Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
This instalment from the British Museum video series Curator’s Corner focuses on a small clay tablet that, at first glance, seems somewhat unremarkable but is, in fact, one of the most astonishing artefacts in the museum’s collection. Indeed, as the always entertaining British Museum curator Irving Finkel details, the ancient Babylonian tablet, which was created circa the 6th century BCE, is the ‘oldest map of the world, in the world’. Finkel explains how, like many early maps, the tablet integrated both practical information about the world as the ancient Babylonians understood it, and mythology. He also explores the exceptionally fascinating story of how he and other researchers were able to decode the map since it was first acquired by the museum in 1882. The result is an enlightening glimpse into both the ancient Babylonians’ understanding of their world, and how archeological puzzles can sometimes be solved over the course of centuries.
Video by the British Museum
video
Computing and artificial intelligence
The ‘cloud’ requires heaps of energy to stay aloft. Could synthetic DNA be the answer?
12 minutes
video
History
There are fragments of Romani Gypsy history all over the UK – if one knows where to look
3 minutes
video
Biology
Brilliant dots of colour form exquisite patterns in this close-up of butterfly wings
3 minutes
video
Anthropology
Does Mogi’s future lie with her horses on the Mongolian steppe, or in the city?
16 minutes
video
Genetics
Why it took a century to work out that humans interbred with Neanderthals
22 minutes
video
Art
The sprawling mural that depicts an unflinching people’s history of Los Angeles
7 minutes
video
Personality
A ‘dumpster archeologist’ reconstructs strangers’ stories via what they’ve discarded
14 minutes
video
Human rights and justice
An unarmed Indigenous group aims to protect their native lands in this stirring portrait
15 minutes
video
Art
In his poem ‘London’, William Blake crafted a bleak vision of the city he loved
9 minutes