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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 →

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 →

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 →

Varna Penis Sheath

The cemetery of Varna, Bulgaria is situated on the Black Sea coast. It dates to the Copper Age or Chalcolithic (late 6th millennium-5th millennium BC). The site was excavated in the 1970s and was immediately recognised as being significant as probably the earliest evidence for gold working in prehistoric Europe (Renfrew 1986). Continue reading →