Case
1 - Archaeology
Archaeology
studies things made by people of the past, in an
attempt to understand the way they lived. This display
traces the process by which archaeological evidence
is acquired and studied by archaeologists. The varied
nature of that evidence is explained and details
are given of how that evidence is dated and interpreted
in order to throw light on past human behaviour.
At the bottom of the case some information is provided
about archaeology in Australia, in response to the
common belief that there is none. Although the display
consists mainly of photographs and drawings, it
alsocontains a sample-column from a prehistoric
shell midden on the New South Wales Coast and a
selection of objects from Egyptian, South West Asian,
New Guinea and Australian sites. |
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Case
2 - The Etruscans
There
are many puzzles surrounding the Etruscans, including
their place of origin. They were at their height
of prominence between 700-500 B.C. comprising a
loose federation of agricultural, seafaring and
commercial cities in north western Italy. Most knowledge
of this lively culture comes from frescoes and artefacts
found in their elaborate rock cut tombs, often clustered
in large numbers. The cutaway model at the bottom
of the case with the sculptures of a man and woman
is characteristic of tombs about 400 B.C.
Great
technical competence and vigour rather than brilliant
artistry is seen in the typical 'Black Pottery'
painted terracotta head and the bronze fibula.
The Etruscans merit attention in their own right,
but it is their influence upon the Romans which
is best remembered. Examples here are the introduction
of the arch and barrel vault, chariot racing,
gladiatorial contests, use of symbols of authority
(the fasces) and the use of auspices in administration
of the state.
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Case
3 - European Prehistory
The
idea of prehistory first developed in Europe during
the nineteenth century. It was there that a Dane,
Christian J. Thomson, thought up the 3-Age System:
the idea of dividing prehistoric time into a Stone
Age, a Bronze Age, and an Iron Age. This system
was based on the material of which tools and weapons
were made at different times. Subsequent archaeological
research subdivided these main ages and modern archaeologists
have largely abandoned the terms because they can
now use radiocarbon and other dating methods that
given approximate dates in years. Nevertheless,
the 3-Age System was an important step in the development
of prehistoric archaeological studies.
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Case
4 - South West Asia - 7000 BC - 400 AD
South-West
Asia, long known to Europeans as 'The Near East',
is the area bounded by the eastern Mediterranean,
the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf,
and the Red Sea. This was the location of major
developments of human culture before and during
the period covered by this display. The first domestication
of sheep and goats occurred here, as also the first
domestication of wheat and barley. These developments
of a food-producing economy, or farming as it is
more commonly known, were the achievements of people
who were still making tools of stone. As time went
on, however, the area became the scene of some of
the world's earliest examples of metallurgy, particularly
in copper and its alloys. Following these economic
and technological developments, South-West Asia
was also the location of the oldest of human civilizations,
that of the Sumerians who developed the first form
of writing. The area continued to play a major role
in human history, through a succession of major
empires and kingdoms, until parts of it were incorporated
into the Roman Empire, and subsequently it became
the heartland of the Islamic World. |
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Case
5 - Ancient Egypt
Egypt
of the Pharaohs was remarkable for its cultural
continuity for some 3000 years. Its literate civilization
flourished in the lands irrigated by the River Nile
from about 3100 BC till 30 BC. A strong belief in
life after death lead to the construction of elaborate
burial places such as the Pyramids and underground
tombs like that of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun. The
daily life of this agriculturally-based society
was a rich and varied one of which this display
gives a general impression. It consists largely
of photographs, diagrams and models, as well as
two modern reproduction papyri with hieroglyphic
writing, there are also ancient examples of pottery
and jewellery, two original inscriptions and a mummy's
foot. |
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Case
6 - Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece
The
Minoan civilisation, which is named after the legendary
king of Crete Minos, flourished from about 2000
to 1500 B.C. The most notable remains of this culture
consist of palaces at Knossos, Phaistos, and Mallia.
The palace at Knossos was restored largely under
the direction of Sir Arthur Evans, and a cutaway
model can be seen in the display case. This palace
featured the magnificent wall paintings which have
been restored from fragments discovered in the excavations.
Also to be noted are the characteristic Minoan columns
which taper downward and the 'horns of consecration'
which stand like battlements around the roofs and
terraces of the palace. In the Museum's collection
there is only the stone bowl (1750 B.C.) and the
Early Iron Age juglet (950 B.C.). From the citadel
of Mycenae in the north eastern Peloponnese the
legendary King Agamemnon is believed to have set
forth for his invasion of Troy. The rich finds from
the shaft graves in the burial circles of the citadel
are dated from about 1600-1450 B.C. From about 1500
B.C. the wealthy Mycenaeans began to bury their
dead in the tholos, or 'beehive', tombs, of which
a model can be seen in the display case. |
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Case
7 - Skills of the Ancient Greeks
The
skills represented in this display case consist
predominantly of the work of the potter, but they
feature also work in bronze, lead and ivory. They
cover a time span from the late Geometric period,
about 750 B.C., to the Roman Imperial Period, as
late as A.D. 350.
The
earliest pottery in this collection is late Attic
Geometric of about 750 B.C., followed by Corinthian
black-figure ware, which dominated trade in fine
ceramics during the first half of the 6th century
B.C. It is important to understand that pottery
of this quality was valued as a luxury, and that
the popularity of Corinthian vases does not indicate
that Corinth controlled trade in any other foods,
such as olive oil, grain or wine. Corinthian pottery
yielded in popular choice to Attic black-figure
in the late 6th century, and in the 5th century
B.C. Athenian potters began to make the red-figure
vases, which represent the highest achievement
in vase painting. The masterpiece in this collection
is the Attic kylix representing two men engaged
in conversation (about 450 B.C.).
The
red-figure pottery continues in the 4th century
B.C., but the pictures decline in quality. The
examples from this period come from South Italian
cities, which the older Greek states of the eastern
Mediterranean had founded as colonies in the 8th
and 7th centuries B.C.
The
labels bear the names of various types of pots
in the language of Ancient Greece, and it is useful
to have translations. The lekythos was an oil-flask
for olive oil, which was rubbed into the body
after exercise. The beautiful white-ground lekythos
in the display case was a special type buried
with the dead. There also are various perfume
bottles, all with small mouths, like the modern
variety, to preserve the precious contents. They
include the aryballos and alabastron, both globular
oil-flasks, the latter often made of alabaster,
and the fusi-form unguentaria, sometimes called
tear-vases from the mistaken belief that they
held the tears of the mourners because they are
found buries with the dead. There were also drinking
vessels, the skyphos, a cup used by peasants,
and the kylix, a more elegant wine cup. The krater
was a bowl in which wine was mixed with water
(the ancient Greeks and Romans seldom drank wine
neat), and the kyathos was a ladle for drawing
wine out of a krater.
The
oenochoe was a wine jug, sometimes having a trefoil
mouth, ('three-leafed' like the clover) a useful
shape for pouring. The hydria held water. Another
small jug for general use was the pelike, while
the amphora, a name which indicates it has handles
on both sides, was a large pot for storage A number
of miniature pots have been found, of which there
are examples in the display case, and these are
designated by the diminutive form of the name
of their larger counterpart: for example, amphoriskos
is a name given to a small amphora. In some instances
these small pots are thought to have been toys,
in others replicas of vases, offered to the gods. |
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Case
8 - Roman Arts and Crafts
Although the influence of Greece is apparent in most of the
arts and crafts of the Romans, it combined with
influences from other cultures and with the technology
and robust creativity of the Romans themselves to
generate a range of arts and of crafts that clearly
expressed the complex society which the Roman empire
had become.
Pottery
on display here reflects particularly clearly
the Romans' conquest of Greek cities in southern
Italy as early as the seventh century B.C., which
brought skilled Greek craftsmen to Rome . The
conquest of mainland Greece in the second and
first centuries A.D. continued the Romans' exposure
to the artistic excellence that that culture had
attained.
The
making of glassware was a feature of Roman crafts,
as the series of pieces on display illustrates.
Examples range from the relatively common perfume
jars recovered from Pompeii to the exquisite small
jug and bowl from the third and fourth centuries
A.D. |
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Case
9 - Daily Life in Ancient Rome
Its
conquest and rule of the Mediterranean world and
beyond brought the Romans into contact with other
peoples and created a need for an organisation capable
of maintaining supremacy over them. Items such as
those on display in this and the previous case,
together with well preserved remains (e.g. architecture)
combine with an extensive body of literary evidence
to provide excellent insight into the ways of living
of people in the Roman world.
Extensive
trading and communication networks benefitted
from centuries of relative stability, enabling
the Empire's resources to be tapped and to serve
the demands of the dominant power. Life in Rome
for the wealthier classes, as reflected in the
items in this case was probably quite luxurious.
Bronze cooking implements will have been used
to prepare varied meals in wealthier homes, and
the instruments of the surgeon, little different
from their modern counterparts, point to a high
level of medical sophistication which existed,
paradoxically, alongside a religious system that
gave sway over many matters to one of their rich
pantheon of gods. Domestic accommodation varied
from the atrium (courtyard) style of house pictured
here to the often dangerous wooden tenements of
several stories that were home to the lower class
Romans. |
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Case
10 - What Happened and When
'What
Happened and When' is a comparative chronology of
what was evolving in the material culture of the
human race in the major land masses of the world.
The display starts at the bottom of the lefthand
side with the evolutionary associations of the Australopithecines
leading to the early evolution of the hominids ie. Homo habilis and Homo erectus, the
latter moving out of Africa into Europe and Asia.
From the Homo erectus stem evolved Homo
sapiens (archaic) and from this form two lines
evolved ie. Homo sapiens (Neanderthal) and Homo sapiens (modern) the former found in
Africa, South West Asia and Europe, but was replaced
by the latter about 30,000 b.p. Between 30,000 b.p.
and 12,000 b.p Homo sapiens (modern) spread
out to occupy the various major land masses and
many islands (with the exception of Antarctica)
and developed into the various races and cultures
past and present. Some of the material cultural
differences and changes in the major divisions of
the world are indicated, starting about 9,000 B.C.
and moving up to the top of the left display and
continues up to A.D. 1800. For example Pyramid building
was at its height in Egypt about 2,700 B.C. but
is not found in middle America until A.D. 800. |
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