🗓️ 21 May 2026, 2-4pm
📍 Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
🎟️ Free
🔗 For further details and to book your tickets visit Eventbrite: eventbrite.com/e/1986889955342
Please note that this event is specifically designed for home educated children aged 7 to 11 only. 2/2
A young girl takes part in an object handling session trying to identify which are pieces of pottery and which are stones.
We're delighted to be running a free drop-in session for home schooled children aged 7 to 11 next month! Focusing on Roman Britain there'll be the opportunity for objects handling, a talk on Roman Cambridge, and the chance to identify Roman pottery sherds. 1/2
📸 Image credit: My Linh Le, 2025.
Painting of a single boot decorated with multicoloured embroidery. The lower part of the boot which covers the foot has fur on the outside.
📸 D.78720.LIN Watercolour, Inner Mongolia. Artist: Edith King, c.1930s.
🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/photographs/...
The session will be run by members of our Front of House team; Kate, who has a background in teaching History of Art and Design, and Suzie, who works in paint, print media and stained glass.
🗓️ 23/04/2026, 6pm (alternative date available)
🎟️ £20 pp
🔗 eventbrite.com/e/1977382367892
Painting of a single boot decorated with multicoloured embroidery. The lower part of the boot which covers the foot has fur on the outside. Text reads '''Take a line for a Walk': A Sketchbook Session, 23 April 2026, 6pm, £20 per person".
There are still places available at Thursday's sketchbook session, so book you ticket now for an evening drawing inspiration from the collections on display. 1/3
We can definitely see that! It makes quite a cute little hummingbird 😍
🗓️ 18 May 2026, 5:30pm
📍 Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
🎟️ Pay as you wish - suggested donation £8 (£5 for students and MAA Friends)
🔗 Book now: eventbrite.com/e/1977384602576 2/2
Dancers on stage in their costumes after performing an Indian classical dance. The performers have their hands pressed together as two of them bow to the audience.
We are delighted to welcome professionally trained Bharata Natyam dancer Monisha Bharadwaj to the museum for her talk 'The Accoutrements of an Indian Dancer'. Discover what each piece of the jewellery and costumes worn by these dancers means beyond just bling! 1/2
📸 Image credit: Monisha Bharadwaj.
A jar with a flared neck, squat rounded body, and an upright cylindrical spout attached to the base and rim. There is polychrome decoration on the upper section of the body, which includes zoomorphic motifs.
📸 1968.381 Spouted jar, Coclé Province, Panama, Early Cocle Period.
🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/544810/
Detail of the polychrome geometric decoration on the upper section of the body of a jar. This includes a zoomorphic motif that looks like a bat with spread wings hanging upside down.
This jar is over 1,500 years old! Part of the vessel has been decorated with a geometric design that includes what we think could be a stylised bat hanging upside down. Or possibly a crocodile.
What do you think? A bat, a crocodile, or something else?
Drawing of a pair of boots with a wide dark band near the top decorated with knot-like embroidery. One boot points towards the viewer whilst the other is shown from the side.
📸 D.78721.LIN Pen and ink drawing of a pair of boots, ?Inner Mongolia. Artist: Edith King, c.1930s.
🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/photographs/371992/
The session will be run by members of our Front of House team; Kate, who has a background in teaching History of Art and Design, and Suzie, who works in paint, print media and stained glass.
🗓️ 23/04/2026, 6pm (alternative date available)
🎟️ £20 pp
🔗 eventbrite.com/e/1977382367892
Drawing of one boot from a pair with a wide dark band near the top decorated with knot-like embroidery. Text reads '''Take a line for a Walk': A Sketchbook Session, 23 April 2026, 6pm, £20 per person".
There are still places available at next week's sketchbook session, so why not join us for an evening in the atmospheric setting of the museum galleries and build your confidence by drawing from collections on display.
A model truck with its cargo of miniature bags of goods, plus a small ladder. The truck has a green cab and a yellow open container on the back.
📸 1999.151 A-L Toyota Truck alasita, ?Peru/Bolivia. Collector: William Sillar
🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/5347...
A model truck with its cargo of miniature bags of goods, plus a small ladder. The truck has a green cab and a yellow open container on the back.
This model of a Toyota truck is an alasita (miniature offering) from the Andes. Our latest blog post explores how ritual practice, landscape, and global capitalism are negotiated through Indigenous material culture: www.maadigitallab.org/blog/2026/04...
We might need a bit more convincing on this one 🤔
The lug on the back and the neck of the vessel could form some type of crest 🤔
But what type?
We do love manatees, plus there's definitely something in the shape...
They can be found in the waters around the Bay Islands, so this is definitely a possibility!
And now we can't unsee it...
📸 1946.244 Zoomorphic tripod vessel, Bay Islands, Honduras, Pre-Columbian/Pre-Hispanic.
🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/546454/
A small clay vessel with a partially broken neck applied to a cylindrical body that tapers at one end. It is decorated with applied and punctuated pellets, three of which serve as tripod legs.
We've got a little #MuseumMystery for you. We think this zoomorphic vessel depicts a dolphin, but we'd love to hear your thoughts!
Find out more and apply on the University of Cambridge website: cam.ac.uk/jobs/collections-assistant-in-anthropology-fixed-term-ju49187 2/2
Objects on open display in the museum gallery, including a statue of a seated Buddha and a protective demon figure.
Don't forget the application deadline for the full-time Collections Assistant in Anthropology (Fixed Term) post is this Sunday (12 April 2026)!
If you're interested in helping support the care of and access to the anthropological collections we care for we'd love to hear from you. 1/2
#MuseumJobs
A square tile with the deep toe and claw marks of a paw print in the top right corner.
📸 Z 25503 Tile, Comberton, England, Roman.
🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/469294/
Detail of the deep toe and claw marks of a paw print in the corner of a tile, the rest of the print is missing. A measuring stick indicated that from the tip of the claws to the base of these toe pads is about 3cm.
Although wild wolves have not been seen in Britain for centuries, they appear to have been fairly common in the Roman period, before they were later hunted into extinction. Do you think one wandered across this tile whilst it was drying and left its mark in history? 2/3
A handwritten label attached to the surface of a tile which reads: 'Wolf's Footmarks in Roman Tile'. The deep toe and claw marks of a paw print are located in the top right corner of the tile.
Despite being found near the village of Comberton at a place known as Fox's Bridge, the handwritten label attached to this tile suggests the paw print on it was made by a wolf. 1/3
