three and above.
... - The award-winning Cambridge Wine Merchants will have a pop-up stall outside the museum selling mulled wine.
- Dr Jody Joy, curator of our current exhibition 'A Survival Story: Life at Star Carr' will be giving a talk about life in Mesolithic Yorkshire in the Li Ka Shing Gallery at 13:30.
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Coming Soon... MORE THAN MUSIC: COLLECTING KUN OPERA
Our new exhibition in our small but perfectly-formed Spotlight Gallery is a collaboration with the Cambridge Rivers Project to celebrate the launch of the Digital Museum of Kun Opera. It highlights Kun or Kunqu, one of the oldest forms of traditional Chinese Opera, through musical instruments associated with it and through creative responses by artists from the UK and China. More Than Music opens on the 16th October and... runs until April 2019.
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We are delighted to have won not one but two Cambridge Bid Awards for Best Customer Service! A total of 157 businesses took part in the programme this year. Round one of the mystery shopping, which was conducted by independent market research company Storecheckers, took place in April. It assessed selling skills, staff attitude, standards, welcome and goodbye, local as well as product knowledge, and appearance. Round two took place in July, assessing the same criteria. MAA won Best Customer Experience 2018 in the Leisure/Attraction category and also Overall Winner title for achieving the maximum 100% on both our mystery shop visits. Here is our Visitor Services Assistant looking very excited after collecting the awards at the Bid Cambridge Event last week!

We're very excited about the opening of Oceania at the Royal Academy on 29 September. Here's a video from Television New Zealand about the upcoming exhibition, which features many items from our collections.

Today is the last day for our Senior Curator in Archaeology, Dr. Chris Wingfield, so we wanted to celebrate the work that he has done on our Baptist Mission Society collections with a photo from our archives. The missionaries' presence is often only found in traces in the background, as this image shows nicely.
"A typical man of Ngombe tribe. N. forest area." Democratic Republic of Congo Photo by Rev. Kenred Smith, Baptist Mission Society, circa 1895 - 1914... LS.125643.TC1
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Our final post for London Pacific Fashion Week is another photograph from our collections, but you can also see it for yourself in our exhibition 'Swish: Carved Belts and Fibre Skirts of Papua New Guinea', closing 8 October.
A Urama man standing in a clearing in a village. The man wears across his forehead a headdress of black cassowary feathers intermixed with feathers from an unidentified bird (possibly hornbill or a bird of paradise). In both ears he wears earrings made of... narea (dog’s teeth). Through his nasal septum, the man wears a large white shell bar (mudi). Hanging from his neck on a bark fibre string the man wears a white pig’s tusk, which has been mended in two places and tied together. Across his chest is a bark fibre hadtu (bandolier). On either arm he wears a wide bark fibre adie (armbands) into each of which a black feathers have been inserted and strings of shell or dog’s teeth hang [narea]. In his right hand the man holds a woven fibre bag (most likely woven from sago palm leaves). Around his waist, the man wears a decorated bark belt (the carving is highlighted with lime paint), on which hang two circular white shell buttons (bidibidi). These shells are tied to the belt and help secure it. Hanging from bark cloth covering the man’s genitals is an oblong white shell (kepa). Behind the man is another decorated man, and a dubu (men’s longhouse), which sits on several posts and its facade is closed with a sago bark matting. Omameri, Gope River, Papuan Gulf, Papua New Guinea Photo by Paul de Rautenfeld, 1925 P.10844.ACH1
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Our second post in honour of London Pacific Fashion Week is from our photographic collections.
The theme this year is #ClimateChangeInthePacific, an incredibly important topic that we have also focussed on in our new Pacific cases in the museum. Remember to check LPFW's Facebook page in order to see how the designers are incorporating this theme into their collections.
If you're inspired to combat climate change yourself, why not take a simple action this weekend such as walk...ing or cycling instead of driving to your next destination?
“A Tahitian woman.” French Polynesia Photo by James Hornell, circa 1925 P.126544.HNL
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Tonight is the main event of London Pacific Fashion Week. LPFW was established in October 2012, over the past 5 years LPFW has continued on as a regular fashion event in the United Kingdom promoting established Pacific Fashion Designers. A champion of Pacific design, art and culture, LPFW acts as a platform for designers living and working in the Pacific to engage with the fashion industry and represent them exclusively in the United Kingdom. To do this, a select number of fa...shion designers from the Pacific travel to London every September for LPFW, which coincides with London Fashion Week, both to promote their brands and gain further experience in the Global fashion world. Having witnessed the connection between fashion, culture and the environment during her time in the fashion industry, founder of LPFW, Fijian-born Ms Ana Lavekau has recently announced that LPFW's theme for the next three years will be 'Climate change in the Pacific' (#ClimateChangeinthePacific). We will be celebrating this and the on-going practice of wanting to look fashionable on this page over the weekend.
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Here's our first of three posts for #LPFW featuring a beautiful barkcloth bodice from our collections, but be sure to catch what's new on the catwalks as well!
You can find more information on the designers here: https://londonpacificfashionweek.com/lpfc -designers-2018-1
... Click the link below to see London Pacific Fashion Week's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LPFltd/
Barkcloth bodice designed by Anton Conway Wye, Rosie Emberson Semisi and Akanisi Rabune, 2011. Lined with cotton and decorated with small shells sewn to the surface of the barkcloth. An accompanying barkcloth skirt completes the outfit. Fiji Collected by Katrina Talei Igglesden 2013.10 A-B.
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Why didn't I visit before? Silly me. As the museum entry is free, you can pop in for a quick look at any new exhibits, or spend a couple of hours studying something of personal interest. There are lots of items on display ranging from 20th century to predynastic Egyptian (5000BC!)



I will be back.

Very interesting museum. I enjoyed the visit immensely. The collection, featuring items from around the world, is great. The staff was very friendly.

Small but excellent. A nice variety of different artefacts presented well.

Really interesting museum, lots of interesting exhibits to look at.

Much love.

Love this place. Exhibitions such as "Assembling Bodies" and "Chiefs and Governors" have made a long lasting impression on me. Beautiful display, great team!

Love this museum and so do my girls always handy to visit in school holidays and loads in there too

I thought this small museum was well planned with great exhibits that kept you fascinated. Well worth a visit. It is also free entry.

Had a fabulous morning there with our 10yr old!

Great museum with excellent staff who explained the galleries and objects with great detail and knowledge. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys learning about the history of other cultures.

Excellent display on the social construction of childhood.

Always interesting. Great museum store. Very friendly knowledgeable staff.

Great to see the university making the most of its role to enlighten and edify us non-gown types - and although a small space, Lots of imaginative use of different types and styles of display so that there's something for everyone.

Fascinating! Absolutely loved the enormous totem pole �

Fascinating collections and displays from around the world. It shows the differing cultures and wide diversity we as humankind should cherish and guide us with our development. I can’t but help think that certain world leaders could learn a great deal from insight these displays just scratch the surface of!

A vsry interesting and endearing little museum.

give back the Gweagal Spears that were taken in 1770

The Gweagal Shield and the spears you hold belong in Australia,

No more baubles and beads.

Give back the gweagal things that don't belong to yous make the wrongs of the past right

Why didn't I visit before? Silly me. As the museum entry is free, you can pop in for a quick look at any new exhibits, or spend a couple of hours studying something of personal interest. There are lots of items on display ranging from 20th century to predynastic Egyptian (5000BC!)



I will be back.

Very interesting museum. I enjoyed the visit immensely. The collection, featuring items from around the world, is great. The staff was very friendly.

Small but excellent. A nice variety of different artefacts presented well.

Really interesting museum, lots of interesting exhibits to look at.

Much love.

Love this place. Exhibitions such as "Assembling Bodies" and "Chiefs and Governors" have made a long lasting impression on me. Beautiful display, great team!

Love this museum and so do my girls always handy to visit in school holidays and loads in there too

I thought this small museum was well planned with great exhibits that kept you fascinated. Well worth a visit. It is also free entry.

Had a fabulous morning there with our 10yr old!

Great museum with excellent staff who explained the galleries and objects with great detail and knowledge. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys learning about the history of other cultures.

Excellent display on the social construction of childhood.

Always interesting. Great museum store. Very friendly knowledgeable staff.

Great to see the university making the most of its role to enlighten and edify us non-gown types - and although a small space, Lots of imaginative use of different types and styles of display so that there's something for everyone.

Fascinating! Absolutely loved the enormous totem pole �

Fascinating collections and displays from around the world. It shows the differing cultures and wide diversity we as humankind should cherish and guide us with our development. I can’t but help think that certain world leaders could learn a great deal from insight these displays just scratch the surface of!

A vsry interesting and endearing little museum.

give back the Gweagal Spears that were taken in 1770

The Gweagal Shield and the spears you hold belong in Australia,

No more baubles and beads.

Give back the gweagal things that don't belong to yous make the wrongs of the past right

Why didn't I visit before? Silly me. As the museum entry is free, you can pop in for a quick look at any new exhibits, or spend a couple of hours studying something of personal interest. There are lots of items on display ranging from 20th century to predynastic Egyptian (5000BC!)



I will be back.

Very interesting museum. I enjoyed the visit immensely. The collection, featuring items from around the world, is great. The staff was very friendly.

Small but excellent. A nice variety of different artefacts presented well.

Really interesting museum, lots of interesting exhibits to look at.

Much love.

Love this place. Exhibitions such as "Assembling Bodies" and "Chiefs and Governors" have made a long lasting impression on me. Beautiful display, great team!

Love this museum and so do my girls always handy to visit in school holidays and loads in there too

I thought this small museum was well planned with great exhibits that kept you fascinated. Well worth a visit. It is also free entry.

Had a fabulous morning there with our 10yr old!

Great museum with excellent staff who explained the galleries and objects with great detail and knowledge. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys learning about the history of other cultures.

Excellent display on the social construction of childhood.

Always interesting. Great museum store. Very friendly knowledgeable staff.

Great to see the university making the most of its role to enlighten and edify us non-gown types - and although a small space, Lots of imaginative use of different types and styles of display so that there's something for everyone.

Fascinating! Absolutely loved the enormous totem pole �

Fascinating collections and displays from around the world. It shows the differing cultures and wide diversity we as humankind should cherish and guide us with our development. I can’t but help think that certain world leaders could learn a great deal from insight these displays just scratch the surface of!

A vsry interesting and endearing little museum.

give back the Gweagal Spears that were taken in 1770

The Gweagal Shield and the spears you hold belong in Australia,

No more baubles and beads.

Give back the gweagal things that don't belong to yous make the wrongs of the past right