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Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology

Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology / Exhibits / Past Exhibits

PAST GALLERY EXHIBITS

Revisiting Frederick Catherwood's Cities of the Maya

Frederick Catherwood, English architect, illustrator, and adventurer, accompanied John Lloyd Stephens across Central America to explore and document Maya ruins (1839-1840 and 1841-1842). In this exhibit we revisit some of his illustrations and compare them to images from our archives. Note the site changes over time from excavations, reconstruction, and tourism, and see the influence of Catherwood’s ideas and methodologies in modern archaeology.

BARK CLOTH PAINTINGS

These paintings were amongst the vast collection of art objects donated in 2007 by Moreno and Dagmar Gabay. While these bark cloth paintings are made in different regions, all highlight the use of natural pigments in designs reflecting landscape on a medium sourced from the local environment.

Bringing the Tse'K'wa Collection Home

The Tse’K’wa Collection Exhibit is a visual display of the engagement of SFU students with Mr. Donaldson's collection, as they organized the artifacts from buckets and bins to reposit-ready and highlights it’s eventual repatriation to the Treaty 8 Tribal Association. After its return to the Peace River, the collection will be part of the first collection of the new Tse'K'wa Interpretive Centre at Charlie Lake.

Conservation on a Miniature Scale

Each of the 17 Bolivian dolls on exhibit were carefully examined and documented in order to determine what needed to be done to consolidate, and conserve these dolls. Can you see the fine netting Debbie placed over the decaying silk? Can you tell the difference between the reconstructed faces and hair and the originals? The results of many hours, focus and careful concentration in the best lighting possible, are now on display.;

Go Geocaching! 

Thanks to Department of Archaeology graduate student, Kelly Brown, the MAE has a new and exciting geocaching exhibit to participate in! Geocaching is an activity where, using the official Geocaching app on your phone, you follow GPS coordinates to locations where people have hidden trinkets, notes, and more. Our geocache exhibit is live on the app. 

Homo naledi

Homo naledi, the recently discovered new species of ancient hominin found in South Africa, is one of the most intriguing finds of last year. Dr. Marina Elliot, an SFU alumna who participated in the suspenseful cave excavation, gave these 3D models to the SFU Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. 3D models allow for an interactive element in museums, giving people the chance to touch and compare these ancient human bones to theirs. Feel free to ask a museum employee for a closer look at these models! This exhibit was possibly the first to put H. naledi on display. 
WHAT IS X-RAY FLUORESCENCE?
BRINGING THE TSE'K'WA COLLECTION HOME

The Tse’K’wa Collection Exhibit is a visual display of the engagement of SFU students with Mr. Donaldson's collection which will be part of the first collection of the new Tse'K'wa Interpretive Centre at Charlie Lake.

HOMO NALEDI

Possibly the first public showing of Homo naledi. This exhibit displays 3D prints of the reconstructed skull, hand and foot of Homo naledi donated by Dr. Marina Elliot (SFU Archaeology, Alumna & Post-Doc), along with a number of resources related to the discovery and research of the puzzling new finds from Rising Star Cave in South Africa. While we do not yet have dates for the H. naledi assemblage, through comparisons with anatomically modern humans and fossil hominins, you can guess at the evolutionary relationships between these species. Compare the H. naledi skull (centre) with Homo sapiens (left) and Australopithecus africanus (right). 

Created by Dr. Barabara Winter
Note the skull cast is a composite, with the mandible from a larger individual scaled down to fit the smaller cranium of a different individual.

For more on H. naledi visit "Meet Neo: Your Distant Cousin?" in Frontiers for Young Minds by Dr. Becca Peixotto and Dr. Marina Elliot. 

https://kids.frontiersin.org

MAMMOTHS OF NORTH AMERICA

Teeth, tusks, bones—how do scientists reconstruct the lives and appearance of mammoths from the skeletons left behind in the ground? 'Mammoths of North America' displays real mammoth fossils from the Museum’s collection and explains how each piece of evidence recovered contributes to our knowledge of the individual and species as a whole. It also compares and contrasts the two species of mammoth that lived in North America, the Columbian and Woolly Mammoths. Finally, it looks at whether mammoths could and should be resurrected with modern technologies to walk the Earth once more.

Created by Christie Pollock
WAYANG KULIT: MASTERING THE SHADOWS

Mastering the Shadows exhibit explores the story of Ramayana and its portrayal using Wayang Shadow puppets. The Ramayana is a story about the battle between good and evil, and originated in India between 500 BCE to 100 BCE. Wayang Kulit is an important cultural tradition in Indonesia, and has been for many generations. The Wayang Kulit shadow puppets in our collection were made between 1870 and 1920, and were donated to the Museum by Dr. Ferdinand Chen and his family in 1996.

Created by Jaclyn McLeod and Janelle Berg

 

Canoes, Lifeways, Waterways

This exhibit displays the following designs: the dugout canoe, the northern canoe, the west coast canoe, the baidarka, the birch bark canoe, and the racing canoe. Models of canoes can offer a unique insight into the history and construction of canoes across the Pacific Northwest.  At times, model canoes are the only record of specific watercraft and the methods used in their construction.

Wayang Kulit, Mastering the Shadows

The SFU MAE has a large collection of Indonesian shadow puppets (wayang kulit), a portion of which are newly on exhibit. These shadow puppets are intricately crafted and have detailed design. The shadow puppets are characters from Ramayan, the story of the battle between good and evil. Made from paper, the real magic of these puppets are the shadows they cast. They are an important and long-standing element of Indonesian culture and tradition. 

Rocks to Rockets

While humans were evolving biologically, we were also developing various technologies, like fire and clothing, that improved our ability to adapt to our environment. Among these technologies were ones that allowed us to propel heavy or sharp projectiles to hunt animals for food.

Mammoths of North America

Teeth, tusks, bones—how do scientists reconstruct the lives and appearance of mammoths from the skeletons left behind in the ground? 'Mammoths of North America' displays real mammoth fossils from the Museum’s collection and explains how each piece of evidence recovered contributes to our knowledge of the individual and species as a whole.

WOOD, STONE, AND BONE TOOLS
SAILING THE RED SEA
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MARITIME EXPLORATIONS

The exhibit Sailing the Red Sea: Ancient Egyptian Martime Explorations, features the Ancient Egyptian archaeological site of Mersa/Wadi Gawasis. As you journey amongst the panels, read about Ancient Egyptian red sea traditions and explorations. While you explore the site, follow the tale of the shipwrecked sailor, a Middle Kingdom story that tells the adventure of a sailor's journey on the Red Sea to the land of Punt.

By Dr. Elizabeth Peterson. 

PLAINS REGALIA

For SFU's 50th anniversary in 2015, Tiinesha Begaye and Hilary Pennock created an exhibit of this magnificent Plains beaded costume.  It was purchased from an antique shop in Calgary in 1972 by Dr. Roy Carlson and has never been exhibited in the Museum gallery before.  Hilary and Tiinesha cleaned the costume, repaired the beading, modified a mannequin to conservation standards, mounted the costume on the mannequin and wrote the interpretive text for the large display.  A big project, well done!

Created by Tiinesha Begaye and Hilary Pennock

 

PACIFIC NORTHWEST STONE AND BONE CARVINGS

The Pacific Northwest region has some of the most studied First Nations cultures in the world. The diverse and rich cultures of this region have captivated both ethnographers and archaeologists since the beginning the disciplines. This exhibit showcases figural artifacts that were recovered from this region. Compare the art style of these ancient artifacts to the contemporary art in the large exhibit case near it (see 'Permanent Exhibits/Cultural Traditions'), or the masks on the south wall. We can see similar artistic traditions practiced over a 3,500 year span, attesting to the antiquity of the Northwest Coast art style.

Created by Duncan McLeod

ARCHIVED DIGITAL EXHIBITS

*PLEASE NOTE: These websites have been preserved for historical purposes. Some of the views and opinions expressed within these pages may have changed since their original publication. Much of the information within these sites may now be outdated. 

KEATLEY CREEK
...A Look Into the Past