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Hundreds of prehistoric objects from the Stonehenge World Heritage Site are on display at the visitor centre. Here we have selected just ten of them for you to explore in more detail. Click on the image to see a larger version and more information about the object.

All the objects are on loan from Salisbury Museum and Wiltshire Museum, Devizes. We recommend a visit to these two museums to find out more about the prehistory of the Stonehenge area.

Book tickets now

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Hundreds of prehistoric objects from the Stonehenge World Heritage Site are on display at the visitor centre. Here we have selected just ten of them for you to explore in more detail. Click on the image to see a larger version and more information about the object.

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This week's lecture focused on the human interaction side of curation and how our experience with the public can help shape the future of archaeology and how it is represented. The lecture discussed how it is the role of the curator to ensure that the archaeological information is displayed in a way that is accessible and engaging to a broad spectrum of the population. It used examples such as Stonehenge and Glenrowan to emphasize the importance that information can have in enjoying and understanding the history of an archaeological site. I chose to add a link to the Stonehenge exhibition to this reflection to show the way in which information is displayed at this site. The lecture also discussed the importance of Ham's TORE method of interpretation. This method aims to display a thorough understanding of information surrounding an archaeological site in a way that is easy to follow and enjoyable to learn. Ham's TORE method is crucial in curation as it is the role of the curator to inform the public about specific information. This week's lab practical focused on a culmination of everything learned throughout the semester. We were grouped in tables and asked to find information on a group of artefacts. In these groups, we then had to deduce whether it was logical to assume that they all originated from one site or if the artefacts were an accumulation of items across multiple sites. We then used our newly learned curation skills to determine what would be the most appropriate action with the artefacts and how we would display those which were deemed informative and relevant to show the public. Within my group there were a number of bones that had a varying amount of decay, this got us  discussing why this occurred, thinking hypothetically if they were to be from the same place. I have since done my own research and found this article on the impact specific environments have on artefacts, which is linked to this post. It states that microorganisms play a vital role in the decay of bone, therefore it could be deduced that the bones that had less degradation could've been found in soil with reduced oxygen, making a more harsh environment for microorganisms. The readings for this week focused on how to interpret information in a way that is engaging, I was particularly intrigued by the subtopic of 'breathing life into the project' under the 5 question method. This discusses how the curator, author, or creator of the project must have a personal connection to the end result, this ensures that the project has a touch of creativity and enthusiasm.

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Grace Suri and Ellam Suimae Hopkins wearing tafuliae, 2019. Phot

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This week was about museum curation. The lecture this week was quite short and didn't go into too much detail about the topic of curation other than what the role of a museum is. The required listening this week was quite interesting, I found the podcast on 'Mephisto', the WW1 tank that managed to survive the war, to be particularly informative. I thought it was fascinating listening to Nick Hadnutt discuss the development of tanks throughout the ages as well as the role that they played in WW1. I was captivated by the story of how it managed to make its way across the globe to Brisbane. This week's tutorial looked at the practicality of artifact curation. We looked at a multitude of artifacts from Australia and South East Asia. We were then tasked with finding out more about a specific artifact of our choice, discovering facts about its origins as well as the nature of the peoples that it came from. Following this, we had to discuss how we would present our own, and everyone else's in the groups, artifacts in a museum display. This exercise got us thinking about the difficulties of preservation and display that you go under the radar when visiting a museum. During the prac I researched the origin of a dolphin tooth necklace, whilst it wasn't present on the specific necklace I was looking into, I discovered the prevalence of bead money in the Malaita Island region. Intrigued by this form of currency I did some independent research into it. I have attached a monologue from a girl born in the Solomon islands, that discusses the origin of this shell/bead money.

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Ancient Aliens: Ancient Egyptians in Australia (Season 11) | History

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Week 10: Australia's First Nations Peoples

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Week 10: Australia's First Nations Peoples

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This week looked at the archaeological evidence surrounding the early settlement of Australia, as well as the changes that colonization had on the indigenous peoples after the 1720s. The lecture began by looking at the early archaeological investigations into Australia and its native peoples, by 19th-century archaeologists. It continued to outline the impacts that the colonization had on the indigenous population, including, the outbreak of disease and segregation. This colonization in turn led to a drastic change in the biodiversity of the animals within Australia. The introduction of a number of foreign species had a devastating impact on the native animals that inhabited Australia. A common mistake is a belief that dingoes were introduced to Australia via colonization, one of the documents set for required reading displays supporting evidence to suggest otherwise. This document by Balme, O'Connor, and Fallon discusses how bone remains of dingoes can be dated to c. 3500 years BP. This implies that dingoes ventured into Australia, presumably with the help of indigenous Australians, far before the colonizers even knew about Australia. I found the second required reading document to be particularly fascinating, it touched on how the indigenous Australians may have a claim to be the longest-lasting oral history in the world. This is proven in the stories of a volcanic eruption-type story engrained in the history of an indigenous tribe native to an area surrounding an, at the time, active volcano. The data presented in this study estimates that this eruption occurred approximately 35 Ka. Another topic brought up in the lecture was the pseudo-archaeology of Australian history. One of the areas of 'study' discussed within this field was the Gosford glyphs. During my own research, I found this video surrounding the myths of the Glosgow glyphs, which proves the final statements within the lectures. That it is important to understand sources before jumping to conclusions about the archaeological record. The tutorial this week looked at the identification and classification of a variety of pottery and glass. I thoroughly enjoyed this class and the activities that were set up for it. I particularly enjoyed the glass bottle identification task.

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A Brief History of Dogs - How We Domesticated Dogs

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This weeks lecture looked at zooarchaeology, a branch of archaeology that specialises in animal remains. It had never occured to me as to how scientists were able to determine the age of an animals skeletal remains. The content covered in the lecture enlightened me to this, the method of using comparative teeth. I thought that the mouth anatomy of grazing animals was particularly interesting, the way that the front teeth are replaced by hidden teeth further back in the gums fascinated me. Due to unforeseen circumstances I was unable to attend the lab tut this week so cannot discuss what happened at that. The required reading for this week was a paper written on the paleolithic. animal patterns and behaviours, it specifically reffered to the study done in tasmania related to the marsupial remains that have been found in conjunction with human remains. The evidence provided by these skeletons gave insight into a number of factors including seasonality and specificity of human interaction with these animals. Another aspect of the lecture that intrigued me was the domestication of the gray wolf into the common dog that we see today. I have attached a short video that I found that taught me a little bit more about the evolution of dogs and how human interaction impacted this.

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This week covered a broad spectrum of archaeobotany, the lecture touched on the significance that it has in finding out more about human evolution and migration and talked about the different places that our food comes from. I was particularly interested in the naming of the foods that we find and how the different aspects of the name make it easier to identify and group into a specific subdivision of a food. The required reading was about the evidence of indigenous Australian's eating a very broad range of fruits, nuts, and seeds. This evidence detailed that the range of nutrition that these peoples were eating is far more advanced and refined than what had been previously thought. This was an important discovery in the world of archaeobotany as it showed the difficulty that arose from trying to get the nutrients out of the food, leading to a belief that the people that were eating these foods seemed to have a great deal of knowledge about staying healthy, and which foods would provide sufficient amounts of proteins and carbohydrates. The practical this week was very interesting, we looked at a number of different types of food remains under a microscope. These food samples included both microfossils and macrofossils. I found the macrofossils t be the most intriguing as it was possible to see the damage that the preservation had done to the different types of seeds. I found the waterlogged seeds from Sydney to be very interesting and took time to research the white 'dust' that was visible on the seed. Through some quick google searches, I was able to deduce that it was indeed salt and other minerals that had become trapped in the seeds. These minerals were a result of the form of preservation that the seed was trapped in. One of the topics that were mentioned in both the lecture and the practical was the floating method of sample sorting. I was curious as to how this could be done on a smaller scale so did some independent research. Below is a video that details the method and the analysis that comes after floating a particular sample.

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Everything Scientists Could Learn By Looking At Your Skull

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Week 5 Padlet Reflection (Radiocarbon Dating and Dendrochronology + Paleoanthropology lab)

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Week 5 Padlet Reflection (Radiocarbon Dating and Dendrochronology + Paleoanthropology lab)

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ARCS1001 week 5 content taught me a lot about the importance of nature in the development of dating techniques used globally. The lecture looked at a couple of case studies that proved the importance of dendrochronology in radiocarbon dating. In particular, it touched on how dendrochronology can work in conjunction with radiocarbon dating to increase the accuracy of a fossils estimated age. The required reading this week also touched on the history and relevancy of dendrochronology, what interested me in particular about this document was the fact they all of the top dendrochronologists typically preferred to use their own two eyes to measure the lines rather than using recent technologies. They believed it is a superior method for determining specific wooden cross-section's differences and unique aspects. Upon doing some of my own research I  learned the importance of having a specific chronology in high variant climatic regions. This is due to the inaccuracy of dating certain fossils due to the constantly shifting climate, however, having a chronology that can be used to identify margins of error can be useful in finding the accurate date. Work was done back in 2013, the published paper has been added underneath this, into establishing an accurate chronology for southeast Australia, an area that is constantly shifting climatically. They achieved this through analysing the Huon pine. This weeks lab prac looked at paleoanthropology, I found it quite interesting that it was so easy to determine the different stages of human evolution just through physical attributes that the bones and skulls displayed. As well as this, I found it particularly fascinating how a skull is able to be identified to a certain race and age, and sometimes pathological condition. I found this short video that quickly summarises a number of the defining features of the skull that aid in finding out specific characteristics of whoever that skull belonged to.

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Birmingham Assay Office | Hallmarking precious metals

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Birmingham assay office, hallmarking and Gemmology lab certification protecting the consumer from fraudulent items

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Week 3 Padlet Reflection (Review and Hallmarks)

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Week 3 Padlet Reflection (Review and Hallmarks)

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This week was focused on learning the finer details about relative and absolute chronology. This was a subject that I found very interesting, I have a strong fascination with finding out just how old an object is. This week touched on the different methods that can be utilised to date an object or event. These included relative dating methods, which aimed to find an estimated date based on the object's relationship with other archaeological artefacts. The topic that stood out to me the most within relative dating was definitely the idea of seriation. What particularly interested me in seriation was the way that you could see the progression throughout the archaeological remains. This is depicted particularly well in the seriation of these Egyptian ceramic jugs from Egyptologist Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, image below. Absolute dating however relies on technology that has been developed to determine the age of certain chemicals within an artefact, or archaeological remains. This form of dating provides a far more accurate and exact dating for an artefact. Absolute dating can be displayed through several methods that include chemical analysis and thermoluminescence. However, I found the most simple form of absolute dating, hallmarking, to be the most interesting of the methods. Hallmarking is the simplest way of dating a precious metal, it involves typically stamping a prescribed set of numbers and figures to show what kind of metal it is, that metals purity level, as well as where the metal was assessed and when it was processed. This article from the assay office in burmingham talks at great length about what symbols mean, the link is below. I found hallmarking particularly interesting because it is a very fast way to determine the age of a precious metal and can even be done on-site.

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Week 1 Padlet Reflection (Review and Crop-Marking)

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Week 1 Padlet Reflection (Review and Crop-Marking)