Language, writing and literature

Lessons

1. Writing, invented four timesWas writing invented once, or more than once?The long human story · 3400 BC to 200 BC
2. Reading the Rosetta StoneHow did anyone learn to read hieroglyphs again?Ancient Egypt · 196 BC, and 1799 to 1822
3. 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
4. Life on the frontierWho actually lived on the northern frontier?Roman Britain · About AD 85 to 400
5. Saints and raidersWhy did the Viking raid on Lindisfarne shock Europe?Anglo-Saxon Britain · AD 635 to 875

Objects

• A clay tablet recording barleyAbout 3100 to 2900 BC
• Model granary with scribesAbout 1981 to 1975 BC
• The Rosetta Stone196 BC
• Regina’s tombstone2nd century AD
• An inscribed oracle boneShang dynasty, about 1600 to 1046 BC (the Met gives no closer date)

Subjects

• The long human story315,000 years ago to now
• Ancient EgyptAbout 2550 BC to 196 BC, and how it was read again
• Shang ChinaAbout 1250 BC to 1041 BC, at Anyang
• Roman BritainAD 43 to about 410