Featured Object: The ‘Grape Cup’
This pottery cup was found buried among other precious grave goods with a person buried in a round barrow near Stonehenge. Probably a woman, she was buried nearly 3,000 years ago in the early Bronze...
View ArticleFeatured Object: Medieval Chess Pieces
These items were found at Rievaulx Abbey in the 1920s and are over 800 years old – but what are they, and what were they used for? Susan Harrison, Collections Curator at Helmsley Archaeological Store...
View ArticleFeatured Object: Ground Zero Indicator
This is a Ground Zero Indicator, or GZI. It is a circular metal box in which four pieces of light sensitive paper could be positioned, creating four shadowgraphs or rudimentary cameras. It was...
View ArticleFeatured Object: Queen Victoria’s Ceremonial Address Casket
The item below was given to Queen Victoria on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of her accession to the throne, her Diamond Jubilee, in 1897 – but what is it, and what was it used for? Michael...
View ArticleFeatured Object: Viscera Casket
This year marks the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, the charter of freedoms that brought an end to the unlimited power of the monarch and lead towards the establishing of the first...
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