I’m Bethan, and I’m going into my third year studying History and Politics. This summer I have completed the Collaborative Research Internship focusing on ancient Egyptian amulets depicting gods and goddesses. This project was evolved from ‘Creatures of ancient Egypt: researching animal-shaped amulets in the Eton Myers collection,’ which Lucy undertook. Luckily, a second placement was made available, so rather than us both focusing on animals, I was researching ancient Egyptian deities.
I was honestly quite surprised to have obtained the internship, as I had never ventured into the Department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology before this amazing experience. However, I loved learning about the ancient Egyptians earlier in my education, so I was really grateful for the opportunity and excited to rekindle this passion! Everyone was so patient with my comparative lack of knowledge and more than happy to point me in the right direction, which I am extremely thankful for.
On my first day at the OLRC, where the collection is housed, I was taken through the cataloguing database on which information about the items is recorded so that I understood how my research would fit in. I was then taught how to handle artefacts, at first using props. I couldn’t actually get my head around it the first time I held an ancient Egyptian artefact!
I chose ten deity amulets that I thought looked interesting, and then got stuck into researching them! My main focus was on the cultural significance of these amulets – what the gods and goddesses represented and why and how people used the amulets. I researched this using resources at the OLRC, as well as the library and the collections of museums across the world. Another key part of my research was finding similar, comparable artefacts elsewhere.
I got to learn so many amazing skills during this internship. The object handling had me in complete awe and I’m sure that this will be invaluable in the future, as I am hoping to work in a museum environment after university. I also photographed objects that didn’t have pictures on file and used the microscope. Furthermore, I got to create my own mini exhibition about the notion of life after death, displaying my research! This remains at the OLRC, and I also produced a research poster to be put up in various places. It’s been great to contribute to the information about the collection and help publicise it, as well as to develop so many key skills.
It was a pleasure to work with Leire, Carolyn and Lucy and I really appreciate all of their patience and guidance. I have thoroughly enjoyed the internship and learnt more than I could have ever hoped to. I would highly recommend applying to the scheme to anyone interested, even if you perhaps feel under qualified – no one’s expecting you to be perfect! I can’t thank everyone involved enough for this fascinating experience.
Bethan Welch, BA History and Politics