The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, also known as MAA, at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

houses the university's collections of local antiquities, together with archaeological and ethnographic artefacts from around the world. The museum is located on the university's Downing Site, on the corner of

Downing Street Downing Street is a gated street in City of Westminster, Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In a cul-de-sac situated off Whiteh ...

and

Tennis Court Road Tennis Court Road is a historic street in central Cambridge, England. It runs parallel with Trumpington Street to the west and Regent Street, Cambridge, Regent Street to the east. At the northern end is a junction with Pembroke Street, Cambridge ...

. In 2013 it reopened following a major refurbishment of the exhibition galleries, with a new public entrance directly on to Downing Street. The museum is part of the

University of Cambridge Museums University of Cambridge Museums is a consortium of the eight museums of the University of Cambridge. The consortium works in partnership with the Cambridge University Botanic Garden and other Cambridge University collections. It was awarded Maj ...

consortium.

History

Founded in 1884 as the university's Museum of General and Local Archaeology, the museum's initial collections included local antiquities collected by the

Cambridge Antiquarian Society The Cambridge Antiquarian Society is a society dedicated to study and preservation of the archaeology, history, and architecture of Cambridgeshire, England. The society was founded in 1840. Its collections are housed in the Haddon Library on Down ...

and artefacts from

Polynesia Polynesia ( , ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in ...

donated by

Alfred Maudslay Alfred Percival Maudslay (18 March 1850 – 22 January 1931) was a British colonial administrator and archaeologist. He pioneered the careful archaeological study of the Maya ruins and the results of his field work were presented in ''Biolog ...

and Sir Arthur Gordon.

Anatole von Hügel Anatole von Hügel (29 September 1854, in Florence – 15 August 1928, in Cambridge) was a son of an Austrian nobleman who lived in England and was curator of the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology, 1883 – 1921. Early life Bor ...

, the museum's first curator donated his own collection of artefacts from the South Pacific. More material was collected by the 1898 Cambridge anthropological expedition to the

Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes ( Kalaw Lagaw Ya#Phonology 2, �zen̪ad̪ kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, ...

under Alfred Haddon and W. H. R. Rivers. Haddon and Rivers would encourage their Cambridge students — including

Alfred Radcliffe-Brown Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, FBA (born Alfred Reginald Brown; 17 January 1881 – 24 October 1955) was an English social anthropologist who helped further develop the theory of structural functionalism. He conducted fieldwork in the Andam ...

John Layard John Willoughby Layard (27 November 1891 – 26 November 1974) was an English anthropologist and psychologist. Early life Layard was born in London, son of the essayist and literary writer George Somes Layard and his wife Eleanor. He grew up ...

and

Gregory Bateson Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904 – 4 July 1980) was an English anthropology, anthropologist, social sciences, social scientist, linguistics, linguist, visual anthropology, visual anthropologist, semiotics, semiotician, and cybernetics, cybernetici ...

— to continue to collect for the museum in their ethnographic fieldwork. Von Hügel set in motion a move to larger, specially built, premises: in 1913 the museum moved to its present location in Downing Street, although the new galleries were not fully installed until after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Various depositions and donations of eighteenth-century collections — including material collected on

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

's three expeditions — were made to the museum in the 1910s and 1920s. The MAA reopened after a lengthy refurbishment in 2013, with a completely redeveloped ground floor, new temporary exhibition space and new archaeology galleries. Von Hügel's successors as curator have been Louis Colville Gray Clarke (from 1922 to 1937),

Thomas Paterson Thomas Paterson (20 November 1882 – 24 January 1952) was an Australian politician who served as deputy leader of the Country Party from 1929 to 1937. He held ministerial office in the governments of Stanley Bruce and Joseph Lyons, represent ...

(from 1937 to 1948),

Geoffrey Bushnell Geoffrey Hext Sutherland Bushnell, FBA (31 May 1903 – 26 December 1978) was a British archaeologist. He was head of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge 1948–1970 and fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge ...

(from 1948 to 1970),

Peter Gathercole Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

(from 1970 to 1981),

David Phillipson David Walter Phillipson FBA FSA (born 17 October 1942) is a British archaeologist specializing in African archaeology. His most notable work has been in Ethiopia, particularly on the archaeology of Aksumite sites. He was curator of the Museum o ...

(1981 to 2006), and the 2006-present director, Nicholas Thomas. The Museum is part of True Echoes, a joint research project with the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, looking at the use of audio recordings within anthropology and mapping connections between related collections of objects, photographs, and field notes. The Grade II listed Regional Seat of Government nuclear bunker on Brooklands Avenue, Cambridge, is now a store, the Centre for Material Culture, for the museum.

Museum displays

The museum's current displays are arranged on three floors: * Ground floor: The Clarke Hall: Archaeology of Cambridge and the Li Ka Shing Gallery (Temporary Exhibitions) * First floor: The Maudslay Hall: Anthropology * Second floor: Andrews Gallery: World Archaeology The museum building, which is Grade II listed, incorporates the central section of

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was an English architect who was the first significant Architecture of England, architect in England in the early modern era and the first to employ Vitruvius, Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmet ...

's choir screen from

Winchester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity,Historic England. "Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity (1095509)". ''National Heritage List for England''. Retrieved 8 September 2014. Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint Swithun, commonly known as Winches ...

. A display on the Anglo-Saxon

Trumpington bed burial The Trumpington bed burial is an early Anglo-Saxon burial of a young woman, dating to the mid-7th century, that was excavated in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, England in 2011. The burial is significant both as an example of a bed burial, and becau ...

is on the ground floor.

Gweagal spears

In 1770, after returning to England from their voyage in the

South Pacific Ocean South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

Captain James Cook Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He complet ...

and botanist

Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history ...

brought with them, along with a large collection of

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

and

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

, many

cultural artefact A cultural artifact, or cultural artefact (see American and British English spelling differences), is a term used in the social sciences, particularly anthropology, ethnology and sociology for anything created by humans which gives information ...

s. These included a collection of roughly fifty

Australian Aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

spear A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with Fire hardening, fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable materia ...

s that belonged to the

Gweagal The Gweagal (also spelt Gwiyagal) are a clan of the Tharawal, Dharawal people of Aboriginal Australians. Their descendants are Traditional owners, traditional custodians of the southern areas of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Country The ...

people. The spears were given to Cook's patron

John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, Privy Council of Great Britain, PC, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (13 November 1718 – 30 April 1792) was a British politician, statesman who succeeded his grandfather Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwic ...

, who then gave them to his ''alma mater''

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

, and four are still in existence. The spears are among the few remaining artefacts that can be traced back to Cook's first voyage. Although the Gweagal Spears remain in the ownership of Trinity College, they are on display at the museum.

Gallery

Haida totem pole from Tanu 2.jpg,

Haida Haida may refer to: Haida people Many uses of the word derive from the name of an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. * Haida people, an Indigenous ethnic group of North America (Canada) ** Council of the Haida Nati ...

totem pole Haida totem pole from Tanu.jpg, Haida totem pole (detail) Ornamental Bronze Plaque, Celtic Horse-gear, Santon, Norfolk.jpg, Ornamental bronze (

Santon, Norfolk Santon is a depopulated village near Santon Downham, in the civil parish of Lynford, in the Breckland district, in Norfolk, England. Moated earthworks and other remains of the medieval village are a scheduled monument. In 1931 the parish had a ...

) Ornamental Bronze Plaque, Celtic Horse-gear, Santon, Norfolk (Detail).jpg, Bronze plaque (Santon, Norfolk) (detail) The Trumpington Cross in the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.jpg, Pectoral cross from the

Display of Benin bronzes at Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, Cambridge, March 2022.jpg, Display of

Benin bronzes The Benin Bronzes are a group of several thousand metal plaques and sculptures that decorated the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, in what is now Edo State, Nigeria. The metal plaques were produced by the Guild of Benin Bronze Casters, now ...

References

External links