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Top 10 artefacts at the British MuseumFebruary 25, 2010
Mustafa El’omari
The British Museum boasts nearly 6 million visitors a year, making it the UK’s biggest attraction for the third year running! So what’s the big attraction? Well, there’s quite a few, actually – their collection database lists nearly eight million!
The museum is currently working with BBC Radio 4 on a series entitled “A History of the World in 100 objects”. You can listen online, but for a real quick snapshot of the collection highlights here are my top ten picks for visitors who only have a few hours.
- Olduvai Stone chopping tool. Dates from about 1.8 million years ago, the oldest human made object in the museum.
- Rosetta Stone. Features a decree written in three languages – in hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek. This enabled scholars to decipher hieroglyphics and laid the foundations of our knowledge of ancient Egyptian language and culture.
- Elgin Marbles. Stunning classical sculptures from the Parthenon, a temple built in Athens some 2,500 years ago. Acquired by Lord Elgin during his time as ambassador to the Ottoman court in Istanbul, then purchased by the British parliament in 1816 and presented to the museum. In recent years the sculptures have become the subject of much controversy – the Greek authorities want them returned.
Sutton Hoo Helmet. 7th century AD, Suffolk, England. This iconic object from the origins of English history reveals the story of how the first English kings were always part of a larger European community. © The Trustees of the British Museum
- Sutton Hoo ship-burial helmet. This extraordinary helmet from the 7th century AD is one of only four dating to the early medieval period to have been found so far in England. The face-mask is the most remarkable feature, with eye-sockets, eyebrows and a nose.
- Predynastic Egyptian man. The body of a man who died more than five thousand years ago. Before mummification was developed around 2700 BC, bodies were placed in shallow desert graves, The sand absorbed the water that constitutes 75% by weight of the human body and prevented decay. This body has been remarkably well preserved, even down to the hair and finger-nails.
- The Mold gold cape. Workmen quarrying for stone in an ancient burial mound in 1833 found this unique ceremonial gold cape. Dating from 1900-1600 BC, it is one of the finest examples of prehistoric sheet-gold working and is quite unique in form and design. It was laboriously beaten out of a single ingot of gold, then embellished with intense decoration of ribs and bosses to mimic multiple strings of beads amid folds of cloth.
- The Lewis Chessmen. Probably made in Norway, about AD 1150-1200 and found on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Consist of elaborately worked walrus ivory and whales’ teeth in the forms of seated kings and queens, mitred bishops, knights on their mounts, standing warders and pawns in the shape of obelisks.
Lewis Chessmen. Probably made in Norway, about AD 1150-1200. Found on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland © The Trustees of the British Museum
- Hoa Hakananai’a. From Orongo, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Polynesia, around AD 1000. Easter Island is littered with these monumental sculptures. This example was collected by the crew of the English ship HMS Topaze on their visit in 1868. Islanders helped the crew to move the statue, which has been estimated to weigh around four tons.
- Mosaic mask of Quetzalcoatl. Believed to represent Quetzalcoatl (‘the feathered serpent’) or the rain god Tlaloc, the disturbingly beautiful mask is carved from a single piece of Cedrela odorata wood and covered with vivid turquoise mosaic work. The Spanish friar Bernardino de Sahagún describes a mask like this given to Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés by the Mexica emperor Moctezuma II in the 16th century.
- Swimming Reindeer sculpture. This carving is one of the most beautiful pieces of Ice Age art ever discovered. Found in France, it is made from the tip of a mammoth tusk and is around 13,000 years old, a time when animals such as mammoths, reindeer and wolverines roamed Europe.
Visitors to the museum can make use of the one hour, three hours and multimedia tours avialable for the very best experience and information.
Of course you can make it a special occasion and stay with us at The Montague on the Gardens, with our Art and Culture package which includes entry to the current exhibition, find out more…
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1 Leanne Rae wrote on March 30, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Swimming Reindeer sculpture. This carving is one of the most beautiful pieces of Ice Age art ever discovered. Found in France, it is made from the tip of a mammoth tusk and is around 13,000 years old, a time when animals such as mammoths, reindeer and wolverines roamed Europe
Predynastic Egyptian man. The body of a man who died more than five thousand years ago. Before mummification was developed around 2700 BC, bodies were placed in shallow desert graves, The sand absorbed the water that constitutes 75% by weight of the human body and prevented decay. This body has been remarkably well preserved, even down to the hair and finger-nails.
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