Objects like mummy cases provide insights into ancient societies' beliefs and connections to other cultures.
Stone tools played a fundamental role in shaping human history and civilizations throughout time.
Deep dives
The Power of Objects in Telling History
This podcast episode explores the concept of using objects as a way to communicate and understand history. The host emphasizes the importance of museums in telling the history of the world, as they collect and preserve objects from different civilizations. By analyzing objects like mummy cases, scientific advancements have provided insights into ancient societies' beliefs and connections to other cultures. The episode highlights the interconnectedness of civilizations throughout history, showing that history is not just a clash of civilizations but rather a story of endless connections.
Unraveling Secrets from a Mummy's Coffin
The podcast focuses on a specific object, a wooden coffin from Thebes in Egypt, dating back to the 3rd century BCE. With advancements in scientific techniques, researchers have been able to gather more information about the person buried inside, named Horniite. By examining the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the coffin, experts learned about his role as a priest and his preparation for the afterlife. New scientific methods, such as non-invasive scanning and chemical composition analysis, have provided further details about the materials used in mummification and the trading networks that supplied them to Egypt. This case exemplifies how objects can communicate and reveal aspects of ancient civilizations.
The Beginnings of Human History through Stone Tools
The podcast delves into the earliest days of human history, nearly two million years ago, focusing on the creation of stone tools. These tools, shaped by human hands, represent the first step in shaping our world. The episode highlights the unique nature of humans, who not only create but also depend on objects, distinguishing them from other animals. Looking ahead to the next program, the host hints at exploring one of the earliest stone tools in a tomb. Thus, objects like stone tools reveal the fundamental role they played in the development of humans and their civilizations throughout history.
The Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, retells the history of human development from the first stone axe to the credit card using 100 selected objects from the Museum. His history will cover two million years and include items that were made in every part of the globe. But his journey begins when, at the age of eight, he visited the British Museum for the first time and came face-to-face with an object that fascinated and intrigued him ever since - an Egyptian mummy.
Hornedjitef was a priest who died around 2250 years ago, and he designed a coffin that, he believed, would help him navigate his way to the afterlife. Little did he know that this afterlife would be as a museum exhibit in London. This ornate coffin holds secrets to the understanding of his religion, society and Egypt's connections to the rest of the world.
Neil MacGregor tells the story of Hornedjitef's mummy case, with contributions from egyptologist John Taylor, Egyptian author Ahdaf Soueif and Indian economist and Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen
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