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British Museum Trip

One of the best parts of my course in the first year was the trip to the British Museum in term 3 through the module ‘Roman Culture and Society.’ Funded by IATL we not only got to explore the great artefacts the British Museum holds, but also had admission to the temporary exhibit: ‘Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum.’

On our return from the museum, we were invited to work in pairs in order to produce a poster discussing an artefact/group of related artefacts which we had seen in the exhibition. The intention was for this to be a useful form of revision, to encourage us to engage with what we saw 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 us the chance to work together collaboratively, developing our team skills.

British Museum Group Photo

Before we departed for the museum we were given a briefing session by an IATL member on how to design posters and present our research in a clear, demonstrative way. After we returned we worked in pairs to create an informative poster on an artefact from the exhibit, allowing us as students to appreciate and fully retain the information we had gathered on the day. It was great not only to work with my peers but also physically see the artefacts.

The exhibit itself was enthralling, giving a rare insight into daily life in Pompeii and Herculaneum, not often touched upon in antiquity, from commercial life of the taverns to domestic space of the home. It also contained casts of some of the people taken by the eruption in AD 79 – an unforgettable experience for a classicist.