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Trip to the British Museum

***** This was 2013. There is an optional trip to the BM this year, which i will be running on Wed April 30th (see the syllabus for more details). The funded trip this year is to the Ashmolean; brought to you by Greek culture and Society (see DF or MCS for details).

The highlight of our year will be visiting the BM, particularly exploring the exhibition Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Our visit is being sponsored by a grant from IATL. On our return from the museum, students are invited to work together in pairs in order to produce a poster discussing an artefact/ group of related artefacts which you have seen in the exhibition. The intention is for this to be a useful form of revision, to encourage you to engage with what you see in the museum in a fruitful way, to reflect upon the advantages and problems of dealing with visual and material evidence, to gain experience in poster-design (something which is increasingly useful in presenting research) and to give you the chance to work together collaboratively, developing your team-skills.

Dates

  • Week 1 Thursday 25th April, 1-2 pm in S0.21 - compulsory briefing session on how to design and produce your posters.
  • Tuesday 30th April, trip to BM, departing from campus at 8.45 promptly and returning by about 17.30.
  • Friday 10th May, 12 noon - deadline for submitting your poster online.

During the exhibition

First of all, enjoy the chance to see some of the most fascinating objects from Pompeii and Herculaneum! Don't be so fixated upon your chosen object(s) that you fail to look at anything else! Photography is not allowed at the exhibition (although elsewhere in the BM you make take photographs for private use). Since you will nevertheless wish to use images in your posters, a list of objects follows below with suggestions as to where you can find free-to-use images. NB you should not simply scan from books for this competition. Jot down the information about the object displayed in the exhibition, including inventory number. See if anything else in the exhibition provides interesting comparisions/ parallels/ contrasts. If you have the time/skill, you could consider making your own sketch of the object.

Poster Format:

  • A2 size
  • Designed using Powerpoint.
  • Use appropriate headings/ fonts/ borders/ images/ text.
  • You should identify your object(s) in a professional way, citing inventory number or other formal identifying marker.
  • You should date your object(s)/ state where found.
  • Please identify your poster by student numbers only.

During the briefing on 25th April you will receive specific help with this new format for presenting your research.

Poster criteria:

  • Analysis - Analyse how the object(s) you have chosen to discuss contribute(s) to our understanding of an aspect of Roman culture and society. You could focus upon a theme discussed during the module this year (e.g., economy, religion, family/ household life, art and architecture, politics, literacy). You are welcome to explore independently a topic which we haven't covered, but that will take more time. The best posters will show a thoughtful approach to a specific topic, rather than a general summary of a broad theme. (30%)
  • Response to visual/ material culture - Consider what difference it has made to you to have been able to see the chosen object(s) in real life, face-to-face. How effectively was the object displayed? Was there enough information about it presented? How successful was the format of the exhibition, reconstructing a house/street? Did the artefacts seem appropriately presented? Engage critically with the way in which the exhbition has been designed as a whole, and with the way in which your object was incorporated within it. What would you have done differently? (30%)
  • Academic content - Show an appreciation of the object(s)' contribution to our understanding of Roman culture and society. Do we know the original context? - does that make a difference to our interpretation? How typical is it as an object? Is it something that reflects the peculiar circumstances of Vesuvian archaeology? What aspects of Roman society does it illuminate? Explore problems of interpretation. (30%)
  • Presentation - Does your poster grab the viewer's attention and retain it? Is it written in clear and accurate English? Does the balance of words and images work well? Consider use of colour and formatting to enhance the clarity of your poster. (10%)

The competition:

Posters should be submitted electronically ONLY by the deadline of Friday 10th May, 12 noon. The panel of judges (Alison Cooley, Ersin Hussein, Will Bone, Nathan Murphy) will meet on Monday 13th May, 12.00-14.-00 in the Teaching Grid to view the posters in electronic format on big screens. The results of the competition will be announced in our final lecture on Thursday 16th May, when prizes will be awarded to the pairs of students who have produced the two best posters.

List of exhibits:

See 'Loan objects' for a list, with details of inventory numbers + thumbnail images

Bibliography

  • Beard, M. (2008) Pompeii: the life of a Roman town
  • Berry, J. (2007) The Complete Pompeii
  • Coarelli, F. (2002) Pompeii
  • Cooley, A.E. and M.G.L. (2004) Pompeii: A Sourcebook
  • Dobbins, J. and Foss, P. (2007) The World of Pompeii
  • Ling, R. (2005) Pompeii: history, life, and afterlife
  • Wallace-Hadrill, A. (2011) Herculaneum: past and future