Search

The British Museum

About The British Museum

The videos below can be seen on Smarthistory because The British Museum generously makes their videos available for distribution.

The elephant-headed Ganesha is one of the most popular Hindu gods -- the creator and remover of of obstacles.

The making and worship of Ganesha statues ...

by The British Museum

Stone figure of Brahma, c. 1110-1150, Chola dynasty, 131 cm high, from Tamil Nadu, southern India © Trustees of the British Museum — […]

Three Hindu gods

by The British Museum

Reading Assyrian art isn't easy — but it's always worth it.

Assyria vs Elam: The battle of Til ...

by The British Museum

Ashurbanipal wasn't just an Assyrian king, he was a propaganda king.

The palace decoration of Ashurbanipal

by The British Museum

Rock art is one of the best records of the life of past peoples who lived across the Sahara.

Rock Art in the Green Sahara (Africa)

by The British Museum

Rock art is one of the best records of the life of past peoples who lived across the Sahara.

Rock Art in the Green Sahara (Neolithic)

by The British Museum

Clovis culture — The first clear evidence of human activity in North America are spearheads used to hunt large game.

Clovis culture

by The British Museum

Hajj — The sacred pilgrimage to Mecca—birthplace of Prophet Muhammad—involves a series of rituals and lasts several days.

Hajj

by The British Museum

Jade Cong — These enigmatic, rectilinear tubes reveal clarity of thought and took great effort to produce. What can they mean?

Jade Cong

by The British Museum

Handaxe, Paleolithic — Fire, clothing, or the wheel: was this humble hand axe the earliest human technology?

Our earliest technology?

by The British Museum

Jericho Skull — Is the plaster face on this skull modeled after a real person? Is it one of the world’s oldest portraits?

The Jericho Skull

by The British Museum

Lion Man — The cave lion was the fiercest animal of the ice age, and this mammoth ivory carving combines human with lion.

Lion Man

by The British Museum

C is for Cleaning, F is for Fills, I is for Inpainting… Learn an alphabet of terms used by conservators.

Conservation glossary of terms

by The British Museum

Research scientists find out what objects are made of, where they’re from, and how they were constructed.

Scientific research glossary of terms

by The British Museum

What was the first bill of human rights? This seal encouraged freedom of worship throughout the Persian Empire.

The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia

by The British Museum

[…]

Easter Island Moai

by The British Museum

Snakes shedding their skin was a powerful metaphor for the Aztecs and is reflected in their pantheon of gods.

A-level: Double-headed serpent

by The British Museum

Albrecht Dürer and others, The Triumphal Arch, c. 1515, woodcut printed from 192 individual blocks, 357 x 295 cm, Germany © Trustees of the British Museum. — Emperor Maximilian I employed Dürer to create a Triumphal Arch. It remains one of the largest prints ever produced.

A-level: Albrecht Dürer

by The British Museum

Medieval craftsmen decorated metal by hammering from behind, a technique called repoussé. Watch it here!

Medieval Goldsmiths

by The British Museum

Belt Buckle, Sutton Hoo, early 7th century, gold, 13.2 x 5.6 cm © Trustees of the British Museum — Excavated in 1939, this 7th-century grave once held a hoard of metalwork, all buried within a 27-meter long ship!

Sutton Hoo Ship Burial

by The British Museum