The last day of July has come around so quickly! And just in time, here is the Objects in Articles July edition. The articles included this month cover ancient human remains, a previously unread Herculanean scroll, and recently discovered Roman writing tablets. But that’s not all, this edition also includes newly uncovered information about an escapee Australian convict ship and thoughts on the local Australian corner store. Time for a cup of tea!
An article about the debate of the study and display of human remains. I found this particularly interesting after recently visiting the Pompeii Rescue exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum. Human casts uncovered at Pompeii were displayed towards the end of the exhibition. And while respectfully displayed, warnings about the presence of human remains were not evident until one read the labels directly in front of the casts. An excellent read for ancient history teachers, Stage 6 students of ‘Cities of Vesuvius’, and any interested in this controversial ethical issue.
Human remains in storage at Pompeii remains subject to a controversial ethical debate.
Another article great for Stage 6 ancient history students and teachers! This article discusses the recent study of carbonised papyri scrolls from Herculaneum. A team from Italy using 3D x-ray technology have managed to unravel sections of two of these scrolls and have been able to recover the text written there.
This article shares the account of a fantastic detective story into Australian convict history. In 1829, Australian convicts aboard a brig called the Cyprus, mutinied and took control of the ship. A researcher in Japan has now found proof that this brig, with the escapee convicts aboard, landed in Japan in 1830 during the height of Japan’s isolationist policy setting it apart from the rest of the world. Find out about the Japanese response to these Western sailors in the article!
Vindolanda is a Roman Fort in Northern England next to Hadrian’s Wall. Extensive archaeological excavations have been carried out there and one of its most famous discoveries was of wooden writing tablets still holding legible Latin text. In June this year, archaeologists made a new discovery of writing tablets! Current work includes conservation and infrared photography of the tablets in order to find out more about the people who lived and worked at this fort prior to 120 AD.
‘The Cook and the Curator’ is a blog from Sydney Living Museums about food in the Australian past. This particular article takes a closer look at a crime scene photo of an unknown Australian corner store from 1930. It’s fascinating what photos can tell us about the past and there is a lot of detail in this photo!
Please comment below to start a conversation about any of the articles above. Happy reading!
