The Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity Museum is an actively used teaching collection of approximately 2000 examples of Greek, Mycenean, Roman and Egyptian pottery, funerary, domestic and religious objects. In the University of Birmingham’s early days, John Hopkinson, an enthusiastic lecturer in Greek, purchased antiquities to be used for inspiring his students and exciting their historical imagination. He was granted £100 to spend on Greek Archaeology, and thus the nucleus of the collection was formed.
In addition to the displayed objects, there is a large and valuable collection of pot sherds, (shards usually refers to glass in an archaeological context) assembled over the twentieth century by members of staff from the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity (IAA). The rediscovered Egyptian sarcophagus lid from Beni Hasan, Egypt, c. 550BC is a highlight of the collection. It was cleaned in 2001 in order to remove dirty paraffin wax poured over the lid in the early twentieth century in an attempt to ‘age’ it. The restoration revealed freshly coloured paint and also traces of gold leaf applied to the human face carved on the lid. The sarcophagus was given by John Garstang, excavator of Beni Hasan, to the University in 1904, and subsequently displayed for many years at Leamington Spa Museum.
The Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity’s Visual and Spatial Technology Centre (VISTA) is one of the best equipped archaeological visualisation laboratories in Europe. In 2003 an ancient terracotta stemmed cup made in East Greece in the seventh century BC was scanned in the VISTA centre to create a 3D image and reconstructed in metal by the University’s department of Metallurgy and Materials using modern technologies based on those used by Ancient Greeks.
The Archaeology and Antiquity Museum is a major teaching and research resource for the department and is also the home to an undergraduate Museum Studies option.
Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, Arts Building
T: 0121 414 5497
W: http://www.iaa.bham.ac.uk/Museum/museum.htm
VISTA: http://www.vista.bham.ac.uk
Egyptian sarcophagus lid from Benin sarcophagus lid from Beni Hasan - Egypt - c. 550BC
Lekythos. Attic fineware, 520-500BC
