Walkeology: Wunderkammers and the Culture of Place

Walkeology is an archaeological process transcribed into a Wunderkammer (also known as a cabinet of curiosities or wonder room) of roaming artefacts and/or sensory engagements.

During the week of Heritage Open Days we invite you to walk in your local area and start to collect found materials and/or experiences. These could be objects from the ground, a collection of photographs, recorded sound, short films etc.

There is no map or plan – the journey is open to all possibilities.

After your walk, start to curate your Wunderkammer. This might be a box, a bag, a shed, a cupboard.

We will then meet online on Sunday 19th September to think about how heritage and walking are connected - what questions does the ground you walk on raise? There will be an opportunity for you to talk about your walks and share your Wunderkammers.

Wunderkammers have a long history, with one of the earliest examples seen in a pictorial record of a Renaissance natural history cabinet from an engraving in Ferrante Imperato’s Dell’Historia Naturale. In fact, the first modern museum (the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford) is said to be created from Wunderkammers collected and created by the antiquary, politician, astrologer and student of alchemy Elias Ashmole. Will your Wunderkammer lead to the beginning of your very own museum?

Walk and collect your finds whenever suits you but you must register for the online talk/share forum in order to receive the link.