Teaching remotely has afforded the Museum an opportunity to reach new audiences. Last week, Elspeth Geiger, doctoral candidate in anthropology, spoke to Joe Griffith’s 8th grade social studies class from Ann Arbor’s Honey Creek Community School. Ms. Geiger selected a group of artifacts that included Chinese bronzes, botanical samples of millet, and a replica oracle bone to illustrate the symbols and material culture of the Shang Dynasty (1600 – 1046 BCE).

In the photo, Elspeth Geiger is in the lab at the Research Museums Center. She is talking to the class about the taotie “face” on a Chinese Ding (a type of bronze ritual vessel for cooked food). UMMAA 10844. Two Qing Dynasty (1644–1912) rank badges are in the foreground.

For information on how to show museum collections in the classroom, please contact Andrea Blaser and Jim Moss at ummaa-collection-mgr@umich.edu.