Best British Museum
The Epic of Gilgamesh flood tablet, formally known as Tablet XI, is a cuneiform-inscribed clay tablet discovered in the ruins of Nineveh and dating to the seventh century BCE. It forms part of the Akkadian language version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian literary narrative. The tab...
The Elgin Marbles, or Parthenon Sculptures, are a collection of classical Greek marble statues and friezes originally decorating the Parthenon in Athens. They were removed from the Acropolis in the early 19th century by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, and subsequently acquired by the British govern...
The Lamassu from Nimrud is a monumental Mesopotamian sculpture from the Neo-Assyrian Empire, dating to around 700 BCE. These imposing figures depict a winged bull with a human head, serving as protective deities placed at the gates of cities and palaces to ward off evil. Several examples were excava...
The Vindolanda Writing Tablets are thin pieces of wood excavated at the Roman fort of Vindolanda in northern Britain, near Hadrian's Wall. Dating primarily to the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, they represent the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain. Written in Roman cursive with ink, the ta...
The Lachish Letters are a collection of about 21 Hebrew inscriptions written in ink on pottery shards (ostraca) in Paleo-Hebrew script. Discovered in 1935 at Tell ed-Duweir, identified as the ancient city of Lachish, they date to around 586 BCE during the Babylonian invasion of the Kingdom of Judah....
The Royal Gold Cup is a lavishly decorated gold and enamel drinking vessel created in Paris around 1380–1390, standing over 23 centimeters tall. Its exterior is decorated with translucent basse-taille enamel scenes depicting the martyrdom of Saint Agnes, with additional scenes on the cover and foot....
The Lothar Crystal is an engraved rock crystal disc made around 855–869 for the Carolingian Emperor Lothair II, now held in the British Museum in London. Measuring approximately 11.5 centimetres in diameter, it bears a scene from the biblical story of Susanna carved in intaglio and framed by a Latin...
Hoa Hakananai'a is a moai carved from basalt on Rapa Nui, also called Easter Island, and is now held by the British Museum in London. It was removed from the ceremonial village of Orongo in 1868 by the crew of HMS Topaze. Unlike most moai, its back bears an elaborate group of relief carvings, includ...
The Kangaroo Island dunnart (Sminthopsis aitkeni) is a small carnivorous marsupial endemic to Kangaroo Island, South Australia. This nocturnal mammal weighs approximately 10-25 grams and primarily inhabits areas with dense vegetation where it hunts insects and other small invertebrates. Following th...
The Dunstable Swan Jewel is a medieval English livery badge fashioned as a swan from gold covered with opaque white enamel. Dating from around 1400, it is fitted with a chain and crown and is associated with the heraldic swan emblem used by prominent English noble families. The jewel, found near Dun...
Raleigh Ashlin 'R.V.' Skelton was a British cartographic historian (1906–1970) who served as Superintendent of the Map Room at the British Museum. He was deeply involved in scholarship on the Vinland Map, a purported pre-Columbian map of North America whose authenticity has been widely contested. Sk...
