Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
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maacambridge.bsky.social
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
@maacambridge.bsky.social
1.3K followers 260 following 700 posts
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, telling two million years of human history 🗺

Website: maa.cam.ac.uk/
Collections: collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/
Blog: maadigitallab.org/
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Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology @maacambridge.bsky.social · 4d
The Friends of MAA are delighted to be welcoming
Professor Wonu Veys, Oceania curator at the Wereldmuseum,
to speak at the annual Von Hügel Lecture at Emmanuel College on 05/03/26 at 5pm! [1/2]
 
📸 Ngati Ranana (members of the London Maori club) performing at Pasifika Styles, MAA, 2006-2008
A performance in the museum galleries by a Maori group in front of a packed audience. The women wear black whilst the men are bare chested and wearing a kilt-like garment made from plant fibres. Text reads "Von Hügel Lecture: Pasifika Styles and other Pacific Museum Stories with Professor Wonu Veys, Curator Oceania, Wereldmuseum, Amsterdam" and "5th march 2026, 5pm".
maacambridge.bsky.social
The Friends of MAA are delighted to be welcoming
Professor Wonu Veys, Oceania curator at the Wereldmuseum,
to speak at the annual Von Hügel Lecture at Emmanuel College on 05/03/26 at 5pm! [1/2]
 
📸 Ngati Ranana (members of the London Maori club) performing at Pasifika Styles, MAA, 2006-2008
A performance in the museum galleries by a Maori group in front of a packed audience. The women wear black whilst the men are bare chested and wearing a kilt-like garment made from plant fibres. Text reads "Von Hügel Lecture: Pasifika Styles and other Pacific Museum Stories with Professor Wonu Veys, Curator Oceania, Wereldmuseum, Amsterdam" and "5th march 2026, 5pm".
January 29, 2026 at 11:01 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
Did you know MAA has a blog? Today we're taking a look back at our top five blog posts from 2025!

Which of them would you read first? 1/6
Clockwise from top left: an elderly woman with a spinning wheel seated outside a stone building, a figure of a woman with long black hair and wearing a white dress, a terracotta head with an elaborate hairstyle, the figure of a woman carved from a small piece of green stone, and a silk robe with floral decoration.
January 28, 2026 at 10:01 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
There's still time to grab tickets for Nahoft Ensemble's performance and experience the timeless beauty of Persian classical music!

🗓️ 29/01/2026, 7pm
🎟️ Pay as you wish - suggested donation £25 or £12 students/MAA Friends
🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1660331739929

📸 Image credit: My Linh Le, 2025
An audience sits in the museum galleries, watching and listening to a musical performance. Text reads 'MAA Voices: Nahoft Ensemble, 29 January 2026, 7pm'.
January 27, 2026 at 10:01 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
One of our displays has had a makeover! Previously a visible storage case - now, thanks to our Archaeology Collections and Workshop teams, it explores the impact of the natural world on Moche pottery and brings you face to face with portraits of individuals from this ancient Andean civilisation.
The Museum's Curator of World Archaeology places a pit within the display case. Within the case are numerous pots shaped like animals or birds.
January 26, 2026 at 10:05 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
We love finding out the story behind a photo. At first glance this is just an image of Ken Shepheard riding a horse, but look closely - the black blob on the saddle in front of him is a Lhasa Apso puppy called Sewang. 1/3
A man on horseback with a puppy on his saddle. They are crossing a n open plain with a mountain range in the background.
January 23, 2026 at 12:13 PM
maacambridge.bsky.social
Find quiet as you slow down towards the end of your busy day and focus on your positive wellbeing through sound healing and guided meditation in the galleries.

🗓️ 03/02/2026, 5:45pm (other dates available)

🎟️ £15 pp

🔗 eventbrite.co.uk/e/1977385323733
A statue of a seated Buddha in a red and gold robe in one of the museum galleries. Text reads "Sound bath: Meditation at the Museum, 3 February 2026, 5:45pm".
January 22, 2026 at 10:02 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
How do you preserve a hug? Artist Bonnie Kemske used her own body to cast the space of a hug for this sculpture, but the artwork isn't complete until it is held.

Happy #NationalHuggingDay!
A cream-coloured cast undulating ceramic sculpture made of textured clay. The artist has used her own body to cast the space of a hug. A cream-coloured cast undulating ceramic sculpture made of textured clay. The artist has used her own body to cast the space of a hug. A cream-coloured cast undulating ceramic sculpture made of textured clay. The artist has used her own body to cast the space of a hug.
January 21, 2026 at 12:06 PM
maacambridge.bsky.social
In our latest blog post Ash, one of our @camunivmuseums.bsky.social Museum Experience interns, reflects on her time with us, from photographing collections to creating family activities. Head over to the blog to read her thoughts: www.maadigitallab.org/blog/2026/01...

📸 Image credit: Ash Cook, 2025
An intern adjusts the light shining on a crouched pottery figure within a light box. A measuring stick beside it provides scale.
January 21, 2026 at 10:16 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
Today we're celebrating perfect imperfections! This rather unremarkable bowl has at sometime in its past been damaged. The cracks were repaired using gold (a Japanese technique called kintsugi or kintsukuroi) turnig this bowl into a symbol of resilience.
A bowl with high sloping sides and a pitted and glazed interior. Cracks and chips around the rim have been repaired using gold whilst a more modern repair to a crack does not.
January 20, 2026 at 10:00 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
From piecing together the ultimate jigsaw to revealing a rare Iron Age helmet to uncovering the earliest known evidence of mercury gilding in Britain 'The Snettisham Hoards' has significantly increased our knowledge of the 1,200+ metal artefacts found in the 14 hoards of a Norfolk ‘gold field’.
A book cover featuring an image of a hole in the ground containing gold neck rings. The title is 'The Snettisham Hoards' and it is edited by Julia Farley and Jody Joy.
January 16, 2026 at 3:47 PM
maacambridge.bsky.social
It's #NationalAppreciateADragonDay, so we're going to take a moment to admire some of the dragons on display at MAA. From an intricately carved netsuke to the adorable depiction on a piece of stained glass, we think they're all pretty special. How many dragons will you find during your next visit?
January 16, 2026 at 11:30 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
We're delighted to be welcoming Nahoft Ensemble for a special performance celebrating the timeless beauty of Persian classical music.

🗓️ 29/01/2026, 7pm
🎟️ Pay as you wish - suggested donation £25 or £12 for students/MAA Friends
🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1660331739929

📸 Image credit: My Linh Le, 2025
An audience sits in the museum galleries, watching and listening to a musical performance. Text reads 'MAA Voices: Nahoft Ensemble, 29 January 2026, 7pm'.
January 15, 2026 at 10:00 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
Join us to celebrate 20 years of #TwilightAtTheMuseums! 🎉🌟 Bring a torch, grab a trail, and go on an after-hours museum adventure with your family on 18 February 2026.

Find out more on the @camunivmuseums.bsky.social website: museums.cam.ac.uk/events/twilight-maa-all-glistens-not-gold
A brightly coloured illustration with central text reading Twilight at the Museums, come and explore Cambridge museums after hours this half term, surrounded by museum icons including a book, globe, torch, lantern, camear, flower and dinosaur head.
January 14, 2026 at 11:57 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
Our Education and Outreach team have been hard at work improving the documentation for the over 1,600 artefacts which form the Teaching Collections.
A member of the Education and Outreach team photographs a lute like instrument with a curved neck. In the background another member of the team on a laptop inputs information into the database whilst surrounded by other instruments including a lyre and a drum.
January 12, 2026 at 10:29 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
👋 Hello to all our lovely new friends (courtesy of the wonderful @themerl.bsky.social).

We're the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge and we care for over 1 million artefacts that span 2 million years of human history. We hope you'll enjoy hearing some of their stories.
A museum gallery with a graffiti mural on its walls and a totem pole rising from the floor below to an arched glass ceiling. Sunlight floods the space.
January 9, 2026 at 1:59 PM
maacambridge.bsky.social
Sadly, although this gentleman looks ready to celebrate with the world's biggest party balloon, he is actually holding a pilot high altitude balloon. These were sent up daily by a Cambridge expedition to Northwest Greenland and the Canadian Arctic as part of their meteorological experiments.
A man standing at the prow of an outboard motor holds an inflated test balloon. A second expedition member is seated in the foreground and small icebergs float in the background.
January 9, 2026 at 10:06 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
We're delighted to be welcoming historian and professionally trained Bharata Natyam dancer Monisha Bharadwaj on 21/01/2026 at 5:30pm for her talk 'Nataraja - the Lord of Dance'.

Tickets are pay as you wish (suggested donation £8 or £5 for students/MAA Friends): eventbrite.co.uk/e/1976854433827
Nataraja – the Lord of Dance
Discover the various meanings of the dancing Shiva concept and the hand gestures used in this representation.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
January 8, 2026 at 10:00 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
Between 2021 and 2023, artist Tony Phillips worked with collections cared for at MAA, producing prints that placed archaeological objects alongside contemporary consumer imagery. Our new online exhibition examines the tensions that emerged from these juxtapositions: museums.cam.ac.uk/story/lookin...
Looking Back to the Future: Tony Phillips
An unusual technique
museums.cam.ac.uk
January 7, 2026 at 10:05 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
Don't forget that we will be closed to the general public tomorrow (Tuesday 6 January 2026). We apologise for any inconvenience caused and look forward to welcoming you back to the museum from 10am on 7 January.
A museum gallery with a totem pole rising from the floor below. A banner reads "Temporarily closed".
January 5, 2026 at 3:03 PM
maacambridge.bsky.social
Whilst we are closed to the public we have the perfect opportunity to take objects off display so that conservation work can be carried out -such as looking at copper alloy corrosion on an Ancient Egyptian mirror.
January 5, 2026 at 10:32 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
Looking for a unique gift idea? We've got an exciting range of upcoming events which might be just what you're looking for! For the foodie in your life, that live music lover, or someone who enjoys arts and crafts, we've got you covered: maa.cam.ac.uk/events
In the top left is a woman grinding spices for curry, whilst in the top right are two thin bands of textile from Peru. At the bottom are members of an audience enjoying a musical performance in the museum galleries.
December 19, 2025 at 12:40 PM
maacambridge.bsky.social
In our latest blog post we explore how a ceremonial betel tree collected by William Walter Skeat in Selangor during the 1890s opens up questions about colonial desire, lost ritual, and the uneasy status of ethnographic souvenirs: www.maadigitallab.org/blog/2025/12...
A European man in a hat, long-sleeved shirt and trousers, sits on a low wall next to the shrine, his palms cupped together against his chest, as prescribed for Muslim prayers. In a row front of him and to the side sit nineteen Malay men and boys adopting the same pose and wearing sarongs, shirts and songkok (Malay hats).
December 17, 2025 at 11:16 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
point? Documenting and recontextualising Pacific arrows', a project to advance understanding of over 2,000 Pacific arrows through new research and scientific analysis, creating
resources to guide the wider sector.
Five metal arrowheads with wooden shafts attached. Each arrowhead has a different appearance including elongated points and circular shapes with holes in the centre.
December 16, 2025 at 2:28 PM
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As we're shut to the public on Mondays Mei, our Collections Assistant in Anthropology, took the opportunity to open one of the North America display cases. 1/4
A Collections Assistant removes and object from an open plinth display case. The case contains carved wooden combs and a mask, as well as objects made from bone or ivory.
December 15, 2025 at 10:01 AM
maacambridge.bsky.social
Are you a fan of gingerbread? These moulds were used in the 19th Century to create designs a little different to what you might be used to. What do you think, would you buy one of these gingerbread figures?
Three wooden rectangular blocks carved with, from left to right, a pair of men boxing, a horse drawn carriage, and a milk maid who wearing what appears to be a crown or garland on her head.
December 12, 2025 at 10:00 AM