Manchester Museum

We are delighted to announce that we will reopen to the public on Wednesday 16 September. We have been working hard to put measures in place that will keep our staff and visitors safe. With our new one-way route around the museum you will see all your favourite objects in our Natural History galleries. Our admission remains free, and our new opening times are 11am to 4pm Wednesday to Sunday. We will be sharing information about how to book a timed ticket soon. You can find more information about visiting here: https://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/visit/

For #NationalDogDay we’re looking for dogs in our archaeology collection. This Roman Republican silver coin shows a famous scene from the Odyssey. The Greek hero Odysseus was away for 20 years, and was recognised by his faithful hound Argus on his return. Just like today there, were a number of different breeds of dog in ancient Greece and Rome and they were used in hunting, shepherding, guarding the home and even in war. Dogs as pets were rare because only the elite could afford to keep them. A dog might be used as a sacrifice to accompany the spirit of someone who had died to the afterlife. There is a fine ancient Greek tombstone in the collection at Manchester Museum. It shows a man with a small dog pulling at his robes. Dog skeletons have been found during archaeological excavations. But there are other traces of our four-legged friends... We have a roof tile with paw print made in the soft clay. Having been fired in a kiln, the hardened clay has preserved the print clay for 2,000-years! A moving example is the cast of the body of a dog from Pompeii. The dog was suffocated during the eruption. As its body decayed, a void was created in the hardened ash. Archaeologists filled such voids with wet plaster. When it hardened they excavated and revealed the body cast. Have a look at our Story for more images! #internationaldogday #dogday #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

We're recruiting. Would you like to set indigenous perspectives at the heart of one of the world’s leading university museums? The exciting new post of Curator of Indigenous Perspectives @McrMuseum is supported by John Ellerman Foundation. Find out more here: https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/displayjob.aspx?jobid=19024 (active link in our Insta story).

Get ready for #Jurassic Beasts... On Tuesday 25 August, 12 noon LIVE on #Periscope , join our Curator of Earth Sciences David Gelsthorpe and Jan Freedman, Natural History Curator, The Box Plymouth for some Jurassic Beasts stories! More info: https://www.mminquarantine.com/jurassic-beasts

In 1880, a botanist called Herbert Dobbie produced something known as ‘The Blue Book’. Bleached into the blue pages were a series of ghostly white silhouettes, eternal imprints in time of what Dante might have believed to be a close-up of an angel’s wing. “Treasure, from the pirate stories of olde, has always been gold and silver. Never has it been blue. This made it all the more surprising when, beneath the dusty pages, I spotted something rather peculiar” writes PhD student James Dowling. https://herbologymanchester.wordpress.com/2020/01/22/rare-blue-treasure-found-in-manchester-museum-herbarium/ James discovered this treasure when searching for ‘interesting’ things in the Herbarium, and along with Rachel Webster, Curator of Botany, did some research and found a paper describing this book in detail. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0028825X.1989.10414116 It was made using ‘the blue-print system’ which involves exposing sensitised mounting paper to sunlight, then washing with potassium bichromate, leaving the characteristic white-on-blue visual effect. The amount of labour that went into making one ‘Blue Book’ was enormous, there probably weren’t many of these made. In fact, only 15 copies are known to have survived (with this discovery there are 15), 11 of which are in New Zealand libraries. The unique visual qualities of ferns attract many unique methods of display. This is another artistic presentation using screen printing by one of Manchester University’s Contemporary Photography students. https://herbologymanchester.wordpress.com/2017/01/05/contemporary-photography-ferns-2/ #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome #FromTheArchives

Face to face with the past: in this case Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. This ground-breaking facial reconstruction was created by Prof John Prag and Dr Richard Neave at The University of Manchester and Manchester Musrum. The facial reconstruction of someone from the past is now a commonplace of archaeology documentaries. It can now be done digitally rather than by using plaster casts, modelling clay and prosthetics. The bone fragments on which this was based came from a very rich tomb beneath a mound at Vergina in northern Greece. Unfortunately, there wasn’t an inscription to confirm the name of the man whose final resting place this was. The splendour of the funerary offerings, dating and circumstantial evidence suggested this was Philip’s tomb. And also, intriguingly, Philip was hit by an arrow and lost his right eye whilst besieging the city of Methone in 355-4 BCE. Evidence on the skull of this healed injury proved to be the key to this identification. You can read more about how Prof John Prag and Dr Richard Neave pieced together the evidence and produced the reconstruction here: www.jstor.org/stable/505951 Although we cannot be sure this man was Philip II, this makes the reconstruction even more interesting because it encourages us to explore the evidence and present a reasoned case. This is a great case study in archaeological interpretation. #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

It is certainly the weather for ice cream today!🍦 Vanilla is the fruit and seeds from a tropical, climbing orchid. There are over 100 orchid species in the Vanilla genus, but the most commonly cultivated species is Vanilla planifolia (more commonly known as Madagascan or Bourbon vanilla). Vanilla is native to Central and South America, and was first domesticated by the Totonac people of east Mexico, who used it exclusively until Aztec conquerors demanded vanilla as a tribute. The Spanish conquistador Cortez brought vanilla to Europe, where it was mixed with cocoa and drunk & later used in other deserts. Vanilla was very expensive during 16th-19th century; Melipona bees which pollinate the flowers have a very limited range, giving Mexico a monopoly. In 1841, Edmond Albius, a 12-year-old slave boy on the island of Réunion, figured out how to hand-pollinate the vanilla, his simple technique had far-reaching implications. Vanilla plantations sprang up across the globe. Nevertheless, the only way to cultivate vanilla elsewhere is still by hand pollination. It is labour intensive to produce, so natural vanilla is still the second most expensive spice (after saffron). Today about 75% of the world’s vanilla comes from Madagascar and Réunion. Synthetic vanillin can now be manufactured at a fraction of the cost of natural vanilla, which explains how 20,000 metric tons are produced per year. If you’re eating something vanilla flavoured, chances are that you’re enjoying synthetic vanillin, not natural vanilla. Find out more on the Herbarium blog: https://herbologymanchester.wordpress.com/2016/12/23/advent-botany-day-23-vanilla-nothing-plain-about-this-flavour/ #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

Along with many other animals, the ancient Egyptians looked on cats as personifications of deities. This object is a hollow wooden sculpture of the cat, associated with the goddess Bastet. X-rays confirmed the suspected function of this sculpture as a coffin for a mummified cat, whose complete skeleton can be seen inside the wrappings. It was uncertain exactly where this cat coffin-sculpture originated from in Egypt, until a letter showed up in our archives confirmed by a photo showing the object at Saqqara - the largest sacred animal cemetery in Egypt. You can find out more about this object, along with many other fascinating stories on Dr Campbell Price’s blog: https://egyptmanchester.wordpress.com/2015/12/03/object-biography-18-a-wooden-cat-coffin-from-saqqara-acc-no-9303/ #InternationalCatDay #Caturday

While the rules are not quite clear, the board game 'senet' was a popular pastime in #AncientEgypt. This example comes from the pyramid builders’ town of Kahun, and dates to around 1800 BCE, making it nearly 4000 year old! During the 1970s and 1980s archaeological excavations in the centre of Manchester revealed remains of the #Roman fort and a civilian settlement. Lots of pottery and other everyday items were discovered, including gaming pieces. On #NationalPlayDay, if you’re looking for Summer Holiday fun for all the family, have a look at some of the activities on our mobile site #MMinQuarantine: https://www.mminquarantine.com/ #Playday2020 #SummerHoliday

Displayed in the Peace case in our Living Worlds gallery is a piece of rubble from the Hiroshima atomic blast, alongside a Demoiselle crane, surrounded by origami paper cranes. #Peace #Hope https://www.mminquarantine.com/paper-cranes The case tells a story of peace. The paper cranes represent those folded by Sadako a young girl who contracted leukaemia after the bombing in Hiroshima. You can find out more about the story of Sadako at the Peace Museum: https://peacemuseum.org.uk/object-of-the-month-silver-crane-from-hiroshima/ Like rainbows, cranes are a sign of hope. You can find out how to fold your own paper crane by watching this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9HELrIDCBk#action=share Over the past few years Manchester Museum has been honoured to host Manchester City Council’s annual commemoration ceremony for Hiroshima and Nagasaki and civilian victims of war and terrorism. And today our commemoration is taking place online: https://www.mminquarantine.com/75th-hiroshima-nagasaki-commemorati Manchester is a proud member of Mayors for Peace. Project G is an initiative in which Ginko tree seedlings from Hiroshima have been planted in schools, universities and hospitals around Manchester. You can find out about Manchester’s peace trail here: www.manchesterpeacetrail.org.uk/node/11 On 21 September 2019 Manchester Museum celebrated International Peace Day as part of our programme of events for our exhibition Jalllianwala Bagh 1919; Punjab Under Siege. Our partners The Partition Museum, Town Hall, Amritsar created cloth marigolds to be worn in remembrance: https://www.mminquarantine.com/the-things-they-didn-t-teach-us The Demoiselle crane also has a remarkable life - its migration journey is one of the toughest in the world. You can find out more about how the crane has inspired literature and poetry throughout South Asia & their migration here: https://storiesfromthemuseumfloor.wordpress.com/2018/04/27/the-demoiselle-cr

The Giant Japanese Spider Crab (Macrocheira kaempferi) is the largest living arthropod in the world. In Japan, this crab is known as 'Taka-ashi-gani' which means 'Tall-legged crab. The body can grow up to 40cm long, with a leg span of 3.8m and 19kg in weight! Manchester Museum’s Giant Japanese Spider Crab was donated by Dr J.H. Ashworth on 19th January 1904 and remains a firm favourite for many museum visitors! Watch a video about Japanese Spider Crabs filmed at the Osaka Aquarium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSf5a3TY-O8&feature=emb_title Giant Spider Crabs live on the Pacific side of the Japanese islands of Honshu & Kyushu. In the wild they can live for 50-100 years. According to folklore, Spider Crabs drag sailors underwater & feast on them, however they are scavengers, feeding on carrion, plants and shellfish. Giant Spider Crabs are considered a delicacy in Japan (eaten raw, salted or cooked) & caught by small trawling nets. Their numbers are decreasing therefore the wild population is restocked artificially & laws prohibit fishing during their mating season. https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Macrocheira_kaempferi/ You can find out more about the Giant Japanese Spider Crab and other star object from our entomology collection on the curator’s blog: https://entomologymanchester.wordpress.com/2020/06/29/star-objects-of-our-collection-giant-japanese-spider-crab/ #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome #MarineWeek

This spider is preserved in 40 million year old Baltic amber. Amber is fossilised tree resin usually from Cretaceous and Tertiary forests, which has been buried in sediment for millions of years. It is renowned for its ability to preserve animals and plants. In Michael Crichton’s book and Stephen Spielberg’s film, DNA is extracted from dinosaur-biting insects and used to resurrect them. However, although this is an intriguing story, you will not be surprised to learn it is not possible to get DNA from amber. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/could-scientists-bring-dinosaurs-back.html Jurassic amber is very rare and even more rarely contains insects, with most insects preserved in amber coming from after most dinosaurs had become extinct. Amazing discoveries of 110 million year old spider webs have given clues to insect diversity. https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9389-oldest-spider-web-found-in-amber/ Amazingly, fossil blood has been found in a 46 million year old Mosquito, and blood has been found in Cretaceous bone fossils, but as DNA is a very fragile molecule it has not survived the fossilisation process. Find out more on the curator’s blog: https://palaeomanchester.wordpress.com/2020/05/21/dinos-in-lockdown-3-amber/ #MuseumFromHome #MMinQuarantine

Sawfish are unique animals. They can be easily recognised by their long saw with many teeth, also called a rostrum. They are most closely related to stingrays. Sawfish are critically endangered; their numbers have drastically declined over the last 100 years. Sawfish live in warm temperate and tropic waters around the world. They are agile hunters and are electro-sensitive; they have sensors in their saw which can detect the electric fields of their prey. http://www.sawfishconservationsociety.org/ This most endangered group of fishes are at risk due to overfishing and entanglement in fishing nets. Many museums have sawfish rostrum that were displayed in Victorian times as part of a cabinet of curiosities. Now these specimens are being used to help with their conservation. Scientists from The University of Southern Mississippi and Louisiana State University, visited Manchester Museum to extract ancient DNA from sawfish rostra. These samples will be analysed to understand sawfish genetic diversity. This will help the conservation efforts of the critically endangered sawfish. You can help the conservation effort at home too. The Wildlife Trusts are hosting Marine week from 25 July - 9 August to celebrate all things marine. Find out more: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/get-involved/campaign/national-marine-week #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

This ancient Greek oinochoe depicts one of the most famous stories in Greek mythology. It shows the hero Odysseus escaping from the Cyclops' cave. Curator Bryan Sitch retells the story of this adventure as Odysseus and his crew tried to return home. Polyphemus the Cyclops imprisoned Odysseus & his crew in his cave and began to eat them one by one. Odysseus got the Cyclops drunk on wine and blinded the monster when it was asleep. Odysseus & his men escaped hanging on the underneath the Cyclops' giant sheep. Homer's Odyssey follows the story of Greek hero Odysseus’ return home to the island of Ithaka after the Trojan War. Many have tried to identify the places of Odysseus’ wanderings, and to plot his journey on a map of the Mediterranean. Odysseus was away for twenty years. His faithful wife Penelope waited for him but was pestered by unwanted suitors who were convinced Odysseus was dead. They feasted and drank at Penelope's expense and made nuisances of themselves. Odysseus eventually returned home but disguised himself as a beggar. When the time was right, he and his son Telemachus killed all the suitors. Odysseus and Penelope lived happily ever after.... #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

Magnificent Tree Frogs (Litoria splendida), also known as Splendid Tree Frogs are large frogs only found in a small area on the North-Western Coast of Australia. They have the characteristic leafy green appearance of tree frogs, but they spend most of their time in caves and rock crevices to escape the heat. Heavy rainfall brings them out into the rock pools where the males call (a deep crawk, crawk, crawk) and females lay eggs. One of the most distinguishing features of this frog species is the large paratoid gland on the top of their heads. These glands secrete a toxin to deter predators, but it is not harmful to humans. This species is not currently listed as endangered, but due to its small range and our limited knowledge about this species, it is vulnerable. You can find out more about the Vivarium and our conservation projects on the Frog Blog: https://frogblogmanchester.com/ And for more fascinating facts and stories from our Vivarium team, don’t forget to tune in for Frog Friday LIVE on Periscope at 1pm tomorrow. www.periscope.tv/mcrmuseum #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

Papaver somniferum, more commonly known as the opium poppy has a fascinating medicinal history but it also impacted heavily on us socially. Opium is a narcotic extracted from the plant’s seed pod and has been used in pain relief for millennia. In the 17th century a tincture of opium and alcohol became readily available under the name laudanum. Along with acting as a painkiller, laudanum was quickly employed as a cure for almost every ailment: from colds to heart problems to menstrual cramps. https://herbologymanchester.wordpress.com/2015/01/23/powerful-poppies/ The opium poppy has been found in Neolithic burial sites as early as 4200 BCE, and its use has been documented in ancient medicinal texts including the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus from 1500 BCE and Greek text of Hippocrates in 460 BCE and Dioscorides in 1st century CE. Opium was introduced to China in 4th century via the Silk Road. With the growing demand, from c. 1600 traders from the British East India Company sold large quantities to smugglers. The Chinese Emperor tried to stop this import, beginning the Opium Wars. https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/opium-war-1839-1842 It is estimated that 27 million people worldwide are addicted to opiates, and heroin continues to be abused across the world. Nevertheless, the opium poppy has contributed greatly to modern medicine, morphine being one of the most effective painkillers today. https://www.historytoday.com/reviews/history-opium #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

This is one of Darwin’s Finches - a very exciting story of discovery in the stores at Manchester Museum! This Warbler Finch (Certhidea olivacea) was collected in 1835 by Charles Darwin during his voyage on HMS Beagle. The specimen was discovered in the stores with a single label, from the Galapagos. After exploring the archives at Manchester Museum and The Natural History Museum, London the small finch was confirmed as one of Darwin’s, transferred from the British Museum to Manchester Museum in 1895. https://www.culture24.org.uk/science-and-nature/art18454 The finch had been part of ornithologist John Gould’s collection. Darwin sent birds to Gould for preservation and identification. Most of Gould’s birds ended up at the Natural History Museum, but this one is still preserved at Manchester Museum. http://harbour.man.ac.uk/mmcustom/narratives/display.php?irn=605&QueryPage=/mmcustom/narratives/index.php Darwin's finches are unique to the Galapagos Islands - a ‘natural laboratory’. Birds from different islands show remarkable diversity in beak shape and size, adapted to their different food sources. Thus, this small bird helped Darwin to develop his theories of evolution. #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

South Asian Heritage Month launches today with ‘I have a question’ a collaboration between Hussain Manawer Anita Rani and Niraj Chag. We are excited to support @southasianheritagemonth_uk #SouthAsianHeritageMonth 18 July-17 August. More info & events mminquarantine.com/sahm-events

More than 250 tortoiseshell beetles have been described from specimens at Manchester Museum. The collection contains more than 70% of the known species of Cassidinae beetles. This is the Spaethaspis lloydi described by Walter Douglas Hincks in 1952. Hincks was Keeper of Entomology at Manchester Museum from 1947 to 1961. In 1950, he acquired and moved Dr Frank Spaeth’s Cassidinae collection (23094 specimens of 2211 species!) from Vienna to Manchester by plane and train, with the generosity and support of Robert W. Lloyd. https://entomologymanchester.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/2019_cook_on-rw-lloyd.pdf Spaeth’s Collection had survived the war but the first copy of a manuscript on the Cassidinae beetles was destroyed by a bombing in Vienna while actually on the printing press. Hincks continued Spaeth’s work from his remaining papers now at Manchester Museum. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322055342_The_Manchester_Entomological_Society_1902-1991_its_story_and_historical_context Hincks published a review of the group including the description of several new species of tortoiseshell beetle. Hincks named the new genus Spaethaspis in honour of Spaeth, and chose the name lloydi to acknowledge Lloyd’s part in the collection's story. https://entomologymanchester.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/2012_higham_manchester_cassidinaecoll.pdf If this has inspired you to find out more about the #minibeasts in our collection, you can explore some of the fascinating facts and stories in our digital exhibition #BeautyandtheBeasts https://www.mminquarantine.com/online-exhibition-displays #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

This broken quartzite statue represents a man called Hor. He had the title 'Overseer of Royal Ships in the Great Green' (or: 'Admiral of the Mediterranean Fleet') The statue was discovered at Tell Yahudiya by Egyptian excavators working for British archaeologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie. The statue is in Manchester today because of a system of finds division, which enabled archaeologists to export some items out of Egypt. Hor is depicted as showing devotion to the deity whose enshrined image he supports. Statues like this would once have been set up in temples. You can find out more about the statue and the man it represents from our curator Dr Campbell Price: https://egyptmanchester.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/texts-in-translation-9-the-inscribed-statue-of-the-admiral-hor-acc-no-3570/ And don’t forget to tune in to Egyptology in Lockdown LIVE on #Periscope at 3pm tomorrow. This week’s theme is #mummies! #MuseumFromHome #MMinQuarantine

These are fragments of a 2000-year-old Roman military diploma, found at Ravenglass by two men with metal-detectors in 1995. The Latin writing was quickly identified and translated at The University of Manchester. It dates from the reign of the emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD). These diplomas of Roman citizenship were awarded to auxiliary soldiers on completion of their service in the army. Citizenship was so valuable that soldiers were willing to serve 25 years to obtain it and only half the soldiers who enlisted might expect to survive. The Roman army needed many solders to protect the long borders of the empire; from Britain to northern Africa, and from Spain to the Middle East. Auxiliaries provided archers, slingers, cavalrymen and troops to patrol the frontiers. Ravenglass is in the North, near Hadrian's Wall. This diploma was awarded in 158 AD, but sadly the name of the man who received the diploma has not survived. He came from Heliopolis (Baalbek) in Syria, and was probably recruited to fight in the Jewish War of 132-5 AD. When it was over, he returned to Britain with his cohort. On completion of his army service, the soldier presumably stayed in the civilian settlement at Ravenglass and never returned to Syria. With people from the Middle East and many other parts of the Roman empire it must have been quite a cosmopolitan community. Today is the start of the #FestivalofArchaeology. And get ready to #AskAnArchaeologist on Wednesday, when our Curator of Archaeology, Bryan Sitch will be ready to answer your questions! Tweet your questions to @ArchaeoManc on Twitter or put them here 👇👇👇 https://festival.archaeologyuk.org/

Manchester Museum’s Giant Ichthyosaur was found Alum quarries at Kettleness, Whitby in the early 1800s. It is from the Lower Jurassic, about 180 million years old. It is one of the most iconic objects in the fossil collection. The Ichthyosaur has been in the Museum’s collection since the 1820s and used to be on display at the old Museum on Peter Street, until the museum moved to its current site in the 1880s and our ‘Incident Book’ records that naughty children used to ride it like a horse! Although it looks a bit like a dolphin, the Ichthyosaur is actually a reptile and is more closely related to crocodiles. Ichthyosaurs first evolved from a land-based reptiles about 250 million years ago. Ichthyosaurs became extinct around 90 million years ago when the oceans suddenly had very low levels of oxygen as a result of a chain reaction started by widespread volcanic eruptions. And if you want to find out more about fossils, check out some of the fabulous family activities and resources on our mobile site #MMinQuarantine https://www.mminquarantine.com/resource-for-home-educators-and-fam #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

South Asian Heritage Month launch coming soon......

Manchester Museum has the 4th largest mollusc collection in the UK, with an estimated 750,000 shells! The Conus clytospira, or ‘Illustrious spire’ is just one of them, and it tells a unique story which explores connections between Manchester and South Asia. In 1870 a telegraph line linking London to Mumbai was built. Frederick Townsend was employed by the Eastern Telegraph Company. It was his job to repair the cable after 30 years under the sea. Whilst repairing the cable, Townsend collected many shells. Many of these shells were returned to Manchester Museum and described by James Cosmo Melvill (1845-1929) and Robert Standen (1854-1925), including this cone shell, found 125 miles SW of Mumbai in the Arabian Sea. Standen and Melvill were successful naming over 1,000 new species, 600 from the Arabian Sea area where Townsend was collecting. They identified this Conus shell as new to science, naming it Conus clytospira (Illustrious spire) and deposited a ‘type’ specimen at the British museum. However it was not as new as they first thought. In fact, it was described 5 years earlier by French scientist Felix Jousseaume, who named it Conus milneedwardsi, 'Glory of India', but the shell is still associated with Standen and Melvill. A specimen remains at the Natural History Museum, London, while the Manchester shell still named Conus clytospira. #MuseumFromHome #MMinQuarantine

The Panther Chameleon (Furcifer pardalis) is one of the amazing species from our Vivarium. https://frogblogmanchester.com/about/chameleons/14809-2/ These beautiful reptiles hail from Madagascar, where they live only in the trees. However, Madagascar has seen catastrophic deforestation, reducing the country’s forests by over 80%. Primary forest now covers only about 12% of the country. https://frogblogmanchester.com/about/chameleons/ Our Vivarium is focused on wildlife conservation and highlighting the threats faced by many species. Deforestation is a major threat to Madagascar's biodiversity as 90% of Madagascar's endemic species, including panther chameleons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leV2S4vcLkI Find out more about the work that is being done by our Vivarium team on the Frog Blog and tune in to #FrogFriday Live on #Periscope TOMORROW at 1pm. #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome https://www.mminquarantine.com/frog-friday-live

The magnificent Giant Earwig (Labidura herculeana) was the world’s largest earwig, with a body length of up to 78 millimetres! This is just one of the extremely rare or extinct species in the Entomology collection at Manchester Museum. The Giant Earwig became known as the ‘Dodo of the earwigs’, because just like the Dodo, it was an island endemic which became extinct. They occurred only on the small volcanic island of St Helena in the South Atlantic. https://entomologymanchester.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/star-objects-of-our-collection-dodo-of-the-earwigs/ The reasons for its disappearance include the clearing of the Gumwood forest and its predation by introduced animals, particularly by the large Mediterranean centipede and mice. They have not been seen alive since 1967. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3bMIAyTf14 Despite 3 expeditions organised by London Zoo to find it, in November 2014, the world’s largest earwig was officially declared extinct. However, the earwig has become part of the folklore of St Helena, with many believing it is still living out there somewhere. #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

The Appley Bridge Meteorite was found at Halliwell Farm, Appley Bridge, near Wigan. Meteorites are names after the place where they fell, and this is one of a very few ever to be discovered in Britain. At 8:45pm on 13 October 1914, a fireball was seen over Lancashire and Cheshire. There were several loud detonations and local people feared a German attack. But the next day a meteorite of about 15kg was discovered. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZunlxeRnRZQ The Appley Bridge meteorite has a black fusion crust about half a millimetre thick produced by its fiery descent through the atmosphere. Most of the meteorite is kept at the Natural History Museum, London, but Manchester Museum has a piece and a plaster cast of the original. #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

This convex glass lens from Egypt is around 2,000 years old. It is only 5.3cm in diameter but it is a remarkable testament to a technology we think of as modern. This simple object was found by Egyptian workers during excavations directed by archaeologist Flinders Petrie at the site of Hawara in the late 1880s, alongside mummies covered in gold and with striking painted portraits. It is made from perfectly clear, man-made glass, and dates to the first centuries CE. Petrie suggested that it could be used as a 'bulls-eye', to direct and concentrate light on a point, perhaps to start a fire. But it could also magnify surfaces, such as writing on papyrus sheets - well over 1000 years before it was assumed this technique was discovered. This object is one of 107 Manchester Museum currently on tour in the United States as part of our 'Golden Mummies of Egypt' exhibition. #GoldenMummies http://www.nomadexhibitions.com/golden-mummies-of-egypt And for more about Egypt and Sudan, don't forget to tune in to Egyptology in Lockdown LIVE on #Periscope at 3pm today with Curator Dr Campbell Price. https://www.periscope.tv/mcrmuseum #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

This piece of Bennett's seaweed was collected in 1886, when it was last seen in Sydney Harbour before being declared extinct. It has been in Manchester Museum's collection since 1904. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/43993/10838671 There are many extinct and threatened species in museum displays, but this is a complicated and emotional subject. Researchers University of Leeds are exploring this in their AHRC funded project ‘Thinking Through Extinction’ https://thinkingthroughextinction.wordpress.com/ Lead by Laurence Payot, a team of artists and participants are exploring feelings about extinction through creative workshops. Find out about their progress on the project blog: http://www.laurencepayot.com/category/voicing-silence/ How does extinction make you feel? Share 5 words that explain what extinction means to you… http://www.laurencepayot.com/2020/06/voicing-silence-extinction-5-words/ #ThinkingThroughExtinction #extinction #voicingsilence #MMinQuarantine #MuseumFromHome

Dinosaurs, Frogs, Ancient Egypt & Volcanoes... cool family fun activities you can get involved with this Saturday! We've collaborated with The University of Manchester to host the annual Community Festival online via #Periscope Join in the fun! Tune in! Find out more: http://www.socialresponsibility.manchester.ac.uk/news/june-2020/community-festival-goes-digital-with-manchester-museum/