Museum news

This article is from Current Archaeology issue 441

Subscribe now for full access and no adverts

Celebrating local finders

As part of its recent year-long transformation (see CA 436), Worthing Museum has launched a new display case within its Archaeology Gallery, celebrating local finders who have recorded their discoveries through the Portable Antiquities Scheme (https://finds.org.uk).

With contents rotating every six months, the case highlights members of the public who have found archaeology in the Worthing or wider Sussex area, whether through metal-detecting, field-walking, or by chance. The inaugural display features Kevin Paine, a metal-detectorist who has spent many years surveying in the South Downs; he has helped to reveal three previously unknown sites in the area, and continues to help local archaeologists in their research. A selection of Kevin’s discoveries is now on show, including a Neolithic flint axe; Roman and Anglo-Saxon brooches; Iron Age, Roman, medieval, and Tudor coins; and his current favourite find: a 9th-century silver strap-end with Trewhiddle-style decoration.

Upcoming Mary, Queen of Scots exhibition

A major new exhibition set to open at the National Museum of Scotland next summer aims to challenge perceptions about Mary, Queen of Scots, presenting her in both a Scottish and European context, and expanding the story of her life beyond the familiar facts of her violent death.

Due to run from 12 June to 14 November 2027, Mary, Queen of Scots: Renaissance and Resistance will feature around 100 loans from across the UK and Europe, some of which have never been seen in Scotland before. The exhibition will explore Mary’s upbringing at the French court, the political and religious turmoil that she had to navigate on returning to Scotland as a widowed teenager, the cultural vibrancy of 16th-century Scotland, and the impact of the Scottish Reformation and the European Renaissance.

Highlights include the ornate Penicuik jewels, said to have belonged to the queen, and a silver casket that is believed to have once held the correspondence and sonnets that played a dramatic role in Mary’s ultimate downfall. See http://www.nms.ac.uk/mqs for more details.

Inaugural exhibition to be held in the London Museum’s vaults announced

The first exhibition to be staged in the London Museum’s underground vaults, set to open in spring 2027, will focus on Roman London.

Londinium: the making of a Roman city will feature previously unseen objects from the Bloomberg Collection, showcasing how over a decade of research into the thousands of artefacts recovered during MOLA’s excavations on the Bloomberg site in central London (see CA 280) has painted a vivid picture of a rural landscape transforming into a thriving urban centre, and the everyday experiences of the people who called this area home. Displays will include Roman wax writing tablets (CA 317; below); an infant’s feeding bottle; a coin of Nero, illustrating how quickly Londinium became connected to the Roman Empire; and Britain’s earliest-known Eurasian cockroach eggs, from a Roman bakery oven.

Complementing these insights, the museum’s permanent galleries (which will open to the public on 28 November 2026) span London’s prehistory to milestone events like the Great Fire, the Blitz, and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. See http://www.londonmuseum.org.uk for more information.

New exhibitions

Treasures of the Norman World: loans from the Wyvern Collection
Norwich Castle Museum
Until 7 September 2027
http://www.norwichcastle.norfolk.gov.uk

ChichestHER: celebrating the lives and legacies of women in Chichester District
The Novium Museum, Chichester
Until 17 April 2027
http://www.thenovium.org/chichesther

Streets Above
Segedunum Roman Fort, Wallsend
Until 21 March 2027
http://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/segedunum/whats-on/streets-above

Ravenser Odd: the sunken island of the Humber
North Lincolnshire Museum, Scunthorpe
Until 6 January 2027
https://northlincolnshiremuseum.co.uk/event/ravenser-odd

Dressed for Duty: fashion, function and the British Army, 1800 2026
Dorset Museum & Art Gallery
Until 13 December 2026
http://www.dorsetmuseum.org/whats-on/dressed-for-duty