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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 1h

📸 2014.172 'Potter's Workshop', Rorke's Drift, South Africa. Artist: Azaria Mbatha, 1962. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/5557...

A lino cut print featuring a woman with a baby strapped to her back rolling out clay whilst a man adds detail to a completed pot. On a shelf above their heads more finished pots stand and a cauldron steams on the left side of the image.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 1h

Last night's Pottery Throw Down final has once again inspired us to explore our collections portal, and we came across this striking linocut of a pottery workshop! Rather than using a potter's wheel, the clay is flattened and then shaped.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

📸 T.171854.ARC Archaeological field excavation, ?Europe/Africa. Photographer: Unknown, c. ?1970s. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/photographs/465915/

An archaeological field excavation in process with a man standing at the foot of a ladder, in the mouth of a cave, silhouetted against the light streaming in from outside. To the right of the mouth of the cave steps lead down into a sunken structure in which another man stands, partially hidden in the shadows.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Sadly, we know very little about this photo. We don't have names recorded for the two men pictured, nor are we sure where the cave is located. However, we love the drama of the image and the way one of the archaeologists is silhouetted against the cave mouth.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

We thought so too, unless it's something mythological. They are incredible and the Minoan artwork really captures that!

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

📸 1932.523 H Pottery sherd, Knossos, Crete, Late Minoan IB. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/600989/

A fragment of pottery decorated with thick black wavy lines which have a row of circles running along one edge.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

This small pottery sherd offers a tantalising glimpse of the design which once decorated it! The design bears a striking resemblance to the octopodes motifs which were popular with the Minoans. What do you think, could this pattern depict the arms of an octopus, or something else? #WorldOctopusDay

A fragment of pottery decorated with thick black wavy lines which have a row of circles running along one edge. The sherd is set against an underwater background.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

📸 D 1988.339 Hat, Gonja, Ghana. Collector: Dr Esther Goody. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/485285/

A short cylindrical-shaped hat made from woven cotton fabric. It has a dark blue, mid blue and white striped pattern, with fainter white stripes woven in perpendicular to the other stripes to create a checked design.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The wearable bake challenge on last night's #BakeOff has inspired us to take a look through our collections portal to see which hats we'd like to see edible versions of. The shape of this hat makes it a deceptively simple choice - you know you'll run out of time trying to recreate that pattern!

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

🗓️ 8 October 2026, 1:30-2:30pm or 2:30-3:30pm 📍 Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology 🎟️ Free 🔗Find out more and book your tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/2002113525... Please note that this event is specifically designed for home educated children aged 7 to 11 only.

eventbrite.com

Home Educators Event at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Learn about Roman Britain with our free drop-in session for home educated children aged 7 to 11.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

There are still places available at our free sessions for home educated children aged 7 to 11 on 08/10/2026! 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. 📸 Image credit: My Linh Le, 2025.

A member of the museum's education and outreach team challenges a child to identify pottery sherds from a collection of pottery and similarly looking stone fragments laid out on a table.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

📸 Z 45358 S Postcard, Leipzig, Germany. Donor: L. Stein or Dr Alfred Cort Haddon. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/590584/

A postcard depicting an anthropomorphic red and white spotted mushroom, a gnome, and a red admiral butterfly playing a game of dice. The mushroom holds a brown cup after having rolled three sixes, whilst the gnome, wearing a brown conical hat, a purple jacket and green trousers, looks on in despair.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Inspired by the gnomes the potters created last night on the #PotteryThrowDown we had to share this postcard! Sadly, for this gnome, he has just lost a game of dice to a Glückspilzer (lucky mushroom).

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

📸 P.66814.HNL Braid weavers, Luxor market, Egypt. Photographer: James Hornell, 1937. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/photographs/360085/

Two men sit on small raised wooden platforms. A pyramid-like structure made from poles stands over each platform, from which hangs a small loom.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Our Photographic Collections team has achieved the remarkable target of digitalising 92% of the catalogued collections! This image was the 167,233rd photograph digitised to reach this figure. The next step is to add the images to our collections portal and digitalise 1,431 more photos to reach 93%.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

📸 Image credit: Rai Bahadur Lal Singh with camels, Yolchi-moinak, 19th July 1915. British Library 392/28 (805).

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

You've only got until Sunday (4 October 2026) to apply for the MAA and @cam-archaeology.bsky.social's Research Associate and Exhibition Project Curator (full-time, fixed-term) role for the 'Between the Lines: Mapping histories in the margins' project exhibition. Apply: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

A bearded man wearing a turban and a knee-length robe or tunic stands with two camels behind him. The ground appears arid and there is a mountainous landscape in the background.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

📸 TEMP.00917 Folding travelling lantern, ?Europe, ?Post Medieval. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/571564/

A rectangular lantern with four side panels, three of which have glass panes against a burgundy background with the silhouettes of tree branches. The panels are decorated with embossed linear designs around the glass panes and have rounded crenelations around the upper edges, and a partially cut-out flower design on the top panel.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Are you ready for the start of #TheTraitors tonight? We're sorted with a lantern which, for extra levels of stealth, can be collapsed down and easily hidden!

An unfolded rectangular lantern laid out flat with the four side panels (three of which are designed to hold glass panes), the base and top spread out like a net or die-line design. There is a small sconce on the base for holding a candle or taper.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

📸 D 1923.40 A-C Three Bidderhorn or Biddenden cakes, Biddenden, England. Depositor: The Folklore Society. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/?query=D+1923.40

Three once identical rectangular biscuits featuring a raised design of two women standing side-by-side in Elizabethan dresses. Above them are the words "ELIS AND MARY" and "CHULKHURST", whilst "BIDDENDEN" appears below.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Last night was biscuit week on the #BakeOff, so we had to take a look through the collections portal to see if we could find any biscuits, and we weren't disappointed! This Biddenden cake is a 103-year-old biscuit featuring Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst, a pair of conjoined twins from the 1100s. #GBBO

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

We'd love to see it too! If you head over to our collections portal there are some more images of the coffee pot from different angles, including one with the lid open.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

📸 1886.43.3 Coffee pot, Guildhall Street, Cambridge, Post Medieval. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/4171...

A coffee pot with a lid attached by a section being wrapped around the handle. A small amount of glaze from the inside of the pot dribbles down the front.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This National Coffee Day we're sharing this coffee pot which probably dates from around the period when the first coffeehouse in Cambridge opened, which was relatively soon after the introduction of coffee to England during the mid-1600s.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

You've only got until Friday (2 October 2026) to apply for our part-time Archivist (fixed-term) role. We're looking for someone to help make the museum's archival material accessible to researchers and staff. If this could be you, we'd love to hear from you. Apply now: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/archivi...

A shelf of old books in the museum's archive. They are numbered 9 to 17 and labels on two of the show they cover the period 29 January 1908 to 31 July 1908 and 1 August 1908 to 6 February 1909.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

🗓 8 October 2026, 1:30-2:30pm or 2:30-3:30pm 📍 Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology 🎟 Free 🔗 For further details and to book your tickets visit Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.com/e/2002113525... Please note that this event is specifically designed for home educated children aged 7 to 11 only.

eventbrite.com

Home Educators Event at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Learn about Roman Britain with our free drop-in session for home educated children aged 7 to 11.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We're running a free drop-in session for home schooled children aged 7 to 11 next month! Focusing on Roman Britain there'll be the chance to handle some of the objects we care for, a talk on Roman Cambridge, and a challenge to identify real Roman pottery sherds. 📸 Image credit: My Linh Le, 2025.

A child's hand touches a piece of pottery as they sort the pottery sherds which lie in front of them. Images of complete pots provide helpful references.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

📸 Z 39795 Panecito (earth cake), San Juan de Lagos, Mexico. Collector: Frederick Starr. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/489560/

A rectangular slab of white clay, stamped with an image of the Virgin Mary. She is surrounded by flowers and leaves that have been coloured pink and green.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Panecitos (earth cakes) like this one have been eaten by or spread over the skin of pilgrims to the shrine of San Juan de Lagos since at least the 17th Century. Made from local clay they are believed to have healing properties.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Inspired by last night's episode of The Great British Bake Off we decided to search our collections portal for cakes, but you might not be expecting what we found...

The search bar on the museum's collections portal showing that there are 104 results for 'cake' over 11 pages.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

In our latest blog post two volunteers reflect on the painstaking work of cataloguing Roman coins discovered during an excavation in Great Staughton and the unexpected discoveries careful museum work can reveal to researchers: www.maadigitallab.org/blog/2026/09... 📸 Image credit: Lily Pencliffe.

A volunteer examines a Roman coin under a bright light in an attempt to read the inscription on it. He is sitting in front of a laptop in the museum's Archaeology workroom and is wearing green gloves.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Video description: Inside the 'Moving Objects' exhibition gallery with objects including an embroidered kimono and a wooden post painted with a human face. Some of the objects in the gallery are displayed in converted packing boxes, whilst others appear within their customised storage.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Have you seen our 'Moving Objects' exhibition? There's still time to join us as we share stories about objects we transported across Cambridge as part of our Stores Move project, from the people who have worked with them. These are things that moved us. We invite you to be moved by them too.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

📸 1991.200 D Caritas para Pan de Muerto. Oaxaca, Mexico. Collector: Kristin Norget. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/581170/

A painted dough head in the shape of a clown wearing a pink bow tie and a yellow, purple, green, and pink hat. 'PEPITO' is written in the hat brim.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Richard's circus-themed desk set on last night's #PotteryThrowDown made us think of this Caritas Para Pan de Muerto. Made from dough known as Pan de Muerto (Bread of the Dead) rather than clay, it was a gift or altar offering during Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

🚨 Job alert! 🚨 We're looking to appoint a part-time Archivist (fixed-term) to help make our archival material more accessible. These documents are key to research on art and archaeology, Indigenous cultures, and artefact provenances. Closing date: 02/10/2026 Apply: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/archivi...

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

📸 Image credit: Rai Bahadur Lal Singh with camels, Yolchi-moinak, 19th July 1915. British Library 392/28 (805).

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

🚨 Job alert! MAA and @cam-archaeology.bsky.social are looking to appoint a full-time Research Associate and Exhibition Project Curator (Fixed Term) for the 'Between the Lines: Mapping histories in the margins' project exhibition. Closing date: 04/10/2026 Apply now: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

📸 Z 44605 A-B Pair of combs, ?Chota Nagpur, ?India. Source: ?Mrs Jean Robin. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/493968/

A pair of finely toothed combs, with red and black decoration at the top of the combs of what may possibly be stylised feathers or leaves.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Before these combs were processed during our Stores Move we knew little about them, but similarities were noticed to combs made by the Oraon and Sora people. So, we updated their place of origin from 'unprovenanced' to 'possibly Chhota Nagpur'. Revisiting what we think we know about objects is vital

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

An interesting idea and a reminder we can never 100% know for certain what people in the past were thinking when they created something.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

We've always said the collections we care for are inspiring 😆

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

📸 1946.41 Slit weave tapestry, Peru, Late Intermediate Period ?Ica. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/541176/

A band of tapestry decorated with a row of four figures which appear to have two protuberances on their heads, eyes, mouth, and either arms and legs or fins and a tail. The figures are woven in black, red, pink, brown and two shades of yellow, with borders of interlocking frets in two shades of pink above and below them.

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The colours of this tapestry fragment are so vibrant, despite probably being over 500 years old! But what are the four figures it depicts? We believe them to be stingrays, what do you think?

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

It was lovely to have you and we're so glad you enjoyed your visit! 🥰

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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

📸 Z 19200 Civil official's robe, China. Source: Fitzwilliam Museum. 🔗 collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/objects/494853/

A high collared black silk robe with long sleeves, a bright blue lining, and a panel featuring a white bird in the centre of the chest. It is decorated with bands of embroidered butterfly and floral motifs around the hem, neck, down the front and above the cuffs.

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