About
The Garstang Museum of Archaeology at the University of Liverpool holds one of the most significant collections of Egyptian, Nubian, Anatolian, and Near Eastern material in the north of England. Named after John Garstang (1876–1956) — Professor of Methods and Practice of Archaeology at Liverpool from 1902 to 1941 and one of the founding figures of British scientific archaeology — the museum is the direct legacy of his prolific excavations across Egypt, Sudan, Turkey, and the Levant.
John Garstang was a remarkable figure in the history of archaeology. In a career spanning more than four decades of fieldwork, he excavated at Beni Hasan and Abydos in Egypt, at Meroe in Sudan (the capital of the ancient Kushite kingdom), at Mersina and Sakçegözü in Anatolia, and at Jericho in Palestine. His Liverpool studentship supported hundreds of excavations, and the material he brought back to Liverpool formed the nucleus of one of the most internationally significant university archaeological collections in Britain.
The Egyptian collection ranges from the Predynastic period through the New Kingdom and into the Late Period, encompassing pottery, shabtis, amulets, canopic equipment, mummy cases, and human mummified remains. The Nubian material from the Meroitic period is among the finest outside Khartoum, reflecting Garstang's sustained work at the royal cemetery at Meroe and at other sites along the Nile. The Anatolian collection from Mersina and Sakçegözü includes prehistoric, Bronze Age, and Iron Age material that remains important for scholarship on ancient Anatolia.
The museum occupies space within the University of Liverpool and offers free admission to the public. Researchers working on its collections come from institutions across the world, drawn by the quality and rarity of the Nubian and Anatolian holdings. The museum also holds archival material from Garstang's excavations — photographs, field notes, correspondence, and drawings — which are an important resource for the history of the discipline.
Note that the Garstang Museum is entirely separate from the Victoria Gallery and Museum, also on the University of Liverpool campus, which holds a broad fine and applied art collection.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Monday, Friday
Busiest: Wednesday, Thursday
💡 Weekday mornings during term time
💡 Visitor Tips
- Check opening times carefully before visiting — the museum operates term-time hours and may be closed during university vacations and between Christmas and New Year.
- The museum is a specialist collection with depth: allow 90 minutes to an hour and a half if you want to read the interpretation thoroughly.
- If you are interested in the Garstang archive or specific research objects in storage, contact the museum well in advance to arrange a research visit.
- The Victoria Gallery and Museum is only 3 minutes' walk away and covers a completely different subject area — fine and applied art — making for an excellent combined visit.
- Liverpool Lime Street is 10 minutes' walk; the World Museum (free, with an excellent Egyptology section) and the Walker Art Gallery are a further 5 minutes from the station.
- The museum is particularly popular with schoolchildren on archaeology days — if you want a quieter visit, avoid Tuesday and Wednesday mornings during term time when school groups visit.
- The Nubian Meroitic collection is genuinely world-class and underappreciated — if you have any interest in ancient Africa beyond Egypt, the Meroe material alone makes the visit worthwhile.
- The museum participates in national events including Archaeology Week and Egyptian Discovery Day — check the website for upcoming events and activities.
Highlights
Egyptian Mummy Cases and Mummified Remains
The Egyptian collection includes decorated mummy cases and cartonnages spanning the New Kingdom through the Late Period, along with mummified human remains and animal mummies. The mummy cases display painted scenes from the Book of the Dead, divine imagery, and hieroglyphic inscriptions identifying their owners.
These objects were recovered during Garstang's excavations at Beni Hasan and Abydos, and remain among the most visually arresting elements of the collection for general visitors and specialist researchers alike.
Nubian Meroitic Collection
The museum holds one of the finest collections of Meroitic material outside Sudan, recovered from Garstang's excavations at Meroe — the capital of the Kushite kingdom of Kush in what is now northern Sudan.
Meroitic pottery, jewellery, bronze objects, and funerary equipment from the royal and elite cemeteries span approximately 300 BCE to 350 CE. This collection is particularly important for scholarship on a civilisation that was long marginalised in Egyptological research but is now recognised as one of the most sophisticated in ancient Africa.
Shabtis and Funerary Equipment
The Egyptian collection is especially rich in shabtis — the small figurines placed in Egyptian tombs to serve the deceased in the afterlife — with examples spanning from the Middle Kingdom through the Late Period. The range of materials, sizes, and degrees of elaboration illustrates the evolution of shabti manufacture across fifteen centuries of Egyptian funerary practice.
Alongside the shabtis, the collection holds canopic jars, amulets, ushabti boxes, and other funerary equipment that together constitute a comprehensive picture of ancient Egyptian beliefs about death and the afterlife.
Anatolian Bronze and Iron Age Material
Garstang's excavations at Mersina (Yumuktepe) and Sakçegözü in southern Anatolia produced material of international significance for Bronze Age and Iron Age archaeology in the region. Pottery sequences from Mersina established important chronological benchmarks for prehistoric Anatolia that are still cited in scholarship.
The museum holds pottery, figurines, worked stone, and metal objects from these sites, representing some of the earliest human settlement in the region and the complex cultural exchanges of the ancient Near East.
Collections
The Garstang Museum holds approximately 6,000 objects recovered from excavations led by John Garstang and subsequent Liverpool fieldwork between the 1890s and the mid-twentieth century. The Egyptian collection is the largest component, covering the Predynastic period through the Roman era and including pottery, shabtis, amulets, mummy cases, canopic equipment, and human mummified remains.
The Nubian collection from Meroitic sites along the Nile is among the finest outside Sudan.
The Anatolian collection from Mersina and Sakçegözü includes prehistoric through Iron Age material of chronological significance. Levantine material from Jericho and other Palestinian sites spans the Bronze and Iron Ages. The museum also holds a research archive comprising Garstang's field notebooks, photographs, correspondence, and site plans, which constitutes a primary resource for the history of Near Eastern and Egyptian archaeology.
Ancient Egypt: Life, Death, and the Afterlife
The core Egyptian gallery presenting material from Predynastic times through the Late Period, with particular emphasis on funerary culture: mummy cases, shabtis, amulets, canopic equipment, and human mummified remains from Garstang's excavations at Beni Hasan and Abydos.
📍 Egyptian Gallery, Garstang Museum
Nubia and the Kingdom of Kush
A dedicated display of Meroitic material from Garstang's excavations at the ancient Kushite capital of Meroe, covering the peak of Meroitic culture from approximately 300 BCE to 350 CE.
📍 Nubian Gallery, Garstang Museum
The Ancient Near East
Collections from Garstang's excavations in Anatolia (Mersina, Sakçegözü) and the Levant (Jericho), spanning prehistoric to Iron Age periods.
📍 Near East Gallery, Garstang Museum
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.