The Eagle of the City

There is a new resident at in the City of London. A sculpture of an eagle clutching a wriggling snake has been found at the Minories and was originally placed over a Roman tomb. It is dated from the 1st to the 2nd Century AD, but when you see it in person it is hard to believe, it looks as though it was carved yesterday. The Eagle will be at the Museum of London for six months, and I really recommend visiting, it's such a beautiful object.

The Eagle can be seen at the beginning of the Roman gallery at the museum of London : http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/london-wall/whats-on/galleries/roman-london/

Visit to the Petrie Museum

CBA London (http://www.archaeologyuk.org/cbalondon/) organised a private tour of the Petrie Museum, part of UCL just off Tottenham Court Road. Having studied British Archaeology, I don't know much about Egyptology, but like most people find it fascinating. I think it's one of the first things people think about when archaeology is mentioned: tombs, sand and mummies (and dinosaurs!).  The museum was created in 1892 through Amelia Edwards, who donated hundreds of Egyptian Antiquities.  Edwards was a pioneer in the protection of Egyptian sites and artefacts, and was a co-founder of the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1882.

William Flinders Petrie

William Flinders Petrie excavated some of the most important sites in Egypt, including King Akhenaten's city of Amarna, and also worked in Palestine. Petrie set new standards in archaeology at the time, and believed in the importance of recording and studying artefacts. Petrie also linked styles of pottery with the different time periods, helping to date the different sites he worked on.

The pottery types set out by period/age

Petrie sold his collection to UCL in 1933, which created one of the largest collections of Egyptian artefacts outside of Egypt. What I loved about the museum is the way everything is packed into such a small space. Everywhere you look there are artefacts, you could spend days looking through the collection. Just when you think you've seen something, you realise that the drawers open underneath the displays, and more artefacts are there to be seen. It is also one of the first museum collections to be digitised, so if you take note of an artefact number you can look it up online.

Some of the many beautiful objects on display

The museum is open Tuesday to Saturday 13.00-17.00 to the public, and is free to visit. More information can be found on the website:  http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie

The BBC also had a programme on this year called 'The Man Who Discovered Egypt' about Petrie's work in Egypt. It isn't currently on iPlayer, but has been shown several times this year, and is worth keeping an eye out for:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01f13f4