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Prehistoric Lives in the Trent Valley
This month’s ‘Museum News’ highlights three recently opened exhibitions, the first of which can be found at the University of Nottingham Museum.
Prehistoric Lives in the Trent Valley traces how communities settled, lived, and adapted within the ever-changing landscape of the Trent Valley, and how the river shaped human activity over a period of 10,000 years.
Drawing together decades of investigation into one of Britain’s most important river systems, the displays combine excavated artefacts with details of environmental evidence including sediments, pollen, and animal remains to offer illuminating insights into the daily lives of the valley’s earliest inhabitants, including new research.
The exhibition will run until 10 January 2027. The University of Nottingham Museum is open noon to 4pm Thursday to Sunday; entry is free. For more details, see http://www.lakesidearts.org.uk/exhibition/prehistoric-lives-in-the-trent-valley.
Drawn from the Archives
Turning our focus to Fort George, near Inverness, another new exhibition showcases the diverse drawings held in Historic Environment Scotland’s archives.
Drawn from the Archives brings together different styles of drawings from various time periods, from historic maps to on-site archaeological sketches, as well as specially commissioned creations responding to the exhibition’s themes. The displays explore what these images tell us about our built environment, and how drawing continues to play a vital role in recording historic sites alongside photography, encouraging archaeologists to engage more deeply with what they observe, as drawings require careful attention to texture, position, and detail.
Drawn from the Archives runs until 23 November 2026. Entry is included in admission to the fort (from £10; free for HES members). For more information, see http://www.historicenvironment.scot/whats-on.
Discover the Durotriges
Our third and final exhibition offers another innovative way of capturing the past: a new, permanent display at Wareham Town Museum in Dorset, which features highly accurate 3D-printed models of Iron Age burials.
Since 2009, Bournemouth University archaeologists have been leading the Durotriges Project at Winterborne Kingston, excavating more than 100 graves belonging to the Durotriges people who inhabited the area 2,000 years ago – and who, unlike many contemporary communities, preferred to bury rather than cremate their dead (see CA 281 and 313). Some of these burials have now been recreated in three dimensions in a collaboration between Bournemouth University’s archaeological team and the National Research Centre for Computer Animation, using photogrammetric scans taken during recent excavations to produce roughly A4-sized replicas with millimetre-level accuracy.
In the first exhibition of its kind, six of the models have now been mounted on the wall at Wareham Museum, and three more are positioned on a lower shelf where they can be handled by visitors who are blind or visually impaired – and by anyone else interested in a more hands-on approach to the past.
Wareham Town Museum is open 10am-4pm Monday to Saturday; entry is free. For more information about visiting, see http://www.warehamtownmuseum.org.
Images: York Archaeology/Alan Fletcher (above); Records of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (top)
New exhibitions
The Bayeux Tapestry
British Museum, London
10 September 2026-11 July 2027
http://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/bayeux-tapestry
Tides of Treasure
National Waterfront Museum, Swansea
Until 26 June 2027
https://museum.wales/swansea/whatson/12967/Tides-of-Treasure
Port Stories
Marlipins Museum, Shoreham-by-Sea
Until 31 October 2026
https://figmentarts.org.uk/project/port-stories
Last chance to see
Marking Time
Stanley Mills, Perth
Until 27 September 2026
http://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit/all/stanley-mills/whats-on
Treasure! Lost and found
Dorset Museum & Art Gallery, Dorchester
Until 13 September 2026
http://www.dorsetmuseum.org/whats-on/treasure
Living by the Rule: contemporary meets medieval
University of East Anglia, Norwich
Until 4 October 2026
http://sainsburycentre.ac.uk/whats-on/living-by-the-rule-contemporary-meets-medieval
