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Old World

Hagia Sofia

The great church of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) was one of the supreme architectural achievements of the eastern Roman empire.  It was built on the site of an earlier church by the emperor Justinian in AD 537, close to the Great Palace of the Emperors in the heart of Constantinople. It is important to us first of all because of its architectural achievement. It departs from established Classical traditions by focusing the attention of the visitor upon its interior, rather than its exterior. Continue reading →

Roman Nails

The technologies of smelting and working iron were developed in Europe, Asia and Africa. They had a major impact in many areas of life and work, including better tools for agriculture and industry, and more effective arms and armour. The production of nails also had an impact on activities such as construction and ship-building. Supplies of high-quality iron were particularly important for the Roman army, not only for weapons, but also for the construction of ships and fortresses. Continue reading →

Gold Coin of Augustus

Roman coins, like this aureus of the emperor Augustus, look deceptively like the coins that we use today. The Romans drew upon monetary traditions established by the Greeks before them to develop a comprehensive linked system of denominational coinage. By the reign of middle of the 1st century AD, millions of coins in gold, silver, brass and bronze were issued at Rome in the west and at the cities of the eastern Mediterranean. Continue reading →

Theatre Masks

Classical world was a cradle of performing arts. From around 6th century BC drama was institutionalized in Athens with dedicated performance dates and purpose-built buildings. Soon theatrical performances could be seen across the whole of the Mediterranean, and beyond during the Roman Empire. From its religious routes theatre very quickly became a major source of entertainment, offering a diversity of performances including comedy, tragedy, mime or farce. Continue reading →

Coinage

Coinage emerged during the Iron Age as symbolic tokens, and gradually took on a role as a formalised method of exchange – first on the basis of their intrinsic value and later for their agreed symbolic value, as in our own fiat coinage. Throughout their existence coins have been hoarded, usually surviving due to accident but sometimes also because of their deliberate votive burial. Continue reading →

Antikythera Mechanism

Discovered by sponge-divers off the coast of the Greek Island of Antikythera in 1900, the Antikythera mechanism is by far the most complex piece of technology to have come down to us from antiquity. It is only with the most recent developments in computer-aided vision and reconstruction that we have been able to decipher its purpose as an eclipse predictor. Continue reading →

Vix Crater

The Vix crater (used for serving wine mixed with water) is the largest metal vessel surviving from the classical world. It was made about 540 BC, probably at Sparta in southern Greece, and was found in 1952 in the grave of an aristocratic woman in Burgundy in eastern France. It emphasises the social importance of alcoholic drink in many different societies. Continue reading →

Inca Mummy Bundle

Wrapped tightly in cotton cloth and accompanied by pottery, food and other socially significant material (and sometime with a detachable artificial head), Inca and pre-Inca mummy bundles represent a way not only to preserve the physical remains of the dead, but also to ensure their continued social presence.  For many societies the living and the dead often have more to do with one another than we might presume from our own social norms. Continue reading →

Mirasiviene Stela

Mirasiviene stela (Seville, Spain) may be regarded as an aid to remember a traditional story, possibly a foundational myth, among Late Bronze Age (ca. 1200-850 BCE) non-literate societies in Southwest Europe. This is a fragment of a large and carefully selected stone that was shaped and engraved by skilful hands. It exhibits striking images: a warrior-like personage accompanied by a sword, an oversized shield, a spear and two smaller human figures. Continue reading →

Meryetaten’s Bathroom at Amarna

Meryetaten was the eldest daughter of Pharaoh Akhenaten, and lived some 33 centuries ago. She held an important place in her father’s court, apparently responsible for running his household, and became a queen later in her life. At the North Palace in her home city of Tell al-Amarna, there are many inscriptions bearing her name, which has led some scholars to the conclusion that this was her residence, although others ascribe a formal, ritual role to the palace. Continue reading →

Trundholm Chariot

The Trundholm sun chariot was found in a drained bog in Trundholm Mose in northwestern Zealand, Denmark. It was made in the Early Bronze Age around 1400 BC and is a masterpiece of Bronze Age metalworking. It depicts the sun drawn on its daily journey by a divine horse. The myth of the journey of the sun across the sky was an important element of Bronze Age cosmology, in which the framework of existence was an eternal cycle with its constant alternation of light and darkness. Continue reading →

Amarna Warrior Burial

Individual 59 from the South Tombs Cemetery, Tell al-Amarna, Egypt Having looked at the political role, social position and living conditions of the Amarna royals, our next ‘object’ will take us lower down the social spectrum. On the edge of the desert at Tell al-Amarna lies a cemetery of shallow burials scooped into the sand, where Amarna’s poorer people were buried in often unmarked graves, with only a few, if any, objects. Continue reading →

Amber Necklace

This Early Bronze Age amber necklace comes from the Upton Lovell G2e barrow (burial mound) in Wiltshire, one of the richest Bronze Age burials yet discovered in Wessex. It was excavated by William Cunnington in 1803 and may have belonged to a woman. The necklace originally contained over 1,000 amber beads with spacers. Continue reading →

Cheops Pyramid

The Great Pyramid at Giza (Egypt) was built for the Pharaoh Khufu (also known by the Greek version of his name – Cheops), who died c. 2566 BC. Khufu’s monument was the first of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World to be created, and is the only one still standing now. Khufu was the third Pharaoh of the 4th Dynasty (during the Old Kingdom in ancient Egypt). Continue reading →

Tutankhamun Mask

The well-known boy Pharaoh Tutankhamun (also known as Tutankhamen or colloquially as King Tut) was a short-lived Pharaoh from the 18th Dynasty (during the Egyptian New Kingdom). He died when still young and is important because his tomb (Tomb KV62) in the Valley of the Kings was found almost intact by Howard Carter in 1922. During his life, he changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun as a result of changes in the religion officially practised in Egypt. Continue reading →

Introduction to module

Human history needs to be told through things. Texts help but they only reach back into the shallows of our past. In this module we go further to investigate deep human history through the wonderful things left behind. Our aim is to unite the entire span of our evolutionary history by investigating forty wonderful things described for you by experts. The story starts two and a half million years ago with the first stone tools. Continue reading →