Research
Colchester + Ipswich Museums support research because it helps us to understand and use our collections better. Further information about how we work with researchers can be found in our Research Policy.
Here, staff and visitors reveal what they’ve been getting up to…
Latest Articles

The Hunt for the Oldest Mammoth DNA in Europe
Will 200,000-year-old mammoth teeth from Suffolk contain DNA?By Dr. Simon Jackson, Collections and Learning Curator, Ipswich Museums This is what we hope to find out from specimens held at Ipswich Museum. The research is being led by Centre for Palaeogenetics...

A Whale Tale from Red Crag Barnacles
Humpback Whales in the Ancient Seas of Suffolk?By Dr. Simon Jackson, Collections and Learning Curator, Ipswich Museums Recently we welcomed Professor Andy Gale from the University of Portsmouth who is studying the diversity of barnacles preserved in the Suffolk rocks...

Fossil Insights into a Warmer Lost World
By Dr. Simon Jackson, Collections and Learning Curator, Ipswich Museums New palaeontology investigations are peering into the unknown sea temperatures of the past, before the ice age. Today, we welcome Dr Andrew Johnson from the University of Derby, and his research...

Animal diversity of the Ice Age
Ipswich Museum’s new published type and figured catalogue By Dr. Simon Jackson, Collections and Learning Curator, Ipswich Museums This February we have published online most of our collection of type and figured fossil specimens, which are amongst our most important....

Ice Age Fossils
Ancient Weather "Forecasters" of the Past By Dr. Simon Jackson, Collections and Learning Curator, Ipswich Museums New research is investigating and reconstructing the unknown climates and environments of the past. Today, we feature University of Helsinki mammal...

Unlocking Hidden Secrets of Fossil Teeth
21st Century Investigation Meets “Ice Age” Fossils By Dr. Simon Jackson, Collections and Learning Curator, Ipswich Museums Modern scientific techniques are helping us to unlock the secrets of fossil teeth, and to provide new insights into these creatures’ lost worlds....

Landscape Research Group
By Emma Roodhouse, Collections and Learning Curator What do maps, well-being and the climate crisis have to do with landscape art? These are just the sorts of questions that the Landscape Research Group seeks to explore. This research group is dedicated to British...

Documenting at a Distance
By Karen Banton, Assistant Collections and Learning Curator One of the challenges of lockdowns and restricted access to the museum has been continuing the documentation work of our John Ellerman Foundation projects. But it hasn’t stopped us being able to get more of...

Roman Magic
The Camulodunum Case Study by Adam Parker, PhD student at the Open University * Click on the photos below to visit our Collections Online database and discover more about that object. * The ancient world was a dangerous place where misfortune and bad luck were...

Liking Lichens
By Karen Banton, Assistant Collections and Learning Curator * Click on the photos below to visit our Collections Online database and discover more about that object. * During lockdown, one of the things I’ve had the chance to do, thanks to our John Ellerman...