A History of the World in 100 Objects

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A History of the World in 100 Objects

In what marks a unique public service partnership, the BBC is joining forces with the British Museum to tell humankind's story through the things we have made, from the Mummy of Hornedjitef to the modern credit card.

A History of the World in 100 Objects will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 weekdays from Monday 18 January (9:45am/7:45pm/12:15am). Written and presented by Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, each of the 100 editions (which are split into three tranches over the course of the year) focuses on a particular object.

Here we reveal the list of 99 objects - the 100th is still to be selected. "We'll leave choosing it until the last moment, so that it's as relevant as possible," says MacGregor.

Browse the list below and let us know what you think the 100th object should be…

1 Mummy of Hornedjitef - 3rd century BC
A magnificent gilded and painted case containing the mummified remains of a man named Hornedjitef, who died aged in old age. The mummy dates from Egypt's Ptolemaic period.

2 Olduvai stone chopping tool - circa 1,8,000,000–2,000,000 BC
A basalt pebble that's been chipped to make a knife-like tool. It was found in the Olduvai Gorge in modern Tanzania and dates back to the early forebears of the first humans around two million years ago. It's one of the oldest objects in the British Museum.

3 Olduvai hand axe - c 1,200,000–1,400,000 BC
A more sophisticated tool - the Stone Age equivalent of a Swiss Army knife - from the same site in East Africa, dated from between 1.2 and 1.4 million years ago.

4 Swimming reindeer - 13,000 BC
Beautifully carved in the shape of two swimming reindeer, this 20cm tip of a mammoth tusk is at least 12,000 years old. It was found in south-west France and was created by the Magdalenian people.

5 Clovis spear point - c 11,000 BC
Distinctive flint spear tips of the same pattern have been found right across North America. They're the best evidence to date the first human settlement of the continent to around 11,000 BC.

6 Bird-shaped pestle - c 4,000–8,000 BC
Decorative pestle carved from stone, in the form of a slender, stylised bird with a long neck, probably for crushing taro or yams. From the Highland region of Papua New Guinea.

7 Ain Sakhri lovers figurine - c 9,000 BC
The earliest known sculpture of a couple making love, this stone carving from Judea dates from a time when the people of the region were beginning to domesticate sheep and goats instead of living by hunting wild animals.

8 Egyptian clay model of cattle - c 3,500 BC
A group of four cattle made of painted pottery was placed in a tomb to ensure the deceased would be provided with food in the afterlife.

9 Maya maize god statue - c 700 AD
The Mayans of Central America worshipped the maize god to ensure a good crop of corn.

10 Jomon pot - c 5,000 BC
The first pots in the world were made in Japan and neighbouring parts of East Asia. Jomon means "cord pattern" - the period was named after the characteristic patterns made with twisted cords on the pots' surface.

11 King Den's sandal label - c 2,985 BC
An ivory plaque that was a label for sandals, which were extremely prestigious items. It shows Den, the fourth king of the First Dynasty, vanquishing his enemy.

12 Standard of Ur - c 2,600–2,400 BC
This object was found in a grave in the Royal Cemetery at Ur in modern Iraq. It has two main panels with mosaics of shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli on a wooden frame, but its function is unknown.

13 Indus seal - c 2,500–2,000 BC
Seals made of soft stone from this period are evidence of a system of trade developing in the Indus Valley at around the same time as civilisations in the Nile valley in Egypt and the Euphrates in Mesopotamia.

14 Jade axe - c 4,000–2,000 BC
This 5,000-year-old polished stone axe was found in Canterbury but made in the Alps.

15 Early writing tablet - c 3,100–3,000 BC
Writing tablets from Mesopotamia in the Middle East contain some of the world's first writing. The cuneiform (wedge shaped) symbols were produced using a sharpened reed to mark the soft clay. It's actually a record of workers' daily beer rations - suggesting that writing developed first as a means of keeping accounts.

16 Flood tablet - c 700–600 BC
A particular cuneiform tablet from the library of Assyrian King Ashurbanipal, at Nineveh in modern Iraq. From the Epic of Gilgamesh, it tells the Mesopotamian version of the Flood story.

17 Rhind mathematical papyrus - c 1550 BC
The most extensive surviving guide to maths in Ancient Egypt. The papyrus lists solutions to 84 practical problems concerned with numerical operations, practical problem-solving and geometrical shapes.

18 Minoan bull leaper - c 1700–1450 BC
A bronze casting depicting the Minoan ritual of bull leaping.

19 Mold gold cape - c 1900–1600 BC
A unique ceremonial gold cape that was found in an ancient burial mound near Mold in North Wales. It's one of the finest examples of prehistoric sheet-gold working, laboriously beaten out of a single ingot of gold, then worked to mimic strings of beads and folds of cloth.

20 Statue of Ramesses II - c 1250 BC
A representation of political power carved from a huge block of granite. The imminent arrival of this statue at the museum inspired Shelley to write Ozymandias.

21 Lachish reliefs - c 700 BC
A series of alabaster panels from Assyrian palaces in Nineveh, in modern Iraq, tell of the Assyrian siege and conquest of the city of Lachish.

22 Sphinx of Taharqo - c 680 BC
An exquisitely carved granite sphinx, which represents the power of the king. This domestic-sized example (just 73cm long) was discovered in Sudan.

23 Chinese Zhou ritual bowl - c 1100–1000 BC
An inscription inside the bowl provides an important account of how the Zhou dynasty conquered the Shang dynasty around 1050 BC.

24 Paracas textile - c 300–200 BC
Half-human, half-animal creatures found on textile fragments are characteristic of an Andean culture that flourished in what is now Peru.

25 Gold coin of Croesus - c 550 BC
The king of Lydia in modern-day Turkey is thought to have been one of the first rulers to mint gold coins, called croesid.

26 Oxus chariot model - c 500–300 BC
A remarkable model chariot made of gold was part of a treasure hoard assembled when the Persian Empire stretched from the Aegean Sea to Pakistan.

27 Parthenon sculpture: centaur and Lapith - c 440 BC
A panel from one of the 92 Parthenon sculptures that depict mythical battles. It shows the consequences for the Athenians' near-neighbours, the Lapiths, of giving wine to centaurs.

28 Basse Yutz Flagons - c 450 BC
Bronze flagons, made in eastern France, which copy the bronze wine flagons made by Etruscans in Italy. Inlaid with coral and red enamel, they were used for pouring wine, mead or beer at feasts.

29 Olmec stone mask - c 900–400 BC
A stone face made by Olmecs, the first Central American culture to build cities and develop writing.

30 Chinese bronze bell - c 500 BC
A bell that was sounded by hitting it with a mallet rather than by a clapper. Bronze casting was the highest technology of the era and the bells marked status and had ritual significance.

31 Coin with head of Alexander - c 300 BC
Alexander the Great conquered almost all the known world. Following his death, coins bearing a godlike image of him were minted, which became staples of the Greek world.

32 Pillar of Ashoka - c 250 BC
One of a series of monuments spread across South Asia by the command of one of India's most powerful rulers.

33 Rosetta stone - 196 BC
The stone was the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. It bears a decree inscribed three times - in hieroglyphs, in demotic script and in Greek. It's been on display since 1802.

34 Chinese Han lacquer cup - 4 AD
By the time this cup was made, the lacquer industry was under government control and using early techniques of mass production.

35 Head of Augustus - c 26 BC
This head was probably cut from a statue of the emperor Augustus by invaders. In an act of ritual humiliation, it was buried beneath the steps of a native temple in what is now Sudan.

36 Warren Cup - c 50–70 AD
This Roman silver cup, said to be from the Jerusalem region, is decorated with homoerotic scenes; it only went on public display in the 1980s.

37 North American otter pipe - 200 BC–100 AD
Excavated at the Native American Mound City in Ohio, the precise function of this beautifully carved pipe is not known.

38 Ceremonial ball game belt - 100–500 AD
A stone "yoke", or belt, that is thought to have been used for ritual ceremonies, although far too heavy to be worn for actual play. Some suggest it was used as a mould to make leather belts, worn around the hip as protection during the game.

39 Admonitions scroll - 6th–8th century AD
A copy of a masterpiece attributed to legendary Chinese painter Gu Kaizhi that takes the form of a parody attacking the behaviour of an empress.

40 Hoxne pepper pot - 4th century AD
An extremely rare example of a spice container buried for safety in Suffolk as the Romans withdrew from Britain. It was found with a hoard of 15,000 coins.

41 Seated Buddha from Ganhara - 700 AD
The historical Buddha was born a prince named Siddhartha Gautama in northern India, and one centre of Buddhism is Ganhara on Pakistan's north-west frontier.

42 Gold coin of Kumaragupta I - c 430 AD
Although named dinara after the Roman denarius, the coinage of the Gupta dynasty carried Indian designs reflecting traditional ideas.

43 Silver plate showing Shapur II - 400 AD
Shapur belonged to a dynasty that ruled Iran for over 400 years and, as it grew in power, came into conflict with Rome.

44 Hinton St Mary Mosaic - 400 AD
A magnificent mosaic from a Roman villa that was discovered buried in a field in the village of Hinton St Mary, Dorset, in 1963.

45 Arabian bronze hand - 200–300 AD
An offering to Ta'lab from Yemen, one of many gods worshipped in South Arabia. By the end of the fourth century AD, the worship of a single god developed.

46 Gold coins of Abd al-Malik - 700 AD
The reform of Islamic coinage in 696–7 AD involved replacing any images on coins with writing. It was principally done because of the unease felt by Muslim clerics at the portrayal of images forbidden by the Quran.

47 Sutton Hoo helmet - 600 AD
An early Saxon helmet that was found among a hoard of grave goods buried with an important leader in a 27-metre oak ship in Suffolk.

48 Moche warrior pot - 100–700 AD
Pottery characteristic of the Moche civilisation of northern coastal Peru.

49 Korean monster tile - 700–900 AD
Tiles decorated with the face of a monster to ward off evil spirits, originating in China. The tiles were placed at the compass points on the roof of a building or a temple.

See objects 50–99…

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