McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research annual report 2018-19

About us
The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA)
Archaeology at the Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology had an active and varied 2018–19 academic
year. Front of House recorded high visitor numbers (80,270),
and the popular exhibition A Survival Story: Prehistoric Life at
Star Carr 1 has been extended. The Education Team facilitated
112 school groups (3247 pupils and teachers) and 56 selfdirected
school visits (1457 pupils and teachers). Taught
sessions focused on many archaeological subjects, from the
Maya to British prehistory.
In October 2018, Akshyeta Suryanarayan and Danika Parikh
(Archaeology PhD researchers) and Ananya Mishra (PhD
researcher in English) launched their Untold Histories
Museum Tours to tell stories of collecting through
colonialism and conflict. 2 Recently, they received an
award for Outstanding Student Contribution to Education
under Inclusive Practice (Access and Outreach) from the
Cambridge Centre for Teaching and Learning, and were
mentioned in a New York Times article on alternative
museum tours.
In terms of tertiary education, the Keyser Workroom
received 328 undergraduate student visits to work with
archaeological collections as part of 32 practical classes
and 13 open sessions. Across both archaeology and
anthropology, the museum also received 493 enquiries, 219
research visits and 102 loan arrangements.
Museum archaeologists have been conducting innovative
projects. In 2018, Senior Curator Jody Joy gained funding for
Unpacking Cambridge’s Past from the Cambridge Humanities
Research Grant Scheme. This grant enabled Teaching and
Collections Assistant Eleanor Wilkinson to perform a major
reassessment of Cambridgeshire’s Iron Age collections. 3
The brand-new temporary exhibition Feast! is an exciting
outcome from this research. 4
In September, we were sorry to say goodbye to Senior
Curator for World Archaeology Andrew Turner, who has
taken up a position at the J. Paul Getty Museum in California,
USA. Dr Turner had a productive year at the MAA, including
updating exhibition information in the Andrews Gallery, and
we wish him all the best in his new role.
Looking forward to the 2019–20 year, we are thrilled to
begin a major project to relocate all our off-site collections
to a new Collections Study Centre in a former Cold War
bunker in south Cambridge. The University of Cambridge
is supporting the refurbishment of the building, to
be completed in 2020, as well as the five-year project
to photograph and rehouse around 250,000 objects.
Mark Elliott (Senior Curator, Anthropology) and Imogen
Gunn (Collections Manager, Archaeology) have been
spearheading the preliminary work on the project, which
will ultimately have a dedicated Project Team of up to 11
people. By the end of the project the collections will be
more visible and physically accessible than ever before,
both online and in a new purpose-built object lab.
1. http://maa.cam.ac.uk/a-survival-story-prehistoric-lifeat-star-carr/
2. https://www.museums.cam.ac.uk/blog/2019/01/09/
untold-histories-museum-tours-stories-of-collectingthrough-colonialism-and-conflict/
3. https://www.museums.cam.ac.uk/blog/2019/09/04/
unpacking-cambridgeshires-past/
4. http://maa.cam.ac.uk/feast-in-this-life-and-the-next/
Previously unaccessioned fowl bones (TEMP.00813.2)
from a burial at Snailwell, Cambridgeshire. Eleanor
Wilkinson recognized the bones as those identified
in the Snailwell excavation report, published in the
Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society.
The new temporary exhibition Feast!—an outcome
of Jody Joy and Eleanor Wilkinson’s research into Iron
Age feasting.
Archaeology at Cambridge 2018–2019 3