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

A colour photograph showing a person in a white lab coat, blur gloves and face mask looking at a mammoth tooth

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 colour photograph showing two examples of Whale Barnacles against a white background. They are brown in colour. The texture is rough in places and smooth in others, with some deep grooves

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...

A colour photograph showing a fossilised shell in the palm of a hand

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...

A colour photograph showing part of a woolly rhino skull resting on two rectangular blocks. The skull is a creamy colour with reddish areas and would be rough to touch. The bottom edge of the skull has teeth protruding from it. There is a recess on the right hand side for the nostril.

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....

A colour photograph of a mammoth tooth. The tooth is lying on it's side and the surface appears rough with lots of vertical grooves. A reference number has been written on one side.

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...

A colour photograph showing a pair of white hands holding a silicone putty gun and squeezing a blue paste onto a section of fossil

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....

A watercolour painting showing a large, red brick building in the middle distance on the left hand side of the frame. To the right hand side is a lake, with two swans. In the immediate foreground are leafy green trees on either side and in the centre are three cows. Sheep are sat by the trees to the left. Three churches and the rooves of other buildings are visible behind a line of trees.

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...

A picture of rubber sealed clip lid jars containing specimen tubes with preserved spiders and specimen labels. The jars are filled with a clear, ethanol based, preservative spirit. There are five clearly visible jars, with two stacked on top of another two. More jars are visible indicating that another double stacked row of jars is present behind the one in the foreground and to either side of the main image focus.

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...

4 views piece of bone carved into a phallus

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...

A composite of four images of a lichen covered rock. Each image is bordered by a black outline. On the left is a large image taking up three quarters of the composite, has a large flat surfaced grey rock covered in patched of yellow and orange lichen on a white background. On the right quarter of the image are three magnified images of different parts of the lichen. The top right image shows magnified grey and brown fruiting bodies on a patch oof pale yellow-grey crust like lichen. The centre right image is a magnified view of the rock with the top left and bottom right corners partially covered in yellow lichen growth and the grey rock in between dotted with dark brown fruiting bodies with pale edges. The bottom right image is a magnified view of the yellow lichen, some of the yellow oval growth have a dull orange-brown centre.

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...

Research

Latest Articles

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