My friend's got an internship at the British Museum!

As this post says in the title, my friend has just got an internship at the British Museum for this summer.  How brilliant is that? Trés cool. Obviously, I'm very jealous, but she definitely deserves it as she's thinking of planning on working there one day.  You go girl.

Hearing about the British Museum made me think of when I visited to see the exhibition 'A History of the World in 100 Objects.' I loved it so much I bought the book, having not had the chance to listen to it all on BBC Radio 4.  I enjoyed the hands-on activities (my inner child was smiling very widely), and one of my favourite pieces was the Olduvai handaxe from Olduvai gorge, Tanzania.

At first, it really doesn't look like much, just a bit of old stone in a nice teardrop shape.  But it's actually approximately 1.2 million years old, and made of volcanic phonolite.  It's been knapped alternately around the edges to form a bifacial tool, and by its size its function was probably a handaxe.

If you're interested, you can look at the website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/, listen to the podcasts, or buy the book.

My friend will get a chance to have a look at some of these objects in much closer detail.  I think I'll overcome my jealousy and buy her a drink tonight to celebrate.

Upper Paleolithic and Neanderthals lecture (and a bit of 'Horrible Histories')

Just had a lecture from Prof Nick Barton, one of my college tutors, about the Upper Paleolithic and the 'extinction' of Neanderthals.  It's really interesting to see how evidence and artefacts from sites can be interpreted, reinterpreted, and re-dated to prove and also disprove the theory that Neanderthal and Anatomically Modern Humans co-existed, or even interbred.  I did like the recent European genome evidence that suggests that 1-4% of modern European genomes are derived from Neanderthals; so we all have a little bit of Neanderthal in us!  If you want a very general, jazzy, overview of the Stone Age, I can suggest no better one than the 'Stoneage Song' from the BBC television series 'Horrible Histories'.  I refuse to call it a children's programme because I actually find it pretty hilarious, and generally accurate (with a few dramatic licenses here and there...).  I also love the fact they're able to make musical in-jokes with history.  (Okay, language wasn't just 'invented' etc., but you get the picture!)