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<< Our Photo Pages >> British Museum - Museum in England in Greater London

Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 16 June 2022  Page Views: 38668

MuseumsSite Name: British Museum
Country: England County: Greater London Type: Museum
Nearest Town: London
Map Ref: TQ300816  Landranger Map Number: 176
Latitude: 51.518369N  Longitude: 0.127765W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
5 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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RedKite1985 visited on 3rd Jun 2022 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5 So much to see- impossible to take it all in in just one visit!

aolson visited on 20th Mar 2019 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5 Tied with the west coast of Vancouver Island in my mind for the greatest place on planet Earth. I have spent dozens of hours here over the years, and still more to learn every time I come back.

Tdiver visited on 1st Jan 2013 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5

XIII visited on 1st May 2012 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5

SolarMegalith visited on 2nd Jun 2011 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5

Harald_Platta visited on 27th Jan 2000 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5

coin visited - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5

kthdsn visited - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5

lucasn visited - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 3 Access: 4

ForestDaughter visited - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5 For two years running I went on a coach journey to the British Museum from Devon with my young son. One year featured guided tours around the Egyptian rooms, plus time to wander around on our own when we also saw the Sutton Hoo treasures. The second featured tours in the Assyrian and Persian rooms plus a talk about various artefacts of ancient civilisations.

Andy B DrewParsons h_fenton myf MelissaBWrite hevveh have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 4.9 Ambience: 4.7 Access: 4.9

British Museum
British Museum submitted by Andy B : Druidic / Morris procession with carnyx horns which rounded off the British Museum Solstice Late (Vote or comment on this photo)
Currently including the acclaimed World of Stonehenge exhibition until the 17th July, The British Museum contains artefacts from around the world of course. Of particular interest are the Mold Cape, the Battersea horned helmet and shield, Lindow Man, Sutton Hoo, Mildenhall treasures and much, much more.

Department of Prehistory & Early Europe

Address: Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG
Phone: 0207 323 8299
Opening Hours: Sat -Weds 10am-5.30pm, Thurs - Fri 10am-8.30pm Closed 1 Jan, Good Friday and 24 to 26 Dec every year
Admission: Free, apart from special exhibitions
Visit their web site

Ancient drum shaped chalk object found in the area of and very similar to the Folkton Drums is described as ‘most important prehistoric art find in UK for a century’. It's going on display as part of the British Museum World of Stonehenge exhibition, which opened on Thursday 17th Feb. More details in the comments lower down.

A free eBook by the curators of the Stonehenge exhibition: Grave Goods: Objects and Death in Later Prehistoric Britain and news on their latest Boundary Objects project, details in the most recent comment on our page

The Megalithic Portal was pleased to be part of Solstice Late at the British Museum, Friday 17th June with contributions from Ancient Music Ireland, HERESY, Jeremy Deller, Stone Club

Note: Photos from Solstice Late at the British Museum on our page and more on Twitter
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British Museum
British Museum submitted by davidmorgan : The Queen of the Night represents an ancient Mesopotamian goddess. She may have been Ishtar, goddess of sexual love and war, or perhaps Ishtar's sister and rival, the goddess Ereshkigal, who ruled the Underworld. The plaque is made of baked straw-tempered clay and may have been placed in a shrine. It was probably made in Babylonia between 1792 and 1750 BC, during the reign of the Babylonian kin... (2 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

British Museum
British Museum submitted by h_fenton : The Mold Cape (Bronze Age), in the British Museum. The Mold Gold Cape found by workmen quarrying for stone in a burial mound in Mold, Flintshire, North Wales in 1833. In the centre of the mound there was a stone lined cist containing an inhumation burial and the cape was found on the shoulders of the skeleton, pieces of sheet bronze were also recovered which may have formed a backing to the g... (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

British Museum
British Museum submitted by dodomad : The chalk drum, chalk ball and bone pin discovered in Burton Agnes, East Yorkshire in 2015. Dated approximately 3005-2890BC. Ancient sculpture is ‘most important prehistoric art find in UK for a century’ The 5,000-year-old chalk drum decorated with motifs was discovered in Yorkshire alongside burial of three children Photo Credit: British Museum (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

British Museum
British Museum submitted by DrewParsons : Funerary head dress from Ur Great Death Pit and adorned on body 61. Dated to between 2600BC and 2450BC. April 2015 (2 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

British Museum
British Museum submitted by Thorgrim : The greatest portal to the treasures of the ancient world. (Vote or comment on this photo)

British Museum
British Museum submitted by Andy B : A wider view of British Museum World of Stonehenge exhibition. On for another month or so, do visit if you can.

British Museum
British Museum submitted by Andy B : So much prehistoric gold! The Rillaton and Ringlemere cups (top right) and golden ships from Denmark in the British Museum World of Stonehenge exhibition

British Museum - Mold Cape stamp
British Museum - Mold Cape stamp submitted by dodomad : Mold Cape, Flintshire, Wales c1900 - 1600 BC now in the British Museum One of the Royal Mail collection of eight 'Ancient Britain' stamps for January 2017 See more in our Megalithic Stamp Collection

British Museum
British Museum submitted by DrewParsons : Winged Human Headed Bull. Assyrian from Nimrud North West Palace and dated to between 65BC and 860BC. April 2015

British Museum
British Museum submitted by DrewParsons : The Ram in a Thicket from the Great Death Pit at Ur and dated to around 2500BC. April 2015 (1 comment)

British Museum
British Museum submitted by DrewParsons : The Great Torc of Snettisham made of gold and silver and buried 100BC. April 2015

British Museum
British Museum submitted by DrewParsons : The Persian Cyrus Cylinder dated to between 538BC and 530BC and found at Babylon. The first declaration of human rights. April 2015

British Museum
British Museum submitted by DrewParsons : Assyrian Protective Spirit from Nimrud Palace and dated to between 865BC and 860BC. April 2015

British Museum
British Museum submitted by DrewParsons : Human-headed winged lion from the throne room of Ashurnasirpal II and dated to between 865BC and 860BC. The figure has 5 legs implying that it should be seen from the side as well as the front. April 2015

British Museum
British Museum submitted by DrewParsons : Bronze shield from Rhyd-y-Gorse, Dyfed, Wales. Dated to between 1200BC and 900BC. April 2015

British Museum
British Museum submitted by DrewParsons : Flint axes from the River Lee, Essex. Part of a collection of axes on display dated to between 8000 and 4000 BC. September 2009

British Museum
British Museum submitted by Andy B : The oldest known portrait of a woman sculpted from mammoth ivory found at Dolní Vestonice, Moravia, Czech Republic. approximately 26,000 years old Image Credit: Moravian Museum, Anthropos Institute Can be seen as part of the exhibition - Ice Age art: arrival of the modern mind, runnning to 26th May 2013

British Museum
British Museum submitted by durhamnature : Cylinder of Nebuchadnezzar, recording the building of his royal palaces, from "Seven Wonders...." via archive.org

British Museum
British Museum submitted by SolarMegalith : Relief of Osorkon II (22nd dynasty, 9th century BC). Osorkon's II tomb was discovered in 1939 by Pierre Montet, however it appeared to be plundered.

British Museum
British Museum submitted by SolarMegalith : Sculpture of Ramesses II (19th dynasty, 13th century BC) carved in red granite.

British Museum
British Museum submitted by SolarMegalith : Limestone lid of a coffin dated for 200 BC (Ptolemaic period).

British Museum
British Museum submitted by SolarMegalith : This Egyptian sculpture is dated for 650 BC (Late period), but lack of inscriptions makes the identification impossible.

British Museum
British Museum submitted by Thorgrim : Amid the British Museum's great treasures - huge carvings from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Easter Island and the Americas - these are my personal favourites. Exquisite carvings of reindeer on Palaeolithic "batons" from France. Such technical brilliance and sureness of line reveals the hand of a true artist. The best website for cave paintings and sculpture is http://hominids.com/donsmaps/indexpainti... (2 comments)

British Museum
British Museum submitted by Andy B : DJ Zakia Sewell shaking the British Museum collonades as part of Solstice Late

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Re: British Museum by clara-nuts on Wednesday, 22 June 2022
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The procession with the 'trumpets' facing backwards reminds me of pictures of the US Civil War. The musicians were placed in the front, so the brass instruments were built and bent so the bells pointed backwards.
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Solstice Late at the British Museum, Friday 17th June by Andy B on Sunday, 05 June 2022
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Join us at the British Museum (wear your T shirt) as we celebrate the summer solstice with an evening of music, film, talks and more.

The summer solstice marks midsummer, the longest day of the year falling on Tuesday 21 June this year. The stones at Stonehenge are aligned to the summer solstice sunrise and the winter solstice sunset – moments that had special significance to the builders of Stonehenge. They're also particularly important to modern-day Pagans and Druids who travel to the ancient stone circle to mark the solstices each year.

But you don't have to travel to Wiltshire to join in. We're bringing the celebrations to London on Friday 17 June with contributions from Ancient Music Ireland, HERESY, Jeremy Deller, Stone Club, The Megalithic Portal and more.

You need to book a free timed ticket from the museum events page to enter the Museum and explore the free activities and performances on offer throughout the evening. To close the event, join us on the front lawns at 21.15 for sunset.

This event is part of the public programme accompanying The world of Stonehenge at the British Museum (17 February – 17 July 2022). The exhibition will be open during the event with last entry at 19.40. Tickets for the exhibition must be purchased in advance

To attend this event

* Don't forget to book a free timed ticket in advance to guarantee entry to the Museum, last entry is 19.30. The Main entrance is on Great Russell Street.
* The majority of the programme will be free to drop into and non-ticketed but places are given on a first-come, first-served basis throughout the evening.
* Seating will also be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Please approach a member of staff near the seating if you have access requirements.
* The permanent galleries will start to close at 20:20.
* Please note this event will be held at full capacity without social distancing measures in place. Face coverings are recommended for the protection of yourself and others, unless you are exempt.

Friday 17th June Times: 18.00 to 21.30

More details here
https://www.britishmuseum.org/events/solstice-late
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Free ebook: Grave Goods: Objects and Death in Later Prehistoric Britain by Andy B on Thursday, 07 April 2022
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Grave Goods: Objects and Death in Later Prehistoric Britain by Anwen Cooper, Duncan Garrow, Catriona Gibson, Melanie Giles and Neil Wilkin

Britain is internationally renowned for the high quality and exquisite crafting of its later prehistoric grave goods (c. 4000 BC to AD 43). Many of prehistoric Britain's most impressive artefacts have come from graves. Interred with both inhumations and cremations, they provide some of the most durable and well-preserved insights into personal identity and the prehistoric life-course, yet they also speak of the care shown to the dead by the living, and of people’s relationships with 'things'. Objects matter.

This book's title is an intentional play on words. These are objects in burials; but they are also goods, material culture, that must be taken seriously. Within it, we outline the results of the first long-term, large-scale investigation into grave goods during this period, which enables a new level of understanding of mortuary practice and material culture throughout this major period of technological innovation and social transformation. Analysis is structured at a series of different scales, ranging from macro-scale patterning across Britain, to regional explorations of continuity and change, to site-specific histories of practice, to micro-scale analysis of specific graves and the individual objects (and people) within them. We bring these different scales of analysis together in the first ever book focusing specifically on objects and death in later prehistoric Britain.

Focusing on six key case study regions, the book innovatively synthesises antiquarian reports, research projects and developer funded excavations. At the same time, it also engages with, and develops, a number of recent theoretical trends within archaeology, including personhood, object biography and materiality, ensuring that it will be of relevance right across the discipline. Its subject matter will also resonate with those working in anthropology, sociology, museology and other areas where death, burial and the role of material culture in people’s lives are key contemporary issues.

Free ebook to download from here
https://books.casematepublishing.com/Grave_Goods.pdf

and see their blog Grave Goods
https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/grave-goods/
and the latest instalment the Boundary Objects project
https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/grave-goods/boundary-objects-project/

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24th Feb: Dr Neil Wilkin and Dr Jennifer Wexler introduce the Stonehenge exhibition by Andy B on Wednesday, 16 February 2022
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24 Feb 2022 17.30–18.30 In this online event, curators Dr Neil Wilkin and Dr Jennifer Wexler introduce the story, scope and themes of The world of Stonehenge, highlighting some of the key objects on display.

If the event is fully booked, or you do not wish to use Zoom, you can also watch the event – as well as other events in the series – streamed on the Museum's events YouTube channel.
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Re: British Museum exhibition The World of Stonehenge by AngieLake on Tuesday, 15 February 2022
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Some good photos of artefacts in this exhibition starting on Thursday 17th February, from the Daily Mail online tonight:

Nearly two-thirds of the objects going on display in the exhibition will be loans, with artefacts coming from 35 lenders across the UK, the Republic of Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Denmark and Switzerland.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10511297/British-Museum-unveils-treasures-centre-new-World-Stonehenge-exhibition.html
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    The World of Stonehenge review – even the stone axes amaze by Andy B on Tuesday, 15 February 2022
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    Jonathan Jones seems to like it, as does Grayson Perry (quoted elsewhere), it seems to be off to a great start publicity wise.

    This fiercely emotional exhibition venerates the people of ancient Britain, uncovering a mystical landscape of gods and kings

    Stonehenge is a place you just have to go and see. An exhibition inspired by it is surely doomed to fail – the mystery killed by cases of broken beakers. But The World of Stonehenge is as magical as a great barrow full of glinting treasure. It hooks you with a wooden trident (two of these are on display) and plunges you into primal waters of the imagination. It is a knockout epic.

    https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/feb/15/the-world-of-stonehenge-review-british-museum
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      World of Stonehenge discussion on BBC R3 and BBC Sounds, Listen Again by Andy B on Wednesday, 16 February 2022
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      Free Thinking - Stonehenge History

      Anne McElvoy looks at culture and travel between Britain and Europe from 4000 to 1000 BC, what we understand about the building of Stonehenge and other sites of that period in Scotland and Wales. Her guests are three archaeologists: Mike Pitts, Susan Greaney and Seren Griffiths. and the British museum exhibition curator Neil Wilkin. The World of Stonehenge runs at the British Museum in London from February 17th to July 17th 2022.

      Listen Now:
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0014g7y

      As well as the expected discussion this had some new (to me) ideas such as never mind where most the bluestones came from, where did most of them go to? Tiny traces have been found around Salisbury plain but none in Roman buildings, despite postulations that the Romans and others carted them off. Was Stonehenge being demolished in prehistoric times?
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    Re: British Museum exhibition The World of Stonehenge by Runemage on Sunday, 20 February 2022
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    Europe's oldest prosthetic limb added to the photos that Angie linked to above
    "A mysterious hand that was created around 3,500 years ago and is believed to be Europe's oldest prosthetic limb will go on display in the UK for the first time this week.
    The artefact, which experts think may also have doubled as a knife, was discovered in western Switzerland in 2017.
    It is made from bronze with a gold cuff and dates to between 1,500 and 1,400 BC.
    The hand has been on display only once before, making a brief appearance in Germany, but will now be part of the 'World of Stonehenge' exhibition at the British Museum. "

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10514401/Europes-oldest-prosthetic-limb-display-new-Stonehenge-exhibition.html
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Ancient sculpture is ‘most important prehistoric art find in UK for a century’ by Andy B on Friday, 11 February 2022
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Ancient sculpture is ‘most important prehistoric art find in UK for a century’
5,000-year-old chalk drum decorated with motifs was discovered in Burton Agnes in East Yorkshire alongside burial of three children

A 5,000-year-old chalk sculpture discovered in east Yorkshire, due to be displayed at the British Museum, has been described as the most important piece of prehistoric art to be found in Britain in the last century.

The object, a Burton Agnes drum, is a chalk sculpture which had been decorated with motifs similar to the artistic style at the same time as Stonehenge was built. The drum was discovered alongside the burial of three children.

The drum is hailed to be such an important discovery due to its similarity to a group of objects already in the British Museum’s collection.

The Folkton drums, three barrel-shaped cylinders made of chalk, were found in North Yorkshire buried alongside the remains of a child, and have been part of the British Museum’s collection since 1889. They are, according to the British Museum, some of the “most famous and enigmatic ancient objects ever unearthed in Britain”.

Relatively little is known about the Folkton drums and their context but this new drum, which was found about 15 miles away, sheds new light on them. The exact age of the Folkton drums was never known, with a consensus guess that they were made around 2500 – 2000BC. However, due to new technology and the finding of the new drum, the Folkton drums can be identified as being nearly 500 years older than previously thought.

This new discovery, only the fourth example of its kind known to have survived, is nearly identical to the Folkton drums and can also be described as a chalk drum.

Despite the use of the term ‘drum’, they are not thought to have had a musical function. Instead, they are works of sculptural art, and have been interpreted to be intended as talismans to protect the deceased children they accompanied.

The Burton Agnes drum is due to be displayed to the public for the first time on Thursday 17th Feb, alongside all three Folkton drums, as part of the World of Stonehenge exhibition at the British Museum.

The World of Stonehenge exhibition at the British Museum, on display until mid-July 2022, is the UK’s first major exhibition on Stonehenge. Nearly two-thirds of the objects on display will be loaned from 35 lenders across several different countries, including Germany, Denmark and Italy.

Read more here
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/feb/10/ancient-sculpture-is-most-important-prehistoric-art-find-in-uk-for-century
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Feb 17th to July 17th 2022 Exhibition 'The World of Stonehenge ' by Runemage on Wednesday, 08 December 2021
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Towering above the Wiltshire countryside, Stonehenge is perhaps the world’s most awe-inspiring ancient stone circle.

Shrouded in layers of speculation and folklore, this iconic British monument has spurred myths and legends that persist today. In this special exhibition, the British Museum will reveal the secrets of Stonehenge, shining a light on its purpose, cultural power and the people that created it.

Following the story of Britain and Europe from 4000 to 1000 BC, you’ll learn about the restless and highly connected age of Stonehenge – a period of immense transformation and radical ideas that changed society forever.

The human story behind the stones reveals itself through a variety of fascinating objects. Among these are stone axes from the North Italian Alps, stunning gold jewellery and astonishing examples of early metalwork including the Nebra Sky Disc – the world’s oldest surviving map of the stars. A remarkably preserved 4,000-year-old timber circle dubbed Seahenge also takes centre stage in the show, on loan for the very first time. All these objects offer important clues about the beliefs, rituals, and complex worldview of Neolithic people, helping to build a vivid sense of life for Europe’s earliest ancestors.

Informed by ground-breaking recent archaeological and scientific discoveries, this landmark exhibition offers new insight on one of the world’s great wonders, bringing the true story of Stonehenge into sharper focus than ever before."
https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/world-stonehenge
..................

A Bronze age timber structure dubbed Seahenge will go on display at the British Museum 20 years after it was uncovered by a low tide on the Norfolk coastline.

A major exhibition on Stonehenge featuring 430 objects and artefacts is due to open at the museum from February 17. The World Of Stonehenge will include elaborate gold hats depicting the cosmos and Seahenge, an ancient wooden monument.

The exhibition will run until July 17, 2022, and will tell the story of Stonehenge, the mysterious stone circle in Wiltshire.

A key part of the collection is a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age timber structure, nicknamed the Stonehenge of the Sea after it re-emerged on a Norfolk beach in 1998.
It consists of a large upturned tree stump surrounded by 54 wooden posts."

Good photos of some of the exhibits
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10286203/Bronze-age-timber-structure-dubbed-Seahenge-goes-display-British-Museum.html

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The Lion Man: an Ice Age masterpiece by Andy B on Friday, 27 October 2017
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[We need a site page for Hohlenstein-Stadel cave]

The Lion Man: an Ice Age masterpiece
Ahead of the exhibition Living with gods, Jill Cook takes a closer look at one of the exhibition's key loans – the Lion Man, an incredible survival from the last Ice Age.

The exhibition Living with gods: peoples, places and worlds beyond is on from 2 November 2017 to 8 April 2018.
https://blog.britishmuseum.org/the-lion-man-an-ice-age-masterpiece/

The accompanying BBC Radio 4 series started on the 23rd October 2017.

The Beginnings of Belief - Living With The Gods

Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum, begins this series about the role and expression of shared beliefs with the Lion Man, a small ivory sculpture which is about 40 000 years old. The figure has a human body and the head of a lion - it is a being that cannot exist in nature. While we shall never know what the Lion Man meant to the community in which it was created, we do know that it mattered enough for the group to allow someone to spend about 400 hours carving it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b099xhmj
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Brains, objects and deep history - What makes us human? Prof Clive Gamble by Andy B on Saturday, 15 July 2017
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Brains, objects and deep history - What makes us human? Iszi Lawrence, host of the British Museum Membercast, thinks it’s the wearing of socks but fortunately she’s keeping an open mind on the subject. In the second episode of the Membercast, Iszi meets Clive Gamble, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Southampton, to unpick this question.

Using the oldest objects in the British Museum to illustrate his argument, Clive explores the development of the human imagination in a lively and wide-ranging interview. The conversation is interspersed with excerpts from Clive’s sell-out Members’ lecture from 2016, Brains, objects and deep history.
http://blog.britishmuseum.org/the-british-museum-membercast-brains-objects-and-deep-history/
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Everything you ever wanted to know about the Rosetta Stone by Andy B on Saturday, 15 July 2017
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You've probably heard of the Rosetta Stone. It's one of the most famous objects in the British Museum, but what actually is it? Take a closer look...

The Stone is a broken part of a bigger stone slab. It has a message carved into it, written in three types of writing (called scripts). It was an important clue that helped experts learn to read Egyptian hieroglyphs (a writing system that used pictures as signs).

More at
http://blog.britishmuseum.org/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-rosetta-stone/

With thanks to Roy Batham for the link
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The Mildenhall Treasure: Late Roman Silver Plate from East Anglia by Andy B on Thursday, 13 July 2017
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Richard Hobbs‏ writes: My monograph on the Mildenhall treasure is now freely available as a downloadable PDF from
http://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/200_Mildenhall.pdf

The Mildenhall Treasure: Late Roman Silver Plate from East Anglia
Richard Hobbs With contributions by Janet Lang, Michael J. Hughes, Roger Tomlin and Jude Plouviez

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British Museum - Defining beauty: the body in ancient Greek art by davidmorgan on Tuesday, 24 March 2015
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An exhibition of Greek sculpture starting on 26 March 2015 until 5 July.

Experience the brilliance and diversity of ancient Greek art in this major exhibition focusing on the human body.

For centuries the ancient Greeks experimented with ways of representing the human body, both as an object of beauty and a bearer of meaning.

The remarkable works of art in the exhibition range from abstract simplicity of prehistoric figurines to breathtaking realism in the age of Alexander the Great. These works continued to inspire artists for hundreds of years, giving form to thought and shaping our own perceptions of ourselves.

The British Museum.
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British Museum studies trees used by ancestors to bind ships and baskets by bat400 on Monday, 24 June 2013
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A scientist at the British Museum is using tree samples from two national collections to find out what our ancestors used to bind and waterproof baskets, ships and riggings. More than 12kg of pine wood from Bedgebury Pinetum in Kent and up to 1kg of birch bark from Stone Lane Gardens, in Devon, were collected for the study.

The 14 species have been heated to create a black sticky tar-like substance, which was used as a glue and waterproofing agent.

Scientist, Dr Pauline Burger, who is behind the project, said the tar was used during the Iron Age.

She hopes to create a database of characteristics for each tar, which she can then compare with the tars used by our ancestors on the objects at the British Museum.

"In the past not all tree species grew everywhere, therefore, I might also get an idea where the tar was produced," she said.

Her study includes looking at the tar used on a medieval craft, the Newport Ship.

Thousands flocked to the banks of the River Usk in Newport in Wales when excavation work for a new theatre and arts centre uncovered the 500-year-old remains of the trading ship. Archaeologists have said it is the world's best preserved example of a 15th Century vessel.

The study is using 12 species of pine tree from Bedgebury Pinetum, which is managed by the Forestry Commission.

Curator Chris Reynolds said: "It highlights the importance of these botanic collections which are essentially a reference library of trees."

Paul Bartlett, garden manager at Stone Lane, said: "We are delighted to be involved in such an interesting and important project.

"If these collections weren't available, scientists would have to travel far and wide to get samples. It's always good to make practical use of the national collection... it's here to be studied."

The gardens began more than 40 years ago when a modern-day plant hunter, Kenneth Ashburner, travelled across the Northern Hemisphere in search of birch and alder trees to grow in Devon.



Thanks to coldrum for the link: For more, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/.
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Ice Age Art events by Andy B on Sunday, 10 February 2013
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A full programme of public lectures, workshops and events is running concurrently with the exhibition.

Including
Friday 22 March
3 showings of the film Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Friday 26 April -Free
An audience with the curator – exhibition handling event for visually impaired audiences

Thursday 25 April - Free
Lecture: Soft curves and full figures: images of women in Ice Age art
Exhibition Curator Jill Cook discusses how women are represented in Ice Age art. The disucssion will look at the differences and similarities of sculpture depicting women from archaeological discoveries across Europe.

Some events are fully booked but there are still places on the later days.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/ice_age_art/events.aspx
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Ice Age art: arrival of the modern mind, runnning to 26th May 2013 by Andy B on Sunday, 10 February 2013
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This unique exhibition will present masterpieces of Ice Age sculpture, ceramics, drawing and personal ornaments from across Europe together for the first time in the UK. These will include the oldest known ceramic figures in the world, as well as the oldest known portrait and figurative pieces, all of which were created over 20,000 years ago. These striking objects will be presented as art rather than archaeological finds and will enable visitors to see the meaning of art made long ago by people with developed brains like our own.

Jill Cook, Curator writes: ‘All art is the product of the remarkable structure and organisation of the modern brain. By looking at the oldest European sculptures and drawings we are looking at the deep history of how our brains began to store, transform and communicate ideas as visual images. The exhibition will show that we can recognize and appreciate these images. Even if their messages and intentions are lost to us the skill and artistry will still astonish the viewer.’

Through archaeological evidence from Southern Africa, we can ascertain that the modern brain emerged just over 100,000 years ago with the appearance of art and complex behavior patterns. This exhibition will demonstrate how the creators of the work on display had brains that had the capacity to express themselves symbolically through art and music.

The opening section of the exhibition will establish the period of the last Ice Age, concentrating on how 40,000 years ago fully modern humans spread into Europe from Africa. New stimuli such as encounters with the indigenous population of Neanderthal people and the rigors of the cold climate at this time enabled their imaginations to flourish; this resulted in the production of remarkable works of art, such as the famous painted caves in as Chauvet, Lascaux and Altamira, as well as lesser known pieces made from stone, bone, antler and ivory.

Figurative art appeared for the first time in human history in Europe at this time, and the second section of the exhibition will be dedicated to some of the oldest figurative paintings and sculptures. One of the most beautiful pieces in the exhibition includes a 23,000 year old mammoth ivory sculpture of an ‘abstract’ figure from Lespugue, France. Picasso was so fascinated with this ‘cubist’ piece that he kept two copies of it. This figure demonstrates a visual brain capable of abstraction, the essential quality needed to acquire and manipulate knowledge which underpins our ability to analyse what we see.

Figurative art appeared for the first time in human history in Europe at this time, and the second section of the exhibition will be dedicated to some of the oldest figurative paintings and sculptures. One of the most beautiful pieces in the exhibition includes a 23,000 year old mammoth ivory sculpture of an ‘abstract’ figure from Lespugue, France. Picasso was so fascinated with this ‘cubist’ piece that he kept two copies of it. This figure demonstrates a visual brain capable of abstraction, the essential quality needed to acquire and manipulate knowledge which underpins our ability to analyse what we see.

Ideas of creativity and expression have remained remarkably similar across thousands of years. The final section of the exhibition will attempt to lift the time barrier so we can see these objects as the earliest expression of European art history and discover new ways of appreciating them. Works by major modern artists including Picasso, Henry Moore and Matisse will be included to establish these connections across time, highlighting the fundamental human desire to create works of great beauty. This can be appreciated in a striking drawing of two deer engraved on a piece of bone found in the cave of Le Chaffaud, Vienne, France.

Just as a modern artist would decide on the colour, size and texture of the paper, wood, lino or glass to use for best effect, the Ice Age artist selected a piece of bone for the drawing. T

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The British Museum - New Exhibition by Sunny100 on Thursday, 24 January 2013
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Ice Age art arrival of the modern mind http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/ice_age_art/about_the_exhibition.aspx
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British Museum - Ice Age art: arrival of the modern mind by davidmorgan on Friday, 14 December 2012
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An exhibition 40,000 years in the making.

Discover masterpieces from the last Ice Age drawn from across Europe in this groundbreaking show. Created between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago by artists with modern minds like our own, this is a unique opportunity to see the world's oldest known sculptures, drawings and portraits.

These exceptional pieces will be presented alongside modern works by Henry Moore, Mondrian and Matisse, illustrating the fundamental human desire to communicate and make art as a way of understanding ourselves and our place in the world.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/ice_age_art.aspx
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When Homo sapiens hit upon the power of art by davidmorgan on Friday, 14 December 2012
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Rail engineer Peccadeau de l'Isle was supervising track construction outside Toulouse in 1866 when he decided to take time off to indulge his hobby, archaeology. With a crew of helpers, he began excavating below a cliff near Montastruc, where he dug up an extraordinary prehistoric sculpture. It is known today as the Swimming Reindeer of Montastruc.

Made from the 8in tip of a mammoth tusk, the carving, which is at least 13,000 years old, depicts two deer crossing a river. Their chins are raised and their antlers tipped back exactly as they would be when swimming. At least four different techniques were used to create this masterpiece: an axe trimmed the tusk, scrapers shaped its contours; iron oxide powder was used to polish it; and an engraving tool incised its eyes and other details.

It is superbly crafted, wonderfully observed and shows that tens of thousands of years ago human beings had achieved a critical intellectual status. They had moved from making objects merely for physical use, such as stone axes, and had begun to create works that had no purpose other than to reflect the patterns and sights they were experiencing around them. Homo sapiens had discovered art.

"There is evidence that pigments were being used by our ancestors in Africa 150,000 years ago and that later, around 70,000 years ago, they were engraving geometric patterns on objects," says Professor Steven Mithen of Reading University. "But it was not until modern humans reached Europe more than 40,000 years ago – when there appears to have been an explosion of technical creativity – that art, as we understand it today, appeared. The results were breath-taking. Indeed, I don't think they have ever been surpassed."

The startling, highly advanced nature of these works can be judged this February when the British Museum opens its exhibition, Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind. It will display artefacts, borrowed from museums across Europe, which were made between 13,000 and 42,000 years ago, when the last ice age took its grip of the continent, and will include the world's oldest portrait, the oldest sculpture, the oldest ceramics and one of the oldest musical instruments. There will even be a case for the world's oldest puppet.

"This show has been tens of thousand of years in the making and it will give visitors a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the cream of Europe's ice age art," says exhibition organiser, Jill Cook, the British Museum's curator of European prehistory. "This show marks the beginning of the modern world. For the first time, humans were displaying the full imagination of modern humanity and externalising thoughts. They are making objects not just for practical value but to express ideas in a symbolic, highly skilful manner."

Consider the Montastruc reindeer. The slightly smaller of the two animals has got six little nipples while the larger, behind it, has male genitalia. "Both animals have antlers, however, which indicates we are dealing with reindeer, the only deer species whose females grow antlers," says Cook. "Crucially, males lose theirs in December but females keep theirs. So this is not a winter scene though the female's flank, beautifully shaded by the sculptor, shows she has grown a thick coat. So winter must be close. In other words, this is an autumnal scene, a time of migration. Hence the swim across a river. It is all beautifully observed."

The carving was made by a member of the Cro-Magnons, hunter-gatherer descendants of the first modern humans to occupy Europe around 45,000 years ago, and who lived there through the last ice age, which began 40,000 years ago and endured until 10,000 years before present. Reindeer, with their rich meat and thick pelts, would have been vital to tribes' survival and the Montastruc sculpture, with its delicate rib cages, antlers and coats, show how carefully the Cro-Magnons must have observed them. As Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, says: "This work was cre

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London's Fossils: An Ancient World Hidden In The City. by Sunny100 on Thursday, 13 September 2012
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Click on the link and watch the video http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19574619
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British Museum Events October/November 2011 by Andy B on Tuesday, 04 October 2011
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British Museum Events October/November 2011

Object in context:
the Royal Standard of Ur
Thursday 6 October
13.15
Stevenson Lecture Theatre

Dr Birger Helgestad, Project Curator: Ur Concordance, in the Dept of the Middle East, British Museum, considers the purpose, structure, meaning and materials of this spectacular object which is covered in lapis lazuli and shell mosaic, from Ur in southern Iraq, dating to c. 2600–2400 BC.

Free, booking advised, limited places reserved for Members
Book online

Phone +44 (0)20 7323 8181
Ticket Desk in Great Court

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/october_2011/object_in_context.aspx


Ceramics and society: pottery from the
Late Neolithic in the Middle East
Friday 14 October
13.15

Room 56

A gallery talk by Michela Spataro and Alexandra Fletcher, British Museum. Gallery talks last 45 minutes. They are given by Museum staff or guest speakers and are suitable for all levels of knowledge.

Free, just drop in

Room 56: Mesopotamia 6000–1500 BC

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/october_2011/ceramics_and_society.aspx


The Annual Eva Lorant Memorial Lecture
Foretold by thunder: an Etruscan book of omens revealed
Friday 14 October
18.30
BP Lecture Theatre

Jean MacIntosh Turfa, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, presents the first English translation of an Etruscan book of thunder-omens, revealing the dynamic and perilous world that was ancient Etruria.

Includes tales of a supernatural prophet, cosmic rays, Mesopotamian astrology, epidemics, serpents, and snide remarks by Cicero.

Free, booking required

Phone +44 (0)20 7323 8181
Ticket Desk in Great Court

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/adult_learning_courses/eva_lorant_memorial_lecture.aspx

Half-term activities –
Prehistoric Britain: flints, farms and flesh-hooks
Monday 24 – Friday 28 October
11.00–16.00
Great Court

Come to a whole week of activities dedicated to the archaeology of Britain from the Stone Age to the coming of the Romans.

Watch an expert flint knapper make stone tools, contribute to the prehistoric art installation or make something to take home. Join curators on a family gallery talk and find out just how long ago the first humans arrived in Britain. Each day will have a different programme and historical focus, so come back as often as you can.

Free, just drop in

Phone +44 (0)20 7323 8181
Ticket Desk in Great Court

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/october_2011/prehistoric_britain.aspx

Scientific aspects of the Bronze Age tomb furniture from Jericho
Thursday 27 October
13.15

Room 58

A gallery talk by Caroline Cartwright, British Museum. Gallery talks last 45 minutes. They are given by Museum staff or guest speakers and are suitable for all levels of knowledge.

Free, just drop in

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/october_2011/bronze_age_tomb_furniture.aspx

Knossos

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British Museum Events January 2011 by bat400 on Tuesday, 18 January 2011
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British Museum Events January 2011

Gallery talks last 45 minutes. They are given by Museum staff or guest speakers and are suitable for all levels of knowledge.
Scientific insights into jade carving in neolithic

A gallery talk by Margaret Sax, British Museum

Wednesday 19 January 2011, 13.15, Room 33

Free, just drop in



Treasures from tombs and temples

A gallery talk by Mary Ginsberg, British Museum

Tuesday 25 January 2011, 13.15, Room 33

Free, just drop in



Thanks to coldrum for this linkhttp://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/full_events_calendar.aspx.
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September/October Events 2010 by coldrum on Thursday, 09 September 2010
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Mega mummy animation workshop

A free family digital workshop
11.00 and 14.00 on the following days:
Sunday 12 September
Sunday 31 October
Samsung Digital Discovery Centre
Free, booking advised

Create a giant animation of the mummification process using a digital video camera and stop-motion software.

Sessions last 120 minutes
Suitable for ages 7+


http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/samsung_events/mummify_yourself.aspx


The ancient Egyptian Book
of the Dead

A free performance for families
Saturday 11 September, 12.00, 13.30 and 15.00
Stevenson Lecture Theatre
Free, no pre-booking

Join Nodjmet on her journey into the afterlife in this interactive performance. Sessions last about 45 minutes.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/september_2010/egyptian_book_of_the_dead.aspx


Digital discovery activities: Egypt

A free family digital workshop
11.30–15.30 on the following days:
Saturday 28 August
Saturday 11 September
Saturday 30 October
Samsung Digital Discovery Centre
Free, just drop in
Deposit required for some activities

Experience the Museum’s collection through a variety of digital activities that can be done in the Centre or in the galleries. Activities take 30–60 minutes.

On 11 September and 30 October sessions, choose from a selection of Egypt-themed digital activities to do in the Centre or the galleries.

Suitable for ages 5+


http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/samsung_events/digital_discovery_activities.aspx



Gods and coins

A gallery talk by Fernando Lopez, British Museum
Wednesday 15 September, 13.15
Room 68
Free, just drop in

Gallery talks last 45 minutes. They are given by Museum staff or guest speakers and are suitable for all levels of knowledge.


http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/september_2010/gods_and_coins.aspx


Art of the city of the gods: Teotihucan

A gallery talk by Elizabeth Baquedano
Thursday 16 September, 13.15
Room 26
Free, just drop in

Gallery talks last 45 minutes. They are given by Museum staff or guest speakers and are suitable for all levels of knowledge.


http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/september_2010/teotihucan_art.aspx


Who were the ancient Celts?

A gallery talk by Jonathan Williams,
British Museum
Friday 17 September, 13.15
Room 51
Free, just drop in

Gallery talks last 45 minutes. They are given by Museum staff or guest speakers and are suitable for all levels of knowledge.


http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/september_2010/who_were_the_ancient_celts.aspx


Ptah, creator god of Memphis

A gallery talk by George Hart
Saturday 18 September, 13.15
Room 4
Free, just drop in

Gallery talks last 45 minutes. They ar

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Ancient Cyprus:new discoveries, new ideas,British Museum,Saturday 9 October 2010 by coldrum on Wednesday, 25 August 2010
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Ancient Cyprus:new discoveries, new ideas,British Museum,Saturday 9 October 2010

Ancient Cyprus: new discoveries, new ideas

A study day at the British Museum
Saturday 9 October 2010, 10.00–16.30
Stevenson Lecture Theatre
£30, concessions £20, includes tea/coffee

Leading researchers in Cypriot archaeology present the results of their recent excavations and research in a series of short, illustrated papers aimed at a general audience. The day aims to create a bridge between academic specialists and the general public to promote greater understanding and appreciation of the fascinating heritage of ancient Cyprus.

The programme is inspired by the rich collection of Cypriot artefacts in the British Museum, but also by the many connections between modern Cyprus and the UK, particularly the vibrant Cypriot community in London. Topics covered include excavations at prehistoric settlements, whether there was an ancient opium trade, deciphering the ancient languages of the island, travellers and explorers in the 19th century AD, and worshipping the Great Goddess (Aphrodite).

The study day concludes with an optional tour of the British Museum’s A G Leventis Gallery of Ancient Cyprus (Room 72).

Organised to mark the 50th anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus
Red Polished ware figurine


Phone +44 (0)20 7323 8181
Ticket Desk in Great Court
Open 10.00 to 16.45 daily


http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/october_2010/ancient_cyprus_study_day.aspx
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The Megaliths of Northern Europe, 18th Feb 2010, British Museum by Andy B on Sunday, 07 February 2010
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The Megaliths of Northern Europe, 18th Feb 2010, British Museum

Thursday, February 18th at 10am (tea and coffee from 9:30)

Where: Centre for Anthropology, British Museum

The British Museum’s Centre for Anthropology, in collaboration with the Royal Anthropological Institute, will be continuing its series of encounters between authors and their reviewers with a seminar discussion between Dr. Magdalena Midgley, author of The Megaliths of Northern Europe, and Prof. Chris Scarre, who reviewed the work for JRAI.

The North European megaliths are among the most enduring structures built in prehistory; they are imbued with symbolic meanings which embody physical and conceptual ideas about the nature of the world inhabited by the first Northern farmers.

The Megaliths of Northern Europe brings to light new data on the construction of the megaliths and their role in the cultural landscape, and Magdalena Midgley offers a fascinating interpretation of the symbolism of megalithic tombs within the context of early farming communities. This wealth of new evidence suggests the Northern European megaliths were important foci in the wider north-west European context.

The construction of dolmens and passage graves, using huge glacial boulders, demanded both great communal effort and considerable skill. In addition to this technical expertise the master builders also made use of their esoteric knowledge of rituals. This was expressed in the use of exotic building materials and special architectural features, and in the placement of tombs within the natural and cultural landscapes, creating new metaphors and images.

This is a free event.

http://therai.org.uk/index.php?view=details&id=11:reviewer-meets-reviewed-the-megaliths-of-northern-europe&option=com_eventlist&Itemid=83
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The dogu have something to tell us by coldrum on Tuesday, 06 October 2009
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The dogu have something to tell us

Neither human nor animal, Japan's Jomon sculptures are a mystery to be enjoyed

By VICTORIA JAMES
Special to The Japan Times

LONDON — They are, according to their kanji, part earth and part spirit, somewhere between animal and human. They are dogu, the most remarkable products of Japan's Jomon Period, a Neolithic era before the advent of rice cultivation, when the Japanese archipelago supported higher population densities than any other pre-agricultural society in the world.

News photo
Tanabatake "Venus": A big-bottomed dogu from Nagano Prefecture, 2500-1500 B.C. CHINO CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION

The dogu are humanoid forms shaped in clay, large and small, richly decorated or homely and unadorned. Some 18,000 of them have been unearthed to date, in Jomon-period settlements stretching from Kyushu, north through Tohoku to Hokkaido. The oldest are nearly 10,000 years old, the youngest a mere 2,300. Yet despite their advanced age, they're on the move.

Sixty-seven dogu, loaned from collections across Japan, have taken up temporary residence in the British Museum, London, for a new exhibition: "The Power of Dogu." In December, they return home for three months' display at Tokyo National Museum.

The dogu are oddly hypnotic, a parade of the beautiful, brutal and uncanny: a cat-faced dogu, designed without legs; a dogu with an outsize heart-shaped face; a sturdy dogu wearing an enigmatic triangular mask, and perhaps most famous of all, a "goggle-eyed" dogu from Kamegaoka covered in stippled and corded markings.

There are dogu with horns, with flat heads, bow-legs, dogu wearing bodices, knee-pads, dogu holding pots. Some dogu invite immediate empathy, like the fragmentary figure of a mother cradling a baby; others, like the lofty standing dogu, nearly half a meter tall, appear hieratic and inscrutable. It seems hard to believe they could all represent a common phenomenon, one to which Meiji Era archaeologists in 1882 first gave the name "dogu."

"The rich diversity of the dogu tradition is one of the themes we wanted to present in the exhibition," explains curator Dr. Simon Kaner, an archaeologist of the Sainsbury Institute who specializes in the prehistory of Japan. "The Japanese archipelago during the Jomon period was occupied by a large number of different groups of people, or different societies — we should talk not of Jomon culture but Jomon cultures, Jomon peoples and not Jomon people. They probably spoke a number of different dialects and expressed themselves through a huge range of pottery styles — over 400 local styles have been recognized to date."

Indeed, the dogu are both an intensely local form of expression, and also manifest a shared urge by Neolithic peoples around the world to represent the human form in clay. Humanoid figures of a comparable age have been found as far afield as Mexico, Turkey, Ecuador, Romania and Egypt. Curiously, Japan's nearest neighbors do not appear to have had an equivalent tradition.

"There are very few ceramic figures from the Korean Peninsula," says Kaner. "And in China the human form was represented by painting on pots, or by very different forms, like the 'temple' or 'shrine' from Niuheliang, which has life-size unbaked clay figures around the walls."

So what did the dogu mean to their Jomon makers? The British Museum exhibition is part of an ongoing debate in the field of Neolithic studies as to the nature and purpose of early sculptural representation of the human form.

The 1960s saw a proliferation of theories around so-called "mother goddess" figures, often nicknamed "Venus." (Indeed, pride of place in the current exhibition goes to a big-bottomed dogu known as the Tanabatake "Venus" — a label Kaner agrees is "not very helpful.") The "Venus" theory has declined in popularity in recent years, while scientists working on a hoard of 2,000 fig

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Visualizing the Aztecs by coldrum on Sunday, 04 October 2009
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Anyone who has visited the ancient ruins of great civilizations can appreciate the difficulty of visualizing the buildings at their peak. Today's visitor to the British Museum can see structures of the Aztecs, thanks to one professor's research into the ancient architecture that served as the center stage of Aztec ceremonial life, combined with an ultra-modern electronic digital modeling process.

Antonio Serrato-Combe, professor of architecture at the University of Utah, has spent decades bringing the ancient structures of the Aztecs into focus. His work is now the basis for a new British Museum exhibition exploring the power and empire of the last elected Aztec Emperor, Moctezuma II. The exhibit, Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler, opens September 24 at the Round Reading Room, The British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, UK.

Moctezuma (reigned 1502-1520) was a ruler of semi-mythical status. He inherited and then consolidated Aztec control over a politically complex empire that by the early 16th century stretched from the shores of Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico. His major accomplishment was the construction of the Templo Mayor Precinct in Tenochtitlan, Mexico (modern day Mexico City). Destroyed by Hernando Cortes in 1521, the Templo Mayor was the epicenter for Aztec ceremonial life and served as the setting for colorful displays of highly energized rituals depicting the relationships between social groups and humans and their gods.


Wide-angle reconstruction view of the plaza west of the Templo Mayor as seen from the top of the Temple of the Sun. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Serrato-Combe
The question of what the Aztec Templo Mayor Precinct looked like has piqued the curiosity of many, including Serrato-Combe. For more than two decades, he has been trying to solve the mystery on how the capital of the Aztecs looked by using the technology and tools of architecture. His book, The Aztec Templo Mayor: A Visualization was published in 2002 by the University of Utah Press.

"The Aztec capital was a thriving metropolis planned and built according to principles that not only understood and applied critical environmental issues, but added holistic concepts as well," explains Serrato-Combe. "The Aztecs did not compartmentalize the arts. The final result was a unique combination of architecture, sculpture, painting, costume, wall and sand painting, pottery, masks, amulets, all into one expression. I envy those individuals who had the opportunity to experience those environments."

Combe's research and visualizations are centered on historic and archaeological studies conducted on-site in Mexico City, in conjunction with extensive research on Mesoamerican Manuscripts at the National Library and Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City, Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University, and Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University among others. The research itself took more than two decades, due to the complexity and diverse nature of the historic and archeological record.


More involved than the research however, was the question of how to visualize the discoveries. A self-proclaimed computer geek, it was at the suggestion of a student that Combe combined his two passions of research and computer graphics into an illustrated book. He said, "One day, after one of my history classes here at the University of Utah, one of my students remarked, 'since you know so much about pre-Columbian architecture and you also seem to be a computer geek, why don't you combine both disciplines and come up with a book that uses digital tools to illustrate the past?" The rest is history.

Through his project, Combe has become the authority at the U on digital visualization techniques and now teaches architecture students the basics of an integral tool in architecture. "Digital tools in architecture are unique in that they provide a communication channel where a student does or proposes something and the computer responds," he says. "The conversation betwee

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Greenwell Collection of Carved Stones and Rock Art by Andy B on Friday, 28 August 2009
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On the 28th of June 2008 Jan and Joop (otherwise known as BRAC or 'rockartuk') were given permission by the British Museum to photograph their decorated stones, held in a depot somewhere in London.

Most of the stones are from the Greenwell Collection which was presented to the Museum in 1876.

The photos are on the BRAC web site:
http://rockartuk.fotopic.net/c1569247.html
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Skeletons found at Olympic site by coldrum on Wednesday, 21 May 2008
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Skeletons found at Olympic site

Four skeletons thought to date back to the Iron Age have been unearthed on the site of the London 2012 Olympic Park.

The remains, believed to be up to 3,000 years old, were discovered in graves close to where the aquatics centre will be built in Stratford, east London.

They have been removed and will form part of a year-long project to give locals an insight into the area's past.

Archaeologists from the Museum of London have now completed digs at sites of the five main Olympic venues.

Thatched huts

Experts searching the area have previously uncovered a Roman coin, Roman river walls, World War II gun emplacements and a complete 19th Century boat used for hunting wild fowl on the lower River Lea.

The four skeletons were discovered in separate graves in a cemetery within an Iron Age settlement.

Initial analysis suggests there are both male and female burials.

Other remains show that these early Londoners lived in thatched circular huts on the edge of the river valley, surrounded by lakes, rivers and marshes.

River widening

The first Londoners lived by and fished in what is now the River Lea and parts of their cooking pots have also been discovered.

The aquatics centre will be situated beside the river which is currently being widened, by eight metres (8.7 yards), as part of a programme to restore the ancient waterways of the Lower Lea Valley.

More than 140 trenches have been dug and archaeological work has been carried out on the sites of the Olympic stadium, aquatics centre, VeloPark, Olympic village and the international media centre.

The Discover project, being launched on Thursday, will use school visits, a community dig and roadshows to give local people a chance to learn more about the area's history.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7315968.stm
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