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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.

java grid — In many Vajrayana Buddhist temples in Java the five Buddhas are arranged in a mandala with Vairocana at the center.

Bronze figure of Buddha Vairocana (Java)

by The British Museum

Tara grid — Tara is the most popular female deity in Tibet.

Tara (from Tibet)

by The British Museum

Positioned at the crossroads of Asia, Gandhara has always been an ancient transit zone—as we see in this sculpture of the Buddha

Head of the Buddha, Gandhara

by The British Museum

madagascar grid — The lamba (generic name for cloth in Madagascar) is worn as a shawl for everyday wear, but the Merina peoples of Central Madagascar also use it as a shroud in which to wrap the dead during burial ceremonies.

Silk textile (lamba akotofahana), Merina peoples

by The British Museum

jomon grid — Skill in pottery has been an important defining aspect of Japanese culture from earliest time

Jōmon pottery

by The British Museum

This brass head clearly portrays a person of status and authority, possibly a king (ooni) of Ife

Head of a ruler, Ife

by The British Museum

babylonian map grid — A tablet from ancient Iraq contains both a cuneiform inscription and a unique map of the Mesopotamian world.

Map of the world

by The British Museum

Meroitic stela From Hamadab, Sudan Kushite period, about 24BC, Height: 236.5 cm — Sudan is home to the oldest sub-Saharan African kingdom, the kingdom of Kush.

The Kingdom of Kush in ancient Nubia, ...

by The British Museum

Stories of the modern pilgrimage — Watch and listen as several British Muslims recount their journeys to Mecca.

Stories of the modern pilgrimage

by The British Museum

puppet grid — Shadow puppets are popular in Java today, although the tradition dates back to the 11th century

Shadow puppet, Java

by The British Museum

During the Ming dynasty the state issued coins and paper money.

Ming banknote

by The British Museum

Claims to hereditary nobility were based on racing ancestral lineage and proclaiming military prowess through dress and ornament. Gold pendant depicting a ruler, Mixtec, lost wax-casting, gold, 9 x 4.6 cm, from Tehuantepec, Mexico (© Trustees of the British Museum) — This pendant represents a nobleman wearing a necklace, earrings and a lip plug from which hangs a mask with three suspended bells

Gold pendant depicting a ruler, Mixtec

by The British Museum

Ancestor figure, Zapotec, c. 200 B.C.E.–800 C.E., pottery, from Oaxaca, Mexico, 35 x 27 cm (© Trustees of the British Museum) — Offering vessels like this one have been found in the tombs of high-ranking Zapotec lords and noblewomen in the Oaxaca Valley in Mexico.

Ancestor figure, Zapotec

by The British Museum

Cholula was known for its beautiful polychrome ceramics that included a wide range of symbols such as calendrical dates, hearts, hands, and knives

Pottery vessel, Mixteca-Puebla style

by The British Museum

teponaztli grid — Mexica wooden slit drums (teponaztli) were generally decorated with designs in relief or carved to represent human figures or animals.

Wooden slit-drum (teponaztli)

by The British Museum

grid colima — Dogs are the most commonly portrayed animal in the art of Colima

Pottery dog, Colima culture

by The British Museum

Wooden ceremonial shield with mosaic inlay, Mexica/Mixtec, 15th-16th century, from Mexico, 31.6 cm in diameter (© Trustees of the British Museum) — Ancient Mexico is renowned for the production of vivid greenstone mosaics

Turquoise mosaics, an introduction

by The British Museum

Stone serpent, Mexica, 1325–1521, from Mexico, 21.5 x 26 x 37 cm (© Trustees of the British Museum) — The serpent played a very important role in Mexica religion and many finely carved stone sculptures have survived.

Serpents in Mexica culture

by The British Museum

Stone figure of Xiuhcoatl, Mexica, 1325–1521, from Mexico, 77 x 60 cm (© The Trustees of the British Museum) — This magnificent sculpture of a Xiuhcoatl (fire serpent) has a blend of both realistic and mythical creatures.

Xiuhcoatl (fire serpent)

by The British Museum

xihtecuhtli grid — The cult of the fire god Xiuhtecuhtli goes back many centuries before Mexica times and extended throughout Mesoamerica.

Seated figure of Xiuhtecuhtli

by The British Museum