Tales From a Student Placement

Dominic Persinger, Archaeology student from Cardiff University, undertook a summer placement at the PRM, here he shares his experiences. 

My First Day © Pitt Rivers Museum

Elation is the only word that can be used to describe my feeling upon receiving news that I would be undergoing a placement here at the Pitt Rivers Museum. With my favoured career path set firmly in the direction of museum work, opportunities do not come much greater than gaining vital experience at my long-standing favourite museum. With a varied and diverse schedule I would gain valuable insight into the inner workings of this most charismatic museum.

Education Department

During my time at the museum I was given the chance to participate in a number of the museum's summer family friendly activities. On my first day I was able to try my hand at construction as children were tasked with building a structure that could withstand a randomly chosen environmental condition. Some straws, lollypop sticks and a whole lot of creativity later, we were left with some structures that would challenge even the contents of the 'Building and Housing' case found on the court level. 

Audiences enjoying the pop-up puppet show © Pitt Rivers Museum

The following week I was lucky enough to sit in on the increasingly popular pop-up puppet show. I, like the rest of the audience, was blown away by the beauty and intricacy of the Indonesian shadow puppets. Manned by a pair of the museum's many enthusiastic volunteers that I would meet during my stay, the puppets played out the Ramayana, a traditional Hindu epic.

Projects and Popcorn

Over the course of my placement I would help out with the research, planning and organisation of the museum's forthcoming community and outreach projects. This swiftly became perhaps the most rewarding part of my experience. Having input into the upcoming LGBTQ+ museum-wide trail and the refugee and asylum seeker engagement project, I felt as though I was a part of something very special. One day we welcomed After 18 to the museum, a Leicester based group consisting of unaccompanied refugee and asylum seeking young people. While we hunted through the museum's dense displays to locate objects from their respective native countries, it was a privilege to observe the visitors interact and engage with the collections, as clearly beloved memories and stories were triggered throughout. Witnessing such engagement projects first hand reassured me how important the work carried out by the culture and heritage sector really is; after all, in my opinion, people should be at the heart of everything a museum does. Coming from an archaeological background it was particularly interesting to be able to oversee the complete process of an object being discovered, displayed and finally engaged with. 

Crowds lounging around watching Star Wars © Pitt Rivers Museum

In the time leading up to my placement I would never have guessed that at any point I would be sat watching Star Wars whilst the sun was setting over the picturesque museum lawn. But alas, deck chairs and beanbags were scattered across the grass as Cult Screens brought three days of outdoor cinema-viewing pleasure to the Oxford public. Hearing the imperial march echo through the 19th century grounds was a distinct highlight of mine.

Collections Department

As a part of the VERVE project, new archaeology displays are destined for the Upper Gallery and I was lucky enough to experience the processes involved with planning, selecting and organising these new display cases. Seeing up close and personal both the artefacts that made the cut and those that did not was a real treat. I will never look at a display the same again now that I know of the precision and patience that goes into getting the contents and aesthetics just right.

The very same day we visited the museum's Osney store. Upon meeting the team conducting a two and a half year project packaging the store's contents ready for transportation to a new location, the extreme scale of their task became apparent. The store is currently home to around 100,000 objects, so naturally I jumped at the chance to be granted this behind-the-scenes access and experience some of them for myself. If you too would like to explore some of the store's many items, do check out the recent Pitt Rivers Stores twitter account (@Pitt_Stores) for frequent updates on the newest discoveries.

Front of House 

One Monday I spent the day with the museum's front of house staff, it was my chance to adorn the red tie. I soon realised that I would spend most of the day answering one infamous question- "where are the shrunken heads?". When talking with the front of house guys, I was incredibly impressed by the whole team's extensive knowledge of the collections - they really did know the museum inside out.  I relished at the chance to spend some time with the displays myself, forever discovering something new as I strolled through the galleries.

Making fire the good ol' fashioned way © Pitt Rivers Museum

Pitt Fest

The focal point of my placement would be preparing for the museum's fourth annual Pitt Fest. Fittingly the theme for this year's fest was archaeology, giving me the opportunity to really sink my teeth into the event's organisation. After weeks of long and hard preparation, the big day came along and greeted us with substantial rain and blistering winds. However, the weather conditions did not dampen the spirits of the crowds who descended onto the museum lawn. Visitors explored the world of archaeology through free drop-in demonstrations, workshops, object handling, activities, performances and talks. I spent the first half of my day dissecting ancient poo (that's right, I said poo!); many a laugh was shared as festival goers dismembered fake coprolites in order to determine what part of history they would have came from, be it Roman, Viking or Tudor.

Fancy a story? © Pitt Rivers Museum

My nerves grew throughout the day as I was due to close the new soapbox talk series. Sharing a platform with experienced museum professionals and Oxford University professors was a daunting thought. As a result of the relentless rain my audience was confined to those who could cram into the soapbox tent, making for an easing and intimate atmosphere. I delivered the talk on one of my particular areas of interest, the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Europe. I discussed the debates that surround how the transition from from a hunter-gatherer way of life to a farming one played out, with particular focus on the recent developments of exciting scientific methods that we can use within archaeology, such as strontium isotope analysis and aDNA studies. In all I was pleased with how my talk went and with the interest it sparked with those listening. It was however nice to unwind afterwards by eating some gorgeous world street food and dancing around to the infectious sounds of the Seby Ntege Band.

The Seby Ntege Band closing the day's festivities © Pitt Rivers Museum

To conclude I would like to say a huge thank you to all of the staff at the Pitt Rivers Museum, in particular the VERVE team, for making me feel so welcome and a part of the group. The work you do is truly inspiring and Im sure I will be seeing you all again very soon.

Dominic Persinger
University of Cardiff Placement Student

Pitt Rivers Museum needs your help!

Call out for Archaeology Focus Group 

The Museum is developing new displays of world archaeology and we would like to ensure these displays are informative and engaging for all ages. As part of our families evaluation, we are looking for adults to join a small focus group taking place at the Museum on:

Tuesday 15 March 2016, 17.00-19.00

We are interested in talking to local parents, guardians or teachers of children aged between 6-11 who are occasional or regular museum-goers.

The evening will be an informal discussion with an external evaluator (so you can be as open and honest as you wish)!



The session will discuss:

• is world archaeology of interest to you and/or your children? 
• is knowledge of world archaeology useful for your child at school? 
• what do you think of existing Pitt Rivers displays and labels? 
• what would make for an interesting archaeology family-friendly activity programme?

All comments will be anonymous and confidential, recorded for internal museum use only. There will be wine (hurrah!) and we are happy to reimburse travel expenses where appropriate.

If you are interested in taking part, or have any questions, please contact Helen Adams as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Helen Adams
VERVE Project Curator & Engagement
Officer Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford

Oh, What a Circus! The Pitt Rivers tent on tour

Last week the Need, Make, Use team ran away with the circus! For a couple of days we teamed up with the 1930s-style Gifford Circus - a perfect fit for the project's focus this year on performance and music.

After much preparation for the event ordering and sorting art materials, printing out templates, creating prototypes we loaded up the van with tables, chairs, equipment and miles of bunting and set off for the lovely village of Stadhampton, around 9 miles from Oxford. Our excitement grew as we rounded a bend and saw the Big Top commanding the village green, surrounded by retro caravans. This year, the Giffords performance involves some hilarious puppets, so we thought it was the perfect opportunity to bring along the Museum’s considerable collection of beautiful Indonesian shadow puppets and give families a chance to make their own!

We set up in an adjacent tent, decorating it with bunting and pictures, and laying out our wares in time for the visitors arriving pre-show. The atmosphere at the circus was lovely with our chandelier-lit tent (we might ask to replace our ordinary office lights with chandeliers!), riders rehearsing outside, and the performers putting on their costumes and greasepaint - a great atmosphere in which to demonstrate the playfulness of some of the Museum’s objects. 

We had brought wayang kulit - puppets used in Indonesia, especially on the islands of Java and Bali - to perform shadow plays. Visitors got to touch and play with the intricate puppets - hand-made from buffalo skin, horn and bamboo - and hear recordings of the gamelan music that traditionally accompanies the performances. 

Volunteer Olly with some Indonesian shadow puppets

Our puppets were characters from the Ramayana (you can see some traditional shadow puppet characters here) and it was nice to see recognition on children's faces who knew the story from lessons at school. We also took with us this short video made by UNESCO demonstrating the puppets in action so people could get a real sense of the skill, movement and context involved.

Families could then, if they wanted, make their own versions of Prince Rama, Princess Sita, the demon Ravana, or the monkey god Hanuman and perform with them in our mini, portable puppet theatre. The glorious Midsummer sunshine, although appreciated, did make getting shadows from torches a little difficult at times, but the team were able to improvise using the ready-made theatre of the tent walls and the sun!

Video (90 seconds) of the puppet theatre booth in action!

It was great to take our event to people outside Oxford who might not have heard of the Museum, or realised just how close they are to it, or who maybe needed some inspiration to re-visit. More than 350 people of all ages flowed through the tent over the course of the two evenings, including some of the circus performers who were curious to learn about other performance traditions from another side of the globe. In turn, we had the chance to watch the spectacular circus ourselves before rushing back to take the puppets out to greet people during the interval.

All in all, the event was a great success and a lot of fun, with one visiting parent commenting, "This was an absolute joy – wonderful to have the children distracted during the interval and continuing the creative process! Thank you. More please!"

For more information about shadow puppets, the Multicultural Canada website features an interesting collection held at the Simon Fraser Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

Giffords Circus info and tickets here.

Alex Ross, volunteer