News
Journalists should contact press@prm.ox.ac.uk for further details and images concerning the Museum, its collections, research projects, events and activities. Download our press releases.
Living Cultures 2024: Reconnecting with the Objects 30 September 2024
As the next step in the Maasai Living Cultures Project, a delegation of Maasai family representatives, plus representatives from PALCA, Orkiaama and Oltoilo le Maa, visited Oxford to reconnect with their family objects and to decide on their future care. After a week of healing ceremonies and deliberations, and following advice from Mokompo, it was decided that the objects would remain in the care of the Museum. Further information.
Statement from Prof. Laura Van Broekhoven, Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, in response to Museum hides mask "not for women's eyes" article in the Telegraph, 18 June 2024:
"This is a non-story. The Igbo mask has not been removed from display, as it was never on display and no one has ever been denied access to it.
The Museum’s online collections now carry a cultural context message, which allows users, especially those from different cultures around the world, to actively choose which items they wish to see, and which to remain blurred from view. Only around 3,000 of our object records carry such a warning, so less than 1% of the overall collection. No digital assets are withheld from view from women."
Background information:
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Contrary to an article which appeared in this morning’s Daily Telegraph, the Pitt Rivers Museum is not withholding an Igbo mask from display because it should not be shown to women. The mask in question is in storage in the museum, and there is no record of it ever having been put on public display. The museum displays around 50,000 items from its overall collection of around 350,000 objects.
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Some collections and imagery of them are not appropriate for general public access online, and in this case, direct contact with the museum staff is encouraged to discuss the research need to consult them. Overwhelmingly this is for human remains, graphic or personal content, but also for copyright or other legal reasons. Only about 2,200 digital assets out of over 250,000 objects (less than 1%) are withheld from public view in this way.
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The primary purpose of the sensitivity warnings is to protect people who may find these images culturally distressing, rather than from stopping visitors or researchers seeing them or doing research on them. We have a global collection and as such, have a responsibility to more than one community. Users of the online collections database can choose whether to proceed with or without these warnings.
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The Museum is not working with groups to ensure that that objects are ‘selectively displayed’. We are working with groups to allow them to decide how their own cultures are represented.
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A 15th century Indian statue has been claimed for return from the Ashmolean Museum collection, not the Pitt Rivers. Further information on this is available here.
Early Career Research Fellowship Announcement 26 March 2024
We are delighted to announce that Thupten Kelsang has been selected as one of the eight Fellows chosen for the Early Career Research Fellowships in Cultural and Heritage Institutions, funded by the AHRC. As part of this pilot funding scheme, Thupten will be based at the V&A Museum for two years, starting in May 2024. Thupten said: "The project at the V&A is the culmination of my years of praxis-based research on Tibetan collections and community engagement as a student at Oxford (starting from an MSc in Visual, Material, and Museum Anthropology to a DPhil supervised by Prof Harris). The launch announcement has a brief on the overall scheme and my project. The featured image on the website is from a discussion session at the V&A, part of a week-long stakeholder workshop I organised as part of my fieldwork in July 2022, funded primarily by TORCH, which was centred at the PRM. The Pitt Rivers Museum has played (and will continue to play) a key role in my research practice. Over the many years, I have benefited from the staff's significant expertise and invaluable support in allowing the museum to become a hub for my experiments in display, consultation, scientific testing, and public programming."
First Nations Ancestors Returned Home from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museum 4 October 2023
On Wednesday 4 October 2023 the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum held a ceremony to return the remains of eleven ancestors to representatives of the respective communities and the Australian Government. Five of these ancestors are being returned to the custodianship of their respective communities, whilst six are being returned under Australian Government stewardship. The ceremony was attended by representatives of the relevant communities and the Australian High Commissioner, the Honourable Stephen Francis Smith. Full press release.
Social Sciences Research Impact & Engagement Team and Pitt Rivers Museum shortlisted for Vice-Chancellor’s Professional Services collaboration award 20 February 2023
A dynamic collaboration between the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Social Sciences Division’s Research Impact & Engagement Team has been shortlisted for a prestigious Vice-Chancellor’s Professional Services Award for Collaboration. The Festival of Social Science is an annual celebration of creative, engaging and impactful work that social science researchers do to help us understand and influence the world around us. Across an exciting weekend of activities held at the Pitt Rivers Museum in November 2022, hundreds of members of the public engaged with social scientists and their research, with topics ranging from health and the environment to heritage and communities, showing how social science research is helping to make the world a better place.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ancestors Returned Home from the Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford University Museum of Natural History 10 November 2022
On Wednesday 9 November 2022 the Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford University Museum of Natural History held a ceremony to return the remains of 18 ancestors to representatives of the Australian Government and the First Nations People of the South East. One ancestor from Lake Hawdon or Guichen Bay, South Australia, has been returned to the custodianship of the South East First Nations, and 17 other ancestors will return to Australia under the stewardship of the Australian Government, while further research is undertaken to determine their traditional First Nations custodians. More information.
Pitt Rivers Museum Director wins prestigious Kenneth Hudson Award for Institutional Courage and Professional Integrity 9 May 2022
We are delighted to announce that Prof. dr. Laura Van Broekhoven, Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, has been awarded the 2022 Kenneth Hudson Award for Institutional Courage and Professional Integrity.
The award was announced at the European Museum of the Year Conference and Annual Award Ceremony, organised by the European Museum Forum (EMF) and hosted by the Estonian National Museum, Tartu, Estonia, from 4-7 May 2022.
The Kenneth Hudson Award for Institutional Courage and Professional Integrity is part of the European Museum of the Year Award scheme, and is given to a museum, a group or an individual, to celebrate courageous, sometimes controversial, museum practices that challenge and expand common perceptions of the role and responsibilities of museums in society. This year there were four joint winners: Laura Van Broekhoven (Pitt Rivers Museum), Wayne Modest (Dutch National Museum of World Cultures), Nanette Snoep (Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum) and Léontine Meijer-Van Mensch (State Ethnographic Collections of Saxony), who were recognised for their 'personal courage and professional integrity in their continuous contributions to developing a new global ethics for museums, addressing the urgent and contentious issues of decolonisation, restitution, reparation and repatriation’.
Innovative Multaka-Oxford project at Oxford University Museums supported by £1million funding from Alwaleed Philanthropies 22 November 2021
We are thrilled to announce today that the award-winning Multaka-Oxford project has received landmark new funding. A generous £1million donation from Alwaleed Philanthropies will allow this innovative project at Oxford University’s History of Science Museum and Pitt Rivers Museum to run for a further five years.
The new five-year programme was announced at a signing ceremony attended by HRH Princess Lamia bint Majed Saud Al Saud, Secretary General of Alwaleed Philanthropies, Professor Louise Richardson, Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Professor Anne Trefethen, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) at the University of Oxford, Dr Silke Ackermann, Director of the History of Science Museum and Dr Laura van Broekhoven, Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum.
Oxford University Vice Chancellor Louise Richardson with HRH Princess Lamia
Professor Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, said: “The support of Alwaleed Philanthropies is a strong and welcome endorsement of the Multaka-Oxford project, the work of the museum teams and the contribution of our many volunteers. The project offers mutual benefit both to the University and to the volunteers. We are very grateful to Alwaleed Philanthropies for their support.”
Commenting on the launch of the program Her Royal Highness Princess Lamia bint Majed Saud Al Saud, Secretary General of Alwaleed Philanthropies, said: “We are pleased to support the continuation of the Multaka-Oxford programme for another five years. This programme, which opens its arms to refugees and helps to integrate them into the local community through the power of art and culture, plays a powerful role in strengthening cross-cultural understanding in society. Islamic art tells a story of our heritage, which can be often misunderstood, the Multaka-Oxford programme bridges these gaps and brings museum collections to life. This partnership is a true testament to the power of art and role of creative industries in enhancing social development. This project mirrors the successful Multaka programme at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin which we have been proud to support. We look forward to a fruitful partnership.”
Alwaleed Philanthropies are an international philanthropic organisation collaborating with a range of philanthropic, governmental, and educational organisations across 189 countries to combat poverty, empower women and youth, develop communities, provide disaster relief, and create cultural understanding through education. For the last 40 years their work has sought to innovate and foster a new meaning of peace and inclusiveness through education, art, and conversational exchange between communities.
Benin Bronzes: Statement from Oxford University's Gardens, Libraries and Museums 29 March 2021
Oxford University's Gardens, Libraries and Museums hold approximately 105 objects taken during the 1897 looting of Benin City; they are currently under the stewardship of the Pitt Rivers Museum.
The Pitt Rivers Museum has been working with Nigerian stakeholders, including representatives of the Royal Court and the Legacy Restoration Trust, to identify best ways forward regarding the care and return of these objects from the Court currently in the museums' care. Delegates from the Royal Court have visited Pitt Rivers (in 2017 and again in 2018), and representatives from the Pitt Rivers visited Nigeria in 2019 as part of the Benin Dialogue Group. This work is part of the Museum's continuous programme to research the composition and provenance of the collections and identify collections that were taken as part of military violence or looting, or otherwise contentious circumstances and engage in conversations with external partners about the future care of these objects.
Since 2017 the Museum has been part of the Benin Dialogue Group and subsequently the Digital Benin Project, a multi-lateral collaborative working group, bringing together museum directors and delegates from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, with representatives of the Edo State Government, the Royal Court of Benin and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria. Member museums are seeking to address the issues of return and restitution within their own governance structures. There are different laws that apply in different countries to the field of culture and the return of cultural objects. Conversation are developing at a differing pace in the various countries for initiating permanent returns.
We acknowledge the profound loss the 1897 looting of Benin City caused and, alongside our partners of the Benin Dialogue Group, we aim to work with stakeholders in Nigeria to be part of a process of redress.
Any request for the return of these artefacts would fall within article 2.2 of Oxford University's Procedures for claims for the return of Cultural Objects.
More information at https://prm.web.ox.ac.uk/committed-to-change.
Oxford University study leads cutting-edge scientific and historic analysis of elephant tusks found in 500-year old shipwreck 17 December 2020
An international team, including researchers from Oxford University, has discovered the origin of the largest cargo of African ivory found from the oldest shipwreck in southern Africa. This unique story that links shipwrecks, precious gold and silver cargo, diamond mining and elephants also highlights the extensive depletion of the West African forest elephant due to the ivory trade and the need for conservation of this majestic animal. Further information.
New Collecting Awards help curators to expand and diversify museums’ collections 3 December 2020
On 3 December 2020 Art Fund announced £300,000 in funding to help grow and diversify museum collections, awarded to rising curators through Art Fund’s New Collecting Awards. Five UK curators, including Marenka Thompson-Odlum at the Pitt Rivers Museum, have been announced as the latest winners of the New Collecting Awards and will receive funding to pursue projects that build and diversify their museums’ holdings. These awards give curators 100% funding to research and buy works that grow collections in new directions or deepen existing ones. At Pitt Rivers, the funding will be used to collect contemporary works by indigenous artists and address the colonial history of collections. Further information.
Pitt Rivers Museum reopening reveals critical changes to displays as part of decolonisation process 14 September 2020
When the Pitt Rivers Museum reopens its doors to the public on 22 September 2020, visitors will see changes to some of the Museum's more contentious displays. Following an internal Review of Displays and Programming from an Ethical Perspective, all displays containing human remains have now been removed, including the popular 'shrunken heads' and new displays have been installed. These new displays give an insight into how the Museum formed its collections and explain how some of the historic labels have obscured deeper understanding of other cultures, reinforcing racism and stereotypes. Further information.
Pitt Rivers Museum and Museum of Natural History to reopen on 22 September 8 September 2020
The Pitt Rivers Museum and the Museum of Natural History are delighted to announce that they will both reopen to the public on Tuesday 22 September. Dr Laura Van Broekhoven, Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, says: “I am delighted we can now open our doors again and welcome our much-missed audiences. I look forward to seeing the Museum come alive while visitors wander around enthused, inspired and surprised by the Pitt Rivers’ unique space that holds a world within.” Further information.
Major Funding Award from the Arts Council Designated Development Fund, 17 December 2019
The Pitt Rivers Museum is delighted to announce that it has been awarded £90,000 from the Arts Council Designated Development Fund, drawn from the National Lottery. This funding will enable a project to undertake conservation, research, photography and digitisation of the Museum's internationally significant textile and clothing collections. These are unique and have importance for makers, elders and researchers from the communities which they originated from, as well as the wider public. As part of this work, the Museum will also train staff in digital photography and work with communities in the UK and overseas, to ensure users are at the heart of the research. https://bit.ly/35vYHzw
Participants Sought for TORCH-Pitt Rivers Museum Knowledge Exchange Project about BAME and Queer Networks in Oxford
Professor Michèle Mendelssohn is running a TORCH-Pitt Rivers Museum Knowledge Exchange Project about BAME and queer networks in Oxford from the late 19th century to today. This is a trans-historical project that weaves together stories from Oxford's past and present using objects in the Pitt Rivers Museum. Her research aims to address the University's intersectional and intellectual history from a local, social and global perspective. She will be running a series of workshops in the coming months involving members of the Oxford community, city, students, staff and alumni.
Oxford University Museums win Collections Trust Award 2019 for project working with forced migrants, 16 September 2019
An award-winning project at the Pitt Rivers Museum and the History of Science Museum has received further recognition for its work creating volunteering opportunities for forced migrants. Multaka-Oxford was named winner of the 2019 Collections Trust Award at a ceremony on Thursday 12 September. The annual award recognises the often unsung achievements of those who manage museum collections. Further information.
Professor Michèle Mendelssohn awarded TORCH-Pitt Rivers Museum KE Fellowship, 4 September 2019
Professor Michèle Mendelssohn has been awarded the TORCH-Pitt Rivers Museum Knowledge Exchange Fellowship. Dr Chris Morton, Head of Research at Pitt Rivers Museum, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Professor Michèle Mendelssohn as a TORCH-Pitt Rivers Museum Knowledge Exchange Fellow this autumn to work in conjunction with our current Beyond the Binary project colleagues on the fascinating and important project, 'Queer students of colour at Oxford from 1900 to the present day’. We look forward to working with her and to sharing the outputs of her project with our various audiences.” Further information.
Professor Clare Harris is elected to a Fellowship of the British Academy, 19 July 2019
The Pitt Rivers Museum is delighted to announce that Professor Clare Harris has been elected to the Fellowship of the British Academy in recognition of her outstanding research on visual/material culture of the Himalayas, Tibet and the Tibetan diaspora. In awarding the title of Fellow, the British Academy celebrates the achievements of scholars who have attained distinction in one or more fields in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Professor Harris's work engages with anthropology, art history and critical museology. In her analyses of art, photography, museums, collections histories, colonial and post-colonial constructions of knowledge, and the politics of representation, she has pioneered new approaches to the study of Tibet, past and present. Professor Harris is also internationally recognised for her collaborations with Tibetan artists, innovative exhibitions, digital projects and award-winning publications. Further information.
Pitt Rivers Museum wins University Public Engagement with Research Award
The Pitt Rivers Museum has won a Building Capacity Award in the 2019 University of Oxford Vice-Chancellor's Public Engagement with Research Awards. These awards celebrate excellence in public engagement across the University. The announcement was made at an awards ceremony hosted by Vice-Chancellor Professor Louise Richardson at Keble College, Oxford, on 10 July 2019. Press Release
Tsherin Sherpa is 'Artist in Residence' at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford
The internationally acclaimed Tibetan/Nepalese artist, Tsherin Sherpa, has been visiting the Pitt Rivers Museum in June and July 2019 with funding from an Origins and Futures grant to conduct research on the Museum's collections from Tibet and the Himalayas. This will lead to an installation and exhibition inspired by the spaces, histories and objects of the Pitt Rivers, that will be on display in the Museum in 2022. Tsherin's residency is hosted by Clare Harris, Professor of Visual Anthropology and Curator for Asian Collections at the Pitt Rivers.
Tsherin Sherpa is a contemporary artist based between Nepal and California, USA. Having trained as a painter with his father and other distinguished artists of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, he has made his name by reinventing the iconography and stylistic vocabulary of that heritage to produce dramatic compositions that engage with global audiences. For more information on the artist see https://bit.ly/327K04b.
Multaka-Oxford Volunteer Team wins Museums + Heritage Award
On 15 May 2019 the winners of the 17th Annual Museums + Heritage Awards were announced. The Multaka-Oxford Volunteer Team (Pitt Rivers Museum & History of Science Museum) won Volunteer Team of the Year. Talking about the Multaka-Oxford Volunteer Team, Diane lees CBE, Director General of the Imperial War Museums and Chair of the 2019 judging panel, said: "The genuine mutual benefit to both organisation and volunteer is clear to see with this winning team. They have shared their experience, insight and expertise to collaborate and to reach new audiences, helping the museums to be more relevant and accessible to their communities." Press Release
Pitt Rivers Museum shortlisted for £100,000 Art Fund Museum of the Year 2019
On 25 April 2019 it was announced that the Pitt Rivers Museum has been selected as one of five finalists for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2019, regarded as the largest and most prestigious museum prize in the world. The annual award celebrates innovation and exceptional achievement in museums and galleries across the UK. The other four museums shortlisted are HMS Caroline, Belfast; Nottingham Contemporary; St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff; and V&A Dundee. Art Fund Museum of the Year 2019 Press Release.
Museum Curators receive £200,000 to boost research through Headley Fellowships with Art Fund
On 7 March 2019 it was announced that Professor Dan Hicks, Curator of Archaeology at the Pitt Rivers Museum, is one of the first recipients of funding from the Headley Fellowships with Art Fund. This is a new funding programme to give curators the opportunity to further develop specialist knowledge relating to the collections in their care. Professor Hicks will be researching the untold colonial histories in the Pitt Rivers collections. Project dates: April 2019 - March 2020. Further information.
Pitt Rivers Museum wins DCMS/Wolfson funding for Engaging the Senses Project
14 Jan 2019
It was announced on 14 January 2019 that the Pitt Rivers Museum had been awarded £70,500 in the latest round of DCMS/Wolfson funding awards, aimed at helping museums increase access to their collections. This award will fund Engaging the Senses: Activating the Pitt Rivers Museum’s Photograph and Sound Collections through digital audio-visual technology. This project will improve visitors’ engagement and introduce elements of digital exploration and learning in the galleries for a variety of audiences. A digital interactive table top, listening station and interactive screen will display unique photographs and sound collections, improving the visitor experience for visitors with disabilities, local communities and the wider public. Further information.
Multaka-Oxford Project starts at Pitt Rivers Museum and Museum of History of Science
Multaka-Oxford is a project funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund until September 2019. It focuses on two collections at the museums: Islamic astronomical instruments at the History of Science Museum, and a recent acquisition of textiles from the Middle East at the Pitt Rivers. The project aims to involve displaced people in the daily work of the museums through the creation of inclusive volunteer opportunities, empowering them to deliver all aspects of the project – from collections research to public engagement. Click here for further information.
Pitt Rivers Museum wins Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund award
The Pitt Rivers Museum and the History of Science Museum have been successful in securing a major grant in support of a programme which will enable those affected by forced migration to play an important role through curation and public engagement with relevant collections. The Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund has awarded £120,000 as part of its drive to fund collections development projects for social impact. Further information.
Repatriation of Māori Ancestral Remains
On Wednesday 17 May 2017, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford handed over to representatives of the Karanga Repatriation Programme of Te Papa Tongarewa (The National Museum of New Zealand) the Māori ancestral remains previously cared for at the University of Oxford’s Pitt Rivers Museum. The remains comprise seven toi moko (‘ancestral mummified heads’), and three kōiwi tangata (parts of a skull). The handover ceremony was attended by Sir Jerry Mateparae, GNZM, QSO, KStJ, the High Commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom, colleagues from Te Papa Tongarewa, and members of Ngāti Rānana (the London Māori Club). Also in attendance were senior officers and members of the University; representatives from the British Museum, the Natural History Museum (London), and the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Archaeology; and members of the Museum’s staff. More information.
Forest + Found Visiting Maker Residency
We are pleased to announce Forest + Found as our 2017 VERVE Visiting Maker Residency duo. Forest + Found artists Abigail Booth and Max Bainbridge are a fine art collaboration focusing on material and process. As VERVE Artists in Residence, Max and Abi's work will be inspired by the archaeology redisplays, looking at the changing forms and functions of objects from prehistory to modern day.
An LGBTQ+ Trail of the University of Oxford's Collections
For LGBT History Month 2017, the University has launched a new project: Out in Oxford. Volunteers and curators have worked together to create a trail of objects throughout the University’s gardens, libraries and museums. The trail celebrates the diversity of Oxford's collections, and uncovers queer stories associated with these objects.
Diversifying the University Voice – IT Innovation Award
The Pitt Rivers Museum, in partnership with TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities), has been awarded £60,000 from the University of Oxford IT Innovation Challenges Fund to create two mobile apps to share Oxford’s diverse voices, stories, research and collections to a wider public. Further information.
Professor Laura Peers wins Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement with Research 2016
The Pitt Rivers Museum is delighted to announce that Professor Laura Peers has won a Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Public Engagement with Research. These awards, inaugurated in early 2016 and announced on 1 July 2016, recognise and reward those who undertake high-quality public engagement with research and have contributed to building capacity in this area. Professor Peers won an award in the Project category with the outstanding Great Box project, a partnership project with the Haida Gwaii Museum and artists Jaalen Edenshaw and Gwaii Edenshaw. Further information about the award
On the Move
The Pitt Rivers Museum is home to more than 300,000 ethnographic and archaeological objects from around the world. It is known for its dense displays and has more than 30,000 objects on show in the galleries. However, the majority of the collection is stored in off-site facilities. Over the next two years, the collections housed at the largest of these facilities will be moving closer to the Museum.
Appointment of new Director of Pitt Rivers Museum
Dr Laura Van Broekhoven, Head of the Curatorial Department and Curator of Middle and South America at the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (encompassing the Tropenmuseum, Volkenkunde and Afrika Museum) in the Netherlands and Assistant Professor of Archaeology at Leiden University, has been appointed as the new Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum. She will take up the directorship on 1 March 2016. Press release.
DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund Award
The Pitt Rivers Museum is delighted to have been awarded nearly £40,000 from DCMS/Wolfson Foundation's Museum and Galleries Improvement Fund.
The Award will enable the Museum to commission major new cases in which to display some of its outstanding collection of model artefacts, ranging from temples to tipis, from planes to palanquins and from canoes to igloos. The new cases, which will be in period style, will be arranged to form a fresh space in the heart of the displays, where staff can introduce all the collections to the burgeoning number of visitors. Further information.
DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund award
The Pitt Rivers Museum is delighted to have been awarded £64,845 from DCMS/Wolfson Foundation’s Museum and Galleries Improvement Fund. The award will enable the purchase of a major new display case in which to exhibit one of the Museum’s most important collections – that brought back from Captain Cook’s voyages to the South Seas in the 18th century.
Pitt Rivers Museum curator's book wins major US prize – January 2014
The Pitt Rivers Museum is delighted to announce that Dr Clare Harris's book The Museum on the Roof of the World: Art, Politics, and the Representation of Tibet has been awarded the 2013 E. Gene Smith Inner Asia Book Prize by the Association for Asian Studies. Press release.
Pitt Rivers Museum wins £1m Heritage Lottery Funding
We are delighted to announce that we have received a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund of £1,049,400 towards our £1.6m project VERVE (Visitors, Engagement, Renewal, Visibility, Enrichment).
‘Excavating Pitt-Rivers’ Project
The Victorian archaeologist General Pitt-Rivers is world-famous for his development of modern scientific archaeology, but the earliest archaeological collections that he made have never been studied. The Pitt Rivers Museum, where these artefacts are held, has been awarded £76,654 by Arts Council England’s Designation Development Fund to document this important early material.
Small Blessings – Amulets at the Pitt Rivers website launched August 2012
Explore these curious objects from Adrien de Mortillet's amulet collection and discover the intriguing stories behind them. See the website here.
Composer residency
We are delighted to announce that Sound and Music has awarded Nathaniel Robin Mann a joint residency with Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford Contemporary Music (OCM) through their ‘Embedded’ programme.
Renaissance Major Grant from Arts Council England – 2012 to 2015
The Pitt Rivers Museum, as part of an Oxford University and Oxfordshire County Museums consortium, has been awarded a Renaissance ‘Major Grant’ from Arts Council England (ACE).
