Space beads from ancient Egypt; making objects from meteorites

A joint event between the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL and the Royal Observatory Greenwich (Royal Museums Greenwich) on beads – over 5,000 years old – hammered out of pieces of meteorites in Egypt.

In a discussion, chaired by Marek Kukula (Public Astronomer, ROG), Alice Stevenson (Curator of the Petrie Museum) will set out the ancient social context for these rare objects; Diane Johnson (Open University) will illustrate how these ancient beads were made and artist Matthew Luck Gulpin will show how he works with meteoritic material today. The discussion will be a followed by a closer look at meteorites in the collection of the Royal Observatory.

This event is organized as part of AHRC Science in Culture Theme Innovation Award: Iron from the Sky.