A group of Chinchorro mummies are on display in 2008 in the cultural centre of the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago. Switzerland has returned four mummies to Chile, including two of them among the world's oldest, after their private owner agreed to their restitution.
The historical collection of a WWI officer from Saddleworth has gone on display, showing how ordinary people helped progress modern archaeology.
'The Story of Francis Buckley' at Gallery Oldham gathers together many of its titular archaeologist's treasures.
Born in 1881, the former barrister became an expert on subjects such as English glass and Stone Age flints.
Senior curator Dinah Winch said Francis "amassed the most amazing collection" in his lifetime.
Amateur enthusiasts like Mr Buckley have a prime place in the history of archaeological study.
The modern version of the science didn't come into being until the start of the 19th century and professional practitioners were not common place until over a century later.
Do all of you remember playing around in music class on an instrument called the xylophone? Well this historical instrument, using the Musical Stones of Skiddaw, makes me look at the modern day piano or xylophone from a completely different perspective.
Around 1785, Peter Crosthwaite, an eccentric inventor, was walking around the area of Skiddaw in North Cumbria, England when he made a startling discovery. He found "hornfels" rock that produced sound. He spent months and months looking for more rocks that made the desired sound he was looking for.
The result was a type of xylophone, in which he set up to attract visitors to his museum. With the help of his daughter and an old woman, they formed an impromptu welcoming party to the Keswick Museum.
According to the Musical Stones of Skiddaw Blog, the updated instrument is a 14 foot-long 1.5 ton stone xylophone made in 1827 by Keswick stonemason Joseph Richardson out of rare 'hornfels' rock found between the mountains Skiddaw and Blencathra in North Cumbria, UK.
The exhibition will include several ancient and well preserved mummies, all excavated in the vast Tarim Basin desert of East Central Asia—a crossroads of the Silk Road. "Included in the exhibition are three exquisitely diverse mummies—a man, a woman popularly known as the “Beauty of Xiaohe,” and a child, dating back to 1800 BCE to 400 CE." Several artifacts found with these particular mummies will be on display as well.
In addition, there will be 150 artifacts on display including jewel-encrusted vessels, masks, jewelry, clothing, highly valued silk and other textiles, wooden and bone implements, and coins testify to the remarkable international trade that passed through the region.
The materials come from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum and the Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology in Urumqi in northwest China.
Tickets
Individual tickets go on sale beginning Fall 2010.
Timed ticket prices (includes admission to Museum):
Adult: $22.50
Senior (65+)/Military/Students (full-time with ID): $18.50
Children (6 to 17 years): $14.50
"The exhibition features 50 objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun including the gold sandals that adorned the mummies feet and a beautifully adorned canopic jar that mummified his internal organs."-National Geographic
In addition to the treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun, 80 ancient artifacts are featured, which highlight many of the most significant rulers of ancient Egypt such as Khefren, whose great pyramid is the only remaining structure of the seven wonders of the ancient world and Hatshepsut, the queen who became king.-National Geographic
Definition: An Ancient Digger is anyone, not just an archaeologist, who digs for knowledge, truth, reason, science and education, and strives to share that knowledge with everyone.
A group of Chinchorro mummies are on display in 2008 in the cultural centre of the La Moneda presidential palace in Santiago. Switzerland has returned four mummies to Chile, including two of them among the world's oldest, after their private owner agreed to their restitution.
