A History of the World in 100 Objects

BBC Radio 4 FM

Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

AHOTW100_ShowCover_3000x3000px

Factual: History

Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, retells humanity's history through objects

Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, narrates 100 programmes that retell humanity's history through the objects we have made.

A History of the World in 100 Objects: The Beginning of Science and Literature (1500 - 700 BC): Mold Gold Cape

Mold Gold Cape

The Beginning of Science and Literature (1500 - 700 BC)

A History of the World in 100 Objects Omnibus

BBC Radio 4 - A History of the World in 100 Objects, The Beginning of Science and Literature (1500 - 700 BC), Mold Gold CapeSearch BBC

Neil MacGregor tells the story of a gold cape found in Wales and made over 3500 years ago.

The world of 1700 BC explored through surviving objects. Neil MacGregor describes a remarkable gold cape now at the British Museum but discovered by quarrying workmen in Wales.

Director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor retells the history of human development from the first stone axe to the credit card, using 100 selected objects from the Museum.
 
Neil MacGregor continues to explore the world of around 3,600 years ago through some of the most powerful objects that remain - discovered in modern day Iraq, Crete, Egypt and now Wales. 

In 1833 a group of workmen were looking for stones in a field near the village of Mold in North Wales when they unearthed a burial site with a skeleton covered by a crushed sheet of pure gold. Neil tells the story of what has become known at the British Museum as the Mold Gold Cape and tries to envisage the society that made it. Nothing like the contemporary courts of the pharaohs of Egypt and the palaces of the Minoans in Crete seem to have existed in Britain at that time, but he imagines a people with surprisingly sophisticated skills and social structures.

A History of the World in 100 Objects: The Beginning of Science and Literature (1500 - 700 BC)

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

4,000 years ago, societies began to express themselves through myth, maths and monuments

4,000 years ago societies were becoming more sophisticated. Among this week's objects are the earliest examples of literature and science

Accessibility links

Programme Index

A History of the World in 100 Objects

The Beginning of Science and Literature (1500 - 700 BC)

Mold Gold Cape

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4