The semsemeya is an instrument that looks slightly like a cross between a harp and a guitar to the unfamiliar eye. The instrument originally comes from Upper Egypt, where it used to be much larger. In fact, the semsemeya ‘evolved’ from the tambura, which shares […]
A royal saddle bag
I do not think we have many artefacts in our collection, which can claim to have a whiff of royalty about them. The camel bag in the picture above is one of those few. It was given to Lieutenant Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson by […]
A little vial of fingernails (yes, actual fingernails)
In the autumn, we were doing an inventory of our storage facilities, double-checking the placements we have noted in our database with the physical placements of the artefacts on our shelves. And it came as no surprise that we found several funny or interesting artefacts […]
A rock! Arguably the dullest ethnographic artefact ever?
Looking through our database, I came across collection EA355. Where other collections have names such as ‘EA365 Greenlandic dog sled’, ‘EA484 Bushman artefacts’, or ‘EA544 Thai Amulets’, this one went under the simple and mysterious name ‘EA355 Rock’. Clicking on the collection, the description page […]
Money with soul: The kissi penny
If I say ’money’, I’ll wager that there is a pretty good chance that you’ll conjure up an image of coins and bank notes. But what exactly is money? What it basically boils down to, is some sort of artefact that we have all agreed […]
Anything can be made with imagination and enough raffia
All right, can we talk about how awesome this home-made laptop is?! Made from the raffia, and collected in Gabon in 1998, it is wonderfully wacky with all its knobs, buttons, and dials, and shows such a tremendous amount of imagination. We do not know […]
Love, cigarettes, and new beginnings: Happy New Year!
Ah, New Year’s Eve. A night of celebration with friends. Of looking back at the ups and downs of the past year, and with hope and good wishes for the year to come. It is also a night of good food, copious amounts of champagne, […]
Beware the angry elf!
Who says Christmas has to be this happy time, where everybody revels in candles, presents, and family comfort, and where you might meet a jolly Father Christmas accompanied by a helpful elf in every department store and kindergarten across the land. Looking at the little […]
The night is dark and full of terror: Santa Lucia special
This week, we are diverting from our usual format. Instead of looking at an artefact in our collections, we are looking at a creature, which has been roaming the corridors and exhibitions of Moesgaard these past three Saturdays. But beware, the night is dark and […]
Nicaragua, war, and pictures – what is Mogens trying to show us?
This last month, we have had the pleasure of having Maria Grilo intern at the Ethnographic Department at Moesgaard Museum. Maria is a Portuguese journalist, who came to Denmark to attain an MA in International and Global History at Aarhus University. During her internship, she […]
Come as you are – Mogens, the little girl, and the photo album
This last month, we have had the pleasure of having Maria Grilo intern at the Ethnographic Department at Moesgaard Museum. Maria is a Portuguese journalist, who came to Denmark to attain an MA in International and Global History at Aarhus University. During her internship, she […]
A timeless design: Qatari bracteate
Isn’t it wonderful, how some designs survive practically unchanged for thousands of years, across vast distances of time and space? I still remember the first time I saw the ‘Huldremose woman’, and Iron Age bog body, in the Danish National Museum. After approximately 2000 years […]
