University of Queensland R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum facts for kids

The University of Queensland R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum is a special place at the University of Queensland in St Lucia, Queensland. It holds a large collection of ancient objects from places like Greece, Rome, Egypt, and the Near East. This museum helps students, teachers, and everyone else learn more about these amazing old civilizations.

Where to Find the Museum

The museum is located in the Michie Building (Building 9) on the university campus. You can find it near the beautiful Great Court at St Lucia.

A Look Back: Museum History

The museum started in 1963 when the university bought a special ancient pot. This pot was a 'red-figure Attic' amphora, which is a type of large vase from ancient Greece, made around 500 BC. It was bought to help teach students studying ancient history.

Over the next 50 years, the collection grew a lot! The museum moved into its own dedicated rooms and now has more than 6,000 items. In 2007, it was renamed the R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum. This was to honor Professor Bob Milns, who was a big supporter of the classics department and helped the museum a lot.

In 2013, the museum celebrated its 50th birthday with a special exhibition called 'Then and Now: 50 Years of Antiquities.' Many new and important items were added to the collection around this time.

This ancient Greek pot, called a Lekythos, is one of the many interesting items you can see at the museum.

Amazing Ancient Objects

The museum is home to over 6,000 items! These objects date from as far back as 4000 BC (that's 6,000 years ago!) all the way up to AD 600. The collection includes many different types of materials, such as:

• Stone
• Pottery
• Terracotta (a type of clay)
• Metalware
• Jewellery
• Glass

These items come from various ancient cultures, including those in modern-day Iran, Wales, Germany, and Egypt.

Featured Items in the Collection

Some of the most interesting items you can see at the museum include:

• A Greek South Italian Bronze Helmet (from 300-200 BC)
• An Attic Marble Funerary Stele for Theophile (from 400-350 BC): This is a carved stone slab used as a tombstone.
• An Egyptian Cartonnage Mummy Mask (from 390-340 BC): This mask was made from layers of linen or papyrus, covered in plaster, and used for mummies.
• A Roman Marble Portrait Head of Aphrodite (from AD 100-200): A beautiful marble sculpture of the Roman goddess of love.
• A Roman Marble Memorial Tablet for Secundio (from AD 1-100): A stone tablet remembering someone.
• An Attic Marble Funerary Loutrophoros for Phanodemos (from 400-375 BC): A tall, slender Greek vase used in funeral rituals.
• An Attic Terracotta Column Krater (around 450 BC): A large ancient Greek bowl used for mixing wine and water.

You can even search a special online database to learn more about the collection. Some items have even been scanned using 3D technology. This helps to protect them and also allows people to study them in new ways for teaching and discovery!