New Walk Museum

I suppose it was just a matter of time before I made my way to the local museum. After working in a museum, I have a new appreciation for places like this. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that it is free.

Favorite exhibit: the dinosaur room!

In this picture, I was trying to show that each vertebrae is suspended from the ceiling by its own wire, like a very elaborate marionette. It was a beautiful way to exhibit a fossils. The wires didn't come out that well, so I guess it's just a picture of a headless dinosaur.

During the Jurrassic Period, the Leicester area was covered by a shallow sea. The museum has a lot of fossils of sea creatures from the surrounding area. I think they look a lot like modern-day sea creatures, but then again, I'm no paleontologist.

They also had a lot of "specimens".

What museum isn't complete without a little loot as well?

The Hallaton Treasure is a horde of coins and other really old, mostly metal artifacts recently excavated in Leicestershire. After years of people coming to archaeological sites that I've been working at to ask me if I've found any doubloons or any gold coins, it would have been nice to have been at this excavation so that I could finally say "of course, loads!"

They also had a display of typical artifacts found in Leicester. Most surprising to Craig and me were the Chinese coins in the bottom right.

In the Hallaton exhibit, just about everything on display was a very good replica. My favorite replica was of two hunks of meat. I mean, it's really not necessary, but I'm glad they went there.

I didn't take many pictures in the Egyptian gallery because there were dead mummified bodies everywhere, but I thought it was interesting that they had a little display explaining the emergence of modern archaeological practices.

Look, it's our dog Pete. How did he get in the museum?

Finally, an art piece. We got busted for taking this picture because this exhibit was off limits for photography, so shhhhh, don't tell!