Carnegie Museum Report

I've visited the Carnegie Museum of Natural History here in Pittsburgh. I decided to take a look at the Egyptian exhibit specifically the Walton wall of ancient Egypt. The exhibit it well put together and organized there's a lot of labeling and I'll plenty of different artifacts to see. They have a picture that shows you the chronology of ancient Egypt with the different periods and dynasties. This picture includes all of the dates so you can see what dynasties were alive in Egypt at what time and match it up with the artifacts that they have on the walls. This one picture is one of the most important and informative pieces in the entire exhibit. They also have many pieces that directly correlate with their everyday culture. This ranges anywhere

from sections that show the significance and usage of beads and ceramic in Egyptian culture. All of the artifacts and pictures include labels. The exhibit also touches on their pharaohs and their hierarchy of social order.
As you go along the wall that is basically a mini circle everything on the right side goes in order of time; ranging all the way back to the early Neolithic.

Going all the way up to the Romans with dates and plenty of information on their lifestyle and who their pharaoh or leader was for each period and dynasty. In the main portion of the exhibit it was mainly artifacts and picture, I was able to see some of the carvings that they made. As well as some of the ceramics and some of the art that they had. There was an abundance of information about Egyptian architecture and pyramids. The exhibit included a lot of the very important information on Egyptian history. The exhibit definitely was set up in a way which allowed you to easily learn about the history of Egypt. From all of the different specifics aspects as well as their growth and history. There was plenty of pictures in artifacts and art to go along with thorough descriptions. These really helped to make a personal connection. It allowed me to see what they use daily in comparison to what I

use.
The exhibit does reflect on archaeology and the knowledge of the past effectively.

It shows how the Egyptian culture has matured and grown throughout history. They do this through displaying growth of artifacts and the growth of information and technology as the display gets closer to present time. The display shows that there is plenty of information readily available on things that go back to hundreds and thousands of years ago. I really like the fact that they broke it up into two different parts. One section that contains information on a multitude of aspects from Egyptian history. This goes anywhere from geography, myths, royalty, temples. Then they have the section that goes in order of time. I felt like this was a very effective way to go about informing people on it Egyptian history. It enables you to easily find the specific information that you're looking for on a specific time or a specific aspect of their culture. The display was able to give me a good feel for how Egyptians lived and the history of Egyptians. I got to see some of the tools that they used for hunting. I was able to see their writing and how education grew through periods. I was able to see how they build things and sculpted objects. The display really helped me to grow on what I already knew about the Egyptian culture from various history classes that I've taken and was not overly

overwhelming.
The structure of the exhibit does not leave some of the artifacts and culture up to the viewer. For the most part the artifacts are pretty straight forward this is a result of them being labeled. The artifacts are thoroughly labeled with explanations about how they were used and what periods and dynasties they are from. However, there are some artifacts that are up for interpretation because there is less information available for them. Politically there are some sculptures of Pharaohs and other prominent figures. It would be good to see some pictures or information about their source of capital. Also it would be nice to see some pictures of groups of people and civilizations. I know it would probably have been very difficult from the very ancient times but it would be nice to see some pictures of the more recent periods of Egyptian culture of actual people.
The exhibit also could've been more creative or Egyptian like. Besides the display the walls, everything else was very plain and simple. The exhibit could've done a pyramid style or had more of a Egyptian fend-shui. There is not a lot of extrapolation that you can do from the display, which sort of goes into the fact that besides the artifacts and aesthetics there isn't really much cultural value. There is obviously some cultural value in the writing and the descriptions but other than that the room doesn't give much of a cultural feel and there aren't really any outside hints of cultural value. I do think that the exhibit was designed very well information wise and had a good set up.
I would make a few changes to the exhibit. I would organize the room the same way but I would give it more of an Egyptian culture. I would give the room more of an older feel less modernized. I would try to mimic Egyptian architecture and maybe more hints of mummies and artifacts that can be directly felt. This instead of the glass displays that the exhibit currently has. I also would choose to make the exhibit more interactive maybe have a game that can be played or just some hands-on technology that you could learn about Egyptian culture through. I would probably put one of those large interactive screens in the room because something like that can really help you if you looking for specific information or it could just to have different interactive activities on it. Also I would try getting some more limited official pieces in the exhibit. Something that was actually used and is a piece of Egyptian history. With all this being said I would add a few changes to the museum exhibit but overall I enjoyed my experience at the exhibit and it was very informative and fun.