MUSEUM MYSTERIES SCAVENGER HUNT CHALLENGE

BY: CHRISTOPHER WAI

Cory Michael Smith, Gotham (2016), Warner Bros.

With returning students just finishing up their internships and new students beginning their first year soon, I thought it might be nice to recap certain topics from this column, but also to explore an entirely new museum mystery by having readers go out to the ROM.                                                          

In another way, as a visitor guide for the past few years, I've also felt that I ought to do something other than suggest the usual ROM highlights so this scavenger hunt is far from simply being the usual survey of dinosaurs, mummies, Greek sculptures, European dioramas, camels and murals.

Finding the artifacts will be one thing, but the mystery I have is only best understood if you read the labels and panels that accompany the objects.

Cory Michael Smith, Gotham (2016), Warner Bros.

If you think yo that a certain object can't possibly find an object, you may actually be in the wrong gallery. Be very careful about your preconceived assumptions, some of these were chosen because they are tricky. expect a lot of backtracking too!

Good luck!

1. An inkpot. Where? Why? What? I'm not even sure.

                                                              

2. IHS=Jesus

3. Where in the east did this dragon come from I wonder?

4. A woman playing the harp, but where?

5. These aren't just rocks, this is a whole array of stone tools from the time of our earlier ancestors from H. habilis to erectus, neanderthalensis and sapiens.

                                      

6. These obsidian points were ritual offerings from one of the most well known and socially and politically complex civilizations of the ancient world. They are known for their monuments, ball game, writing system and calendar. 

                                          

7. That's a peculiar hat and jacket... 

                                    

8. This is from East Asia, but the subject is of an oft forgotten indigenuous minority.

                                     

9. A red stoneware tea set. 

                                     

10. A perfume bottle, imported or local? Who knows!

                                                      

11. A butterfly candlestick from a land divided by two poles.

12. A plastered skull from one of the most well known sites, and it barely has more than a label...

                                  

13. Incantations on a bowl 

                                        

14. That's an interesting moustache...

15. Your guess is close...but your scale is wrong.

16. Look at the colours! 

                                     

17. The city bears the name of the figure who owns this shield. Don't stare too hard!

18. At how many points did "East Meet West" again? 

19. Athena brings balance at another point between East and West.

20. Do these games look familiar?

21. Even here, the case is a bit high for me....

              

22. Back to the beginning, Flute player.

                           

23. What is the Museum Mystery theme(s) this time?

Riddler Trophy: Source