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Abbey Louisa Rose Ellis Merton College, University of Oxford Report on a Placement at the Great North Museum: 12th – 23rd September 2016 As the lucky beneficiary of a Roman Society Museum placement, I was able to spend two

weeks interning at the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle upon Tyne, under the

auspices of the Keeper of Archaeology, Andrew Parkin.

My fortnight at the Museum kicked off with a guided tour of the Museum displays and artefact

stores, given by Andrew. It was very interesting to see the collections viewed through a

curator’s eyes and gain an insight into how a gallery is set up to achieve its aims.

One of my first tasks was to photograph a series of Greek, Roman Republican, Roman

Imperial, and Roman Provincial coins, which had been donated to the Great North Museum

by a local private collector, Jennie du Cane. I was able to examine the large corpus of coins

closely during my work, many of which I was familiar with through my undergraduate studies.

My personal highlights included an example of Marc Antony’s fleet coinage, and a silver

denarius minted by Julius Caesar, showing on the obverse, religious motifs including a ritual

cup and sprinkler, and on the reverse, an elephant. Another exciting issue that I had the

chance to handle was a sestertius of Titus, illustrating the Flavian Amphitheater.

After I photographed the coins, I loaded the images onto one of the Museum’s computers and

edited the pictures to ensure that they were of the highest quality and that all of the salient

features were clearly visible. I also organized all of the images and added the relevant

catalogue numbers to the pictures, which ensured that the photographs could be entered onto

the Museum’s online database, EMU, with ease. These images will be a useful addition to the

Left: Examining one of Caesar’s issues. Below: One of my photographs of Titus’ coin showing the Flavian Amphitheatre.

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online catalogue, allowing members of the public and researchers to view the coins on the

Museum’s website. I managed to photograph all of the 200+ ancient coins which had been

donated to the Museum over the course of my internship, which was a valuable contribution

to the documentation of the Museum’s artefacts.

Another of my tasks at the Museum was to conduct some research into the Cult of Mithras, a

popular cult on Hadrian’s Wall in Roman times, to support the regeneration of the Mithraic

display in the Museum, which will be taking place over the course of the next few years. The

Great North Museum will be loaning several artefacts from the famous Walbrook Mithraeum

in London to complement its already large supply of Mithraic artefacts from the local area,

from the Carrawburgh Mithraeum in Northumberland, to name just one example. I researched

both the London Mithraeum and the local example, which were both excavated in the 1950’s,

as well as assembling general background information on the origins of Mithraism and its

archaeological footprint. In addition, I complied artefact case studies on each of the pieces of

sculpture that the Great North Museum will be receiving on loan from the Walbrook

Mithraeum: sculpted heads of Minerva, Serapis, and Mithras. My research will serve as an aid

to Andrew when he is curating the new displays.

Above: A view through to the current Cult of Mithras display in the main Hadrian’s Wall

gallery, showing a sculpted tauromachy – an image of Mithras slaying the bull.

In the second week of my internship, I took on the responsibility of creating some educational

resources for schoolchildren for the upcoming Hadrian’s Cavalry exhibition. The exhibition will

be spread across ten museums in the Hadrian’s Wall area and explore the roles and daily

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lives of cavalrymen on the frontier. I produced a series of worksheets and discussion activities

for Year 7 students which can be used in conjunction with the Hadrian’s Cavalry exhibition in

2017, but will also be relevant after the display has closed, forming part of the exhibit’s legacy

at the Great North Museum. The educational pack encourages children to closely examine

and interact with the Museum’s displays, in order to answer questions and complete creative

thinking activities. The Museum’s education officer, Kathryn Wilson, kindly supported me in

this task.

Above: A screenshot showing two of the activity pages that I created for the Roman Cavalry

educational pack.

In addition to this, I spent time at the Museum digitizing a collection of slides, also donated by

the private collector Jennie du Cane, and setting up a spreadsheet to catalogue the images. I

handed this task over to one of the Museum’s regular volunteers. Another project that I was

involved with was helping with filming a segment for an educational video about Greek and

Roman architecture, aimed at local schoolchildren. This featured the Museum’s model Doric

temple, which was set up in front of the The Moot Hall, one of Newcastle’s neo-Classical

buildings, for comparison. I was also taught how to carry out gallery checks, ensuring that all

of the artefacts that are on display are well lit, visible, and in good condition. As part of this

training, I learned how to open and re-arrange cases. I got the opportunity to re-arrange the

objects in the Changing Fashions case, which showcases jewellery from Hadrian’s Wall. On

my final day, I was given a tour of the Great North Museum’s sister museum, the Discovery,

and its storage basements, where many objects from the archaeological collections are

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stored. I was able to explore some of the incredible ethnographic collections that the Museum

houses, and the array of Egyptian artefacts which are not currently on display.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Great North Museum. This internship will provide me with

invaluable experience for applying for jobs in the museum sector, which is something that I

hope to do after graduating with my MA. I would like to thank the Roman Society for offering

this fantastic experience and to Andrew Parkin and the rest of the Great North Museum back

office staff for welcoming me so warmly.