PODCAST A History of the World in 100 Objects

AVAILABLE ON BBC SOUNDS

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2010 and now available to download a podcast, this informative series presented by

Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum from 2002-2015, explores how artefacts tell the story of civilisations and connections.

Selecting 100 objects from the British Museum’s collection, MacGregor retells the history of human development.

The first object is an Egyptian mummy which fascinated MacGregor when he was a child. It is the mummy case of Hornedjitef, an ancient Egyptian priest who died around 2250 years ago.

Other objects discussed include a chipped stone dating back two million years to the Rift Valley in Tanzania as early man began to fashion rudimentary cutting tools; a palm-sized stone sculpture of an entwined couple that was found near Bethlehem; an almost perfectly intact 7,000-year-old Japanese clay pot; and a small tablet found in modern Iraq which carries a written account of a great flood.

PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES. STORIES TO TELL: The Great Court at the British Museum in London.