Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge
The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology ( German Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge ), short- MAA, houses collections of local antiquities, together with archaeological and ethnographic artefacts from around the world.
Location
The museum is centrally located in downtown Cambridge and is located on the Downing Site of the University, at the corner of Downing Street and Tennis Court Road. In the immediate vicinity are the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences and the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology, other museums of the University of Cambridge. Three colleges of the University are to be found in the vicinity of the Museum: The Emmanuel College in the east, the Downing College in the south and Pembroke College in the West.
History
The University founded in 1884, the Museum of General and Local Archaeology. The museum originally created from collections of local antiquities of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. From Alfred Maudslay and Sir Arthur Gordon, the museum was later donated artifacts from Polynesia. The Austrian Anatole von Hügel (1854-1928), first curator of the museum, the MAA donated his own collection of artifacts from the South Pacific. A collection of Western Australian Aboriginal material was purchased by Emile Clement. Other materials come from the meetings held in the year 1898 Torres Straits expedition led by Alfred Haddon and William Halse Rivers Rivers, both influential anthropologists and ethnologists who their students - inspired to commitment to the museum - including Alfred Radcliffe - Brown and Gregory Bateson.
From hill initiated in 1913, the move of the MAA in its current larger purpose-built building in Downing Street. The new galleries have been completely installed until the end of World War II. Various shifts and donations in the 1910s and 1920s - including finds from James Cook's expeditions - enabled a major expansion of the museum's holdings.
From the hill 's successor as curator were Colville Gray Clarke Louis ( 1922-1937 ), Thomas Paterson ( 1937-1948 ), Geoffrey Bushnell ( 1948-1970 ), Peter Gathercole and David Phillipson. The Office of the Director of the MAA currently holds Nicholas Thomas.
In the Museum
The MAA has three floors. On the ground floor, The Clarke Gallery called, visitors will find collections from the area of archeology. On the second floor, which bears the name The Maudslay Gallery, anthropological exhibits can be admired. In the third floor, The Andrews Gallery, are changing exhibitions.
In November 2010, began extensive Renovierarbeiten the MAA. The reopening of the MAA is expected in spring 2012.