En route to Bloomsbury, the wind began to howl

editorial@hamhigh.co.uk
16 March 2007

The day I visited Bloomsbury's Brunei Gallery, the wind was so strong that eerie howling permeated the basement space.

This gave an authentic edge to the experience of viewing the exhibition there, A Future For The Past, about Sir Flinders Petrie's archaeological digs near Gaza.

The mock-ups include a "dig house" and a Bedouin tent with film showing Palestinian "finders" at work.

Beside the tent was this uncannily apposite extract from Petrie's journal: "Yesterday we had warmth and brilliant sunshine once more and about 300 on the work, but today it is raining and blowing and I am persuading a camel to slither in to Gaza because we are entirely out of bread, salt, tea and lettuces."

The exhibition brings to life, with ancient artefacts and period equipment, what Petrie, his colleagues and workmen achieved in digs from 1890 to 1938.

The pioneering Egyptologist, who lived at 5 Cannon Place, Hampstead, made a camera out of a biscuit tin and an overcoat sleeve, and this is contrasted with a digital camera used by archaeologists today.

There are objects from the Petrie Palestinian Collection never before on public display. The handmade antiquities, from tiny jugs for scented oils to clay coffins, communicate over time with the earliest dating from about 4500BC.

They show how cultural influences - Roman, Greek and Islamic - affected designs in the area where Petrie worked. The sites he dug are now divided between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

A Future For The Past is imaginatively presented with interactive exhibits likely to appeal to children and playful adults - like a chain-mail helmet with nose plate and other headgear.

The final related children's event is family storytelling next Saturday (March 17) at 2pm: Tales From The Dig.

A Future For The Past runs until March 24 in the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square. Open Tuesday to Saturday 10.30am to 5.30pm. Gallery talk and tour by curator Dr Rachael Sparks at 1pm today (Thursday). Exhibition and events free.