Our blog this week is from Katie Davenport-Mackey, Museum Visitor Services Assistant at UCL Culture.

This week’s blog focuses on a figurine of a hippopotamus (UC16780) on display in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. This is one of several figurines excavated by Sir William Mathew Flinders Petrie in 1889-1890 at the town associated with the pyramid of King Senwosret II. This figurine was treated with some attention and carefully honed into the shape of a hippopotamus but its original function is a matter of debate…

Figurine of a hippopotamus (UC16780) illustrated by Antonio Barcellona

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UC7205: A child’s toy pig

We have some exciting news about Specimen of the Week! We’re expanding the scope of SOTW to include more UCL Museums and collections. Here’s the first blog from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, and keep your eyes peeled for blogs about specimens and objects from UCL Art Museum, UCL Pathology Museum and more as well as your favourites from the Grant Museum.

In a display case in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology stands a little mud figure of a pig. At least it is thought to be a pig. It is so small, no bigger than a thumb nail, that you would be excused for not noticing it among the dense displays of archaeological objects. This figurine was originally thought to be a toy made by a child, but is that really true? (more…)