Collection No. 08 of 24

Religion, belief and myth

Gods, rituals, burials, sacred texts, holy places and the people who served them.

4 subjects · 5 lessons · 7 objects · 21 events

The thread through time

Everything in this drawer at its date. Objects above the line, lessons and events below. Each step to the right is ten times closer to today.

300,000 years ago10,0003,0001,000100nowA modern human jaw in Kents CavernHunters camp at Star CarrFarming reaches BritainThe first Stonehenge, an earthworkThe stones of Stonehenge are raisedThe Amesbury Archer is buriedAn inscribed oracle boneBronze for the ancestorsAsking the ancestorsA tall bronze wine beakerA great bronze wine jarA lidded bronze wine containerA bronze cauldron on three legsThe Shang dynasty endsMust Farm burnsMaiden Castle’s great rampartsThe Rosetta StoneReading the Rosetta StoneThe Sutton Hoo helmetThe ship in the fieldSaints and raiders

Object Lesson Event

Lessons

  1. Reading the Rosetta StoneHow did anyone learn to read hieroglyphs again?Ancient Egypt · 196 BC, and 1799 to 1822
  2. Asking the ancestorsHow did the Shang kings ask questions of the dead, and why does it matter that they wrote the answers down?Shang China · About 1254 to 1041 BC; found again from 1899
  3. Bronze for the ancestorsWhat were the Shang bronzes for, and what did a queen take to her grave?Shang China · About 1300 to 1041 BC; Lady Hao’s tomb found 1976
  4. The ship in the fieldWhat does Sutton Hoo tell us about Anglo-Saxon kings?Anglo-Saxon Britain · About AD 625, dug 1938 to 1939
  5. Saints and raidersWhy did the Viking raid on Lindisfarne shock Europe?Anglo-Saxon Britain · AD 635 to 875

Objects

Subjects