Artefacts at the American Museum of National History (Essay Sample)

Artefacts at the American Museum of National History
Name
Institution
Artefacts at the American Museum of National History
The American Museum of National History located in Central Park West in New York is one of the largest worldwide. The museum boasts of numerous artefacts in its many halls. I visited the Human Origins section and the Hall of African Peoples.
At the Hall of African Peoples, one piece caught my attention, the Egungun Society Dancer. The costume of the masquerade dancer is peculiar and exceptional in its own way. The costume had layers of cloth from different textiles. The layer that touches the dancer’s skin is a white strip cloth. There is also a net to disguise the dancer’s natural features. On top of that are consequent layers of lappets that flap in a bid to create a “blessing breeze”. The lappets are made more unique with decorations of amulets, braids, sequins and tassels. This dancer was supposed to perform stories and other Yoruba legends in form of dance, music or drama. This particular dancer could also be possessed in order to represent a spirit that imparted knowledge. The Egungun dancer executed masquerade performances during serious and sombre ceremonies like burials in order to produce a form of relief.
Also in the Hall of African Peoples is a diorama that depicts the Pokot methods of animal husbandry. The method used to recreate this situation was effective as you pass by the diorama, it looks almost real like you just waiting to see the people and the animal spring back to life. The use of transparent colour in the diorama may have contributed to this. The diorama shows one of the practices (animal husbandry) valued by one of the many African tribes; the Pokot found in Kenya. To the Pokot, animal husbandry is meant to make the lives of the animals better as well as have economic, cultural and social advantages to the people as well. The diorama only captures animal husbandry but it is evident that the Pokot of Africa are a culturally rich community.
In the Human Origins section, there are Neanderthal tools that show some of the technological remains. Neanderthals were considered masters in a certain tool making technique. This technique resulted in a sharp-edged stone. Neanderthals used this technique to make spear points that were later suspected to be glued with tar or resin or tied with leather or plant fibres to wooden shafts. The Museum has agricultural artefacts like the John Deere plow of the 1830s to the 20th century amongst other cultivators and harvesters. The museum also has butter churns and diesel tractors that show the technological remains that were present dur...