The last of our new
Archaeology display cases deals with an often-unconsidered part of a museum’s
collections, replicas. Authenticity is key with museums, but when used properly
we can learn a lot from replicas. Our excellent education team have several in
their handling collection that they use to teach with. However, the Museum’s
main collection also has around 500 plaster casts, as well as other replica
objects made in different materials. Many of these were created as teaching
aids in the 19th and 20th century.
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Layout for
the new Casts and Copies case
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Our new Casts and Copies
display will show the breadth of replica objects that the Museum holds. They
include a plaster cast of the "Clacton Spear", a 400,000 year old wooden point
excavated from Clacton on Sea and a plaster cast of "The Venus of Dolni Vesternice", one of the earliest known ceramic objects. This replica was donated by Karol Absolon, who excavated the original and it is known to have been used by Derek Roe, Professor of Palaeolithic Archaeology at the University in the 1990s in his teaching.
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| 1921.30.1 Cast of the “Clacton Spear” |
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| 1931.43.1 Cast of the “Venus of Dolni Vesternice” |
Making plaster cast replicas
of important objects allowed academics and students to study them more easily. General
Pitt-Rivers, like many other collectors of his era, amassed replicas alongside
original objects. He also had a great interest in experimental archaeology
reproducing objects to attempt to discern how they were used. We have several of
these in the Museum’s collections.
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1884.125.148 and
1884.122.2 Casts of a palaeolithic hand axe. 1884122.2 is painted with lines
showing how it was produced.
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One of our more unusual objects included in the new display is a replica Bronze Age spearhead found in Kirtomy Moss, Scotland. At first glance, this appears to be another painted plaster cast, however, it is actually made of paper, carefully painted to resemble the original bronze. A fact that is not really apparent until you lift it up and discover it is almost weightless!
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1894.25.1.1 Paper
cast of a Bronze Age spear
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Replicas can also become extremely important if the whereabouts of the original object are unknown. The Museum holds a collection of four plaster casts
made of the West Buckland hoard, a Middle Bronze Age hoard comprising a torc,
bracelet and two axe heads. Two of which will be displayed in our new case. The
original objects were never part of Pitt-Rivers’ collection and their location
is now unknown, making the plaster casts that the Museum holds even more
important. The casts were made by a member of the Ready family. The Ready's worked as
restorers at the British Museum in the 19th century and early 20th century. They also sold and restored objects for private collectors, such as
Pitt-Rivers, which is how these plaster casts were obtained.
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1884.82.121 plaster cast of a bracelet
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1884.119.140 plaster cast of a hand axe
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Work on our new archaeology displays will be
happening throughout 2017 so keep watching the Upper Gallery
cases for new installations.
Sian Mundell
VERVE Curatorial Assistant
