Ancient History Excursion

On 5 June, our Year 11 Ancient History class visited the History Museum at Macquarie University. Miss Vu seemed just as enthusiastic as the rest of us, eagerly taking us to the building where we strolled through their small, yet impressive museum with our guide Sam ‘with a PhD.’ 

The museum had a wide variety of historical periods, scattered across the walls, displayed behind the glass, each item having a story of a story. What wowed a lot of students was their 3D scanned objects, a way of preserving the original items to return to their earliest place of origin. Two large screens on tables, provided an interactive way for us to look at different pieces of historical evidence including human remains.

Afterwards Sam ‘with a PhD’ brought us up for a seminar. We covered ancient women in Rome and Greece and people were taking notes, listening intently to the amount of archaeological sources she mentioned. We learnt about Agrippina the Younger, known as one of the most prominent women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. 

We finished up with possibly the best activity anybody could do with an interest in archaeology – completing various workshops where we examined physical and written sources to identify a person from Ancient times, including sifting through sand, looking at fake human bones, piecing together ceramics and deciphering hieroglyphics. It was a great day for all students, despite the colder weather, we learned more about our unit of study, and it served as a fantastic way to interact with our education in a lively way.

All thanks to the wonderful Miss Vu. 

Claire Sleiman, Year 11 student