The wonders of Easter Island feature in Treasures: Adventures in Archaeology. 

Easter Island, in the Pacific Ocean, is the most isolated inhabited island; its closest neighbour being over 1,200 miles away.  The first inhabitants of Easter Island were explorers who sailed from the Polynesian islands to the west.  There is still a debate as to when they first arrived but they would have been settled by AD 1100 or 1200.  Over the next several centuries the Rapa Nui, as the island and the people were known, created the iconic moai statues out of the volcanic rock.  It wasn’t until 1722 when the first recorded Europeans visited that the island received the name we all know it by today.  Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen arrived to the island on Easter Sunday in 1722 and thought what better name for an island than Easter, or more correctly Paaseiland in Dutch.  Today, Easter Island is part of Chile and is officially referred to as Isla de Pascua.

Easter Island moai (by Mary Davis)

 

The Rapa Nui created almost 900 statues during their centuries of isolation from the rest of the world.  There was a central quarry and it appears that the statues were to line the coast of the island.  Despite the large number, only a quarter were erected on stone platforms along the coast.  About half of the statues never left the quarry and others look as if they were left along the side of the paths towards the coastal areas.  The statues ranged in size, the largest being 32 feet tall and weighing 82 tons. 

Easter Island moai (by Mary Davis)

It wasn't until the early 20th century that historians and archaeologists first arrived to study the enigmatic statues.  They wanted to know what the moai symbolised and how they were moved.  Since there is no written record to shed light on the motivation behind the statues, archaeologists had to look to the more recent Rapa Nui culture.  Like many other civilisations, worship of ancestors was part of the islanders' culture.  Most agree that the moai were probably symbols of important ancestors and that the erecting of the statues would ensure luck or success.  In trying to understand how these massive moai were transported around the island, the most obvious theory seemed to be that they used logs and a sledge to roll them.  This was a technique thought to have been used to move the stones at Stonehenge and the blocks for the Pyramids.  However, this theory has been challenged because it would have required hundreds of people to operate the sledge and logs and the population of the island appears to have been always rather small.  According to Rapa Nui tradition, the statues walked to their final resting place.   Archaeologists recently experimented with this theory using a replica statue.  By tying ropes around the head and rocking it back and forth it was possible to move the statue forward; almost like it was walking!

Easter Island moai in Rano Raraku quarry (by Mary Davis)

The days are getting longer and we’re feeling inspired by our great new Treasures exhibition. Let us help you begin your adventure with our top 5 exhibition gifts. 

1. Fire starter

Need to get things burning? Gentlemen's Hardware makes things easier with their glorious firestarter gadget – a safe and simple tool that creates a spark to start your fire when camping or out in the wild.

2. Lost Cities board game

The research teams are outfitted and ready to embark on their adventures to find five forgotten cities. Who will lead the way to fantastic discoveries?

3. Food flask

The adventure can begin with this black flask that provides ample room to keep soups or smoothies warm or cool. With a stainless steel lid hiding a screw top lid that keeps the contents secure and prevents heat loss, making the perfect gift.

4. Archaeology Kit

Learn the basics of carefully recording and unearthing treasures of the past.

5. Prisoners of the Sun (The Adventures of Tintin)

The Adventures of Tintin continue to charm more than 80 years after they first found their way into publication. Since then an estimated 230 million copies have been sold, proving that comic books have the same power to entertain children and adults in the 21st century as they did in the early 20th.

If you've been watching lambcam you'll have seen that sometimes our sheep get a little bit of help to give birth from our farm team. So for those of you who might be wondering what's actually going on in there...

As the ewe goes in to labour, her contractions push the lamb towards the outside world. The position of the lamb is known as ‘presentation’.  It affects whether the ewe will be able to manage the birth on her own or might need some help from the shepherd.

1. Ideal: Head and forelegs first. The most streamlined position – usually no help needed.
2. One leg back aka ‘Superman’: May need help to push the lamb back and straighten the leg.
3. Two legs back: Needs help to push the head back and bring the legs forward.
4. Head Back: Needs help to push the lamb back and bring the head forward.
5. Backwards: Although the ewe can deliver the lamb herself, there is a risk of the umbilical cord breaking before the head is out. This may result in the lamb drowning before birth.
6. Breech (bottom first): Help will always be needed to sort this one out.
7. Multiple mix ups: Twins, triplets and even quads can be no problem to deliver if they come one at a time. But sometimes things get tangled up in there and help is needed!

Thanks to Wynfford the Training Lamb and Flat Eric for their modelling work

Guest blog by St Fagans Youth Forum members - Amy Gifford, Kate Gregory & Beth Ivey-Williams - live from Bryn Eryr!

Hello everyone. We’re the St Fagans Youth Forum and today (12 March) we’re helping to build an Iron Age bread oven at Bryn Eryr. Ian, the Museum’s Interpreter, has been busy researching traditional building methods and the history of bread ovens through time. In this blog, we’ll take you through part one of the process. So if you fancy building your own pizza oven for your garden at home, follow our guide below.

Step 1

Use wooden stakes to mix local ‘clom’ (clay), water and sand to a thick dough. Patience and perseverance essential! Some would say it’s quite therapeutic; a weird kind of stress buster!

Tip from Amy: “Go with your gut instinct. You’ll know when the dough is at the right consistency.”

Step 2

Mix dry sand with water. Use the mixture to build a dome (former) in the centre of the oven base. Ian pre-made the base out of clay and a flat stone. When building the dome, even out the sides for a rounded finish. Don’t use too much water.

Tip from Beth: “You’ll have to get your hands dirty, but it’s just like building a sand castle.”

Step 3

Build-up your dome to a rounded arch.

Tip from Kate: “Keep warm as you work. Your hands will get very cold as you sculpt the wet material.”

Step 4

Smooth off all the sand and cover your dome with strips of damp newspaper. This is a bit like papier mâché.

Step 5

Cover the dome with the clay mixture you prepared earlier in step 1. Let it set for two days.

Step 6

To be continued!

I volunteer one day per week with National Museum Cardiff’s Preventive Conservation team who is responsible for the care of the museum’s collections.

So what constitutes a typical day in the life of a Preventive Conservation volunteer? Typical is not a word that you can really use because it is pretty rare that we’ll be doing the same thing two weeks in a row. Looking after museum collections involves many diverse jobs.

My first ever task as a volunteer was to replace the silica gel in some of the object storage boxes in one of the Archaeology stores. Each of the plastic boxes contains a unique object. The silica gel keeps the object dry, which prevents metals corroding, for example helmets and swords. It’s pretty exciting to work in a museum store, see different parts of the past and know that you had a hand in preserving objects for the future.

What else has this volunteer done? Spot checking for pests in the Entomology store was a pretty strange experience. We look over the insect collections for signs of pest damage. Yes, the dead insects in the store are at risk of being eating by live insects! It really gives this sense of awe and then sadness when you see beautiful insects, both large and small, that you’d never imagined you’d see in real life and then you spot parts where they’ve been eaten by a pest. Looking over the collection regularly, and spotting pest activity early, means that specimens are not damaged by pests.

Most recently we’ve been moving some of the silver and jade objects in an Art store into new storage cases. If you ever get the chance to do this let me give you some advice; don’t think about the value of the objects you’re moving. If you do then you will be nervous. Instead focus on how amazing these objects are and how you’re helping to continue their story by making sure they are stored correctly. The museum objects will stick around a while longer because of your help.

In closing I only have this to say; if you ever get the opportunity to volunteer at a museum you should do it. It may end up giving you some of the best experiences of your life. That’s what it did for me.

Stefan Jarvis.

Find out more about care of collections at Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales here.