Croc! Global connections accessibility tourCroc! Global connections accessibility tour 

Croc! Lost Giants to Living Legends, Global connections audio description and transcript includes:

• Global connections
• Practical and painful
• Description of practical and painful display
• Croc cultures

Part 2 includes:

• Statue of Sobek description
• Crocodile god
• Croc-skin armour description
• Roman regalia
• Dress-ups: Croc-skin armour

You have entered a new section. A panel on the wall summarises this section with the following text:  

GLOBAL CONNECTIONS

Everywhere that people live alongside crocodiles, there are deep connections. Across the world, crocs are a part of our culture and beliefs.

They are worshipped as gods, taken as totems or seen as family.

These connections are shown in artworks and amulets, costumes and currency.

A panel on the wall gives context to the display in the glass cabinet beside it. The panel reads:

PRACTICAL AND PAINFUL

These crocodile-themed household items are all from Papua New Guinea (PNG).

They show the close cultural connections to crocodiles in PNG communities and their presence in everyday life.

In the Sepik region, some young men even undergo an initiation ceremony that celebrates the return of the ancestral crocodile. The skin on their chest, backs and buttocks is cut to test their strength and self-discipline.

 

DESCRIPTION OF DISPLAY:

Beneath the text panel is a colour photograph of the intricately scarred dark-brown skin of a Chambri man from Kanganaman Village. An array of small scars run down his entire back in narrow rows either side of his spine. The scars represent the teeth marks of the crocodile, showing the man has been reborn as a crocodile-man.

Beside the text panel is a large glass cabinet with a collection of croc-themed objects, including:

• wooden combs with croc-carving handles
• a croc-tooth necklace
• coins featuring croc designs; and
• a pottery bowl featuring croc-head handles.

 

DESCRIPTION OF DISPLAY:

In a 2-metre-long glass cabinet is a display of 11 crocodile-inspired artefacts from different countries. The artefacts are arranged in a semicircle with the smallest artefacts only 1-2 cm long on the outer edges, and the larger artefacts - 20-30 cm long - arranged in the middle.

The artefacts include: 

• carved wooden croc figurines and fetishes
• a small pottery crocodile from East Timor
• bronze croc amulets from China and Mali
• a zither - a stringed musical instrument from Myanmar.

In front of the display is a text panel with cultural details about each artefact.  

On the wall behind the display is a world map titled CROC CULTURES - that highlights the countries where these artefacts were located:  

Colombia, India, Australia, Timor-Leste (also known as East Timor), Myanmar (also known as Burma), China, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, the USA, Mali in West Africa, and Thailand.

 

DESCRIPTION OF DISPLAY:

On a waist-high plinth stands a 1.5-metre-tall statue of Sobek, the crocodile god of ancient Egypt. Sobek is often represented as he is in this statue – with a crocodilian head and a human body. This Sobek statue is made from black fibreglass. He is wearing a gold kilt-like garment wrapped around his waist. On his head is a gold headdress, and he holds a long golden staff in his left hand, and a handbag-sized blue ankh ornament in his right hand. The ankh is an Egyptian symbol, often called the "key of life" and representing eternal life. It resembles an uppercase letter ‘T’ with a loop attached to its top.

A text panel on the wall nearby gives context for the display. It reads:

CROCODILE GOD

This is Sobek, the ancient Egyptian god of crocodiles, the Nile [River], the army and fertility.

He was described as aggressive and violent, like the Nile crocodiles.

Sobek is first mentioned in 4,000-year-old pyramid inscriptions, and was worshipped for around 2,500 years – right up to Roman times.

The Egyptians mummified crocodiles and buried them in their tombs so Sobek would protect their loved ones in the afterlife.

Despite Sobek’s links to fertility, ancient Egyptians used crocodile dung as a contraceptive. Since it forms a blockage and its acidity kills sperm, it probably worked!

 

DESCRIPTION OF DISPLAY:

A photograph shows a Roman crocodile-skin armour displayed on a metal stand with a white background, in true-to-life size. The armour was donated to the British Museum in 1846.

This armour consists of a breastplate and backplate fastened together, small shoulder plates and a helmet. The large crocodile scales are a predominant feature of the breastplate in shades of greyish-black. The helmet is bowl-shaped, with a neck guard hanging down the back. The skin used in the helmet is pale olive-green, and the ridges within the croc-skin are prominent along the top of the helmet.

An object label gives context for the display. It reads:

ROMAN REGALIA

Roman soldiers stationed in Egypt over 1,800 years ago made this armour from crocodile skin.

Unearthed in the 1840s in a grotto on the banks of the Nile, it was probably worn for ceremonies (rather than battle) by soldiers attracted to the local crocodile cult.

[The armour is] displayed at the British Museum in London. Try on our replica armour.

 

DESCRIPTION OF DISPLAY

Beneath the photo of the croc-skin armour is a brass crocodile-shaped drawer handle. Open the drawer to access a wearable replica of the croc-skin armour. This costume will likely fit children aged 3-12 years.