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Greek and Roman Medicine at the British Museum: The Instruments and Accoutrements of Ancient Medicine
Greek and Roman Medicine at the British Museum is an authoritative and up-to-date study of Greek and Roman medicine and surgery. This book is the first full, and fully illustrated, publication of the Museum’s important collection. Strategies for the preservation of health and for the prevention and treatment of illness...Jackson, Ralph
History of medicine, Classical world, and History of collecting
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A Collector's Life: William Burrell
In 1944, Glasgow received one of the greatest gifts ever made to any city in the world: a collection of over 6,000 artworks of many types spanning centuries and civilisations. The benefactors were Glasgow-born shipping magnate Sir William Burrell and Constance, Lady Burrell. Burrell’s success in business allowed him to...Bellamy, Martin ; MacDonald, Isobel
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Egypt and Empire: The Formation of Religious Identity after Rome
Across Eurasia and North Africa in the First Millennium AD, empires rose and fell, each adopting a universalizing faith which distinguished it broadly from its neighbours. In Egypt, our sources are particularly rich, owing to the land's arid climate and the unparalleled survival not only of stone, ceramic and metalwork,...O'Connell, Elisabeth R.
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Chinese Numismatics: The World of Chinese Money
This is the first book to explore the history of the field of Chinese numismatics from both Eastern and Western perspectives. Consisting of four papers that complement each other beautifully, it gives a sound introduction to the study of Chinese numismatics, focusing on the 19th century and, crucially, how to...Wang, Helen ; Thierry, Francois ; Jankowski, Lyce
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Hieroglyphs: unlocking ancient Egypt
Today the history of ancient Egypt is known around the world, recognizable in precious museum collections and countless retellings from popular culture. Yet for hundreds of years, from the late Roman Empire to the 19th century, the wonders of this ancient civilisation were frozen in time, locked in artefacts that...Regulski, Ilona
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Feminine Power: The Divine to the Demonic
Divine women – in many guises – have featured in every world faith, from deep history until the present day, inspiring people and cultures across the world. In a cross-cultural and global approach, this book discusses Eve alongside Inanna, Radha and Aphrodite in the context of sex and desire, while...Crerar, Belinda
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Speak My Name: Investigating Egyptian Mummies
“Speak my name so that I may live again” was often written on the walls of Egyptian tombs, imploring visitors to speak the names of the dead and make offerings on their behalf. These acts of continued remembrance sustained the dead in the afterlife.Fraser, James ; Lord, Conni ; Magnussen, John
Egypt, Mummies, and Scientific analysis
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Grave Goods: Objects and Death in Later Prehistoric Britain
Britain is internationally renowned for the high quality and exquisite crafting of its later prehistoric grave goods (c. 4000 BC to AD 43). Many of prehistoric Britain's most impressive artefacts have come from graves. Interred with both inhumations and cremations, they provide some of the most durable and well-preserved insights...Cooper, Anwen ; Garrow, Duncan ; Gibson, Catriona ; Giles, Melanie ; Wilkin, Neil
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The Metopes of the Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassai
This book brings together for the first time all of the fragments of sculpture which formed the metopes from the Temple of Apollo at Bassai. Recent research by the author and colleagues has yielded fresh discoveries in the British Museum, Athens and at the ancient site itself. Further sculptural fragments...Higgs, Peter John
Greek sculpture, Bassai, and metopes
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Encounters With Medals, 40 Years of BAMS Conferences
A review of medal scholarship, artist talks, historic venues and practical workshops held as part of conferences of The British Art Medal Society over 40 years since its foundation in 1982.Attwood, Philip ; Leavitt Bourne, Marcy ; Larkin, Janet
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Laying the Foundations: Manual of the British Museum Iraq Scheme Archaeological Training Programme
Laying the Foundations, which developed out of the British Museum’s ‘Iraq Scheme’ archaeological training programme, covers the core components for putting together and running an archaeological field programme. The focus is on practicality. Individual chapters address background research, the use of remote sensing, approaches to surface collection, excavation methodologies, survey...MacGinnis, John ; Rey, Sebastien
archaeology, Iraq, and training
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Amber: From Antiquity to Eternity
Amber: From Antiquity to Eternity is a history of human engagement with amber across three millennia. The book vividly describes our conceptions, stories, and political and scholarly disputes about amber, as well as issues of national and personal identity, religion, art, literature, music and science. Rachel King rewrites amber’s history...King, Rachel
material heritage, history, and amber
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Munch and his World: Graphic Arts and the Avant-garde in Paris and Berlin
Munch and his World: Graphic Arts and the Avant-garde in Paris and Berlin is a visually stunning publication which offers new insights into the life and world of the artist Edvard Munch. The art of Edvard Munch is striking for the originality and universality of its themes, which cross moments...Bartrum, Giulia
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The Hay Archive of Coptic Spells on Leather: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Materiality of Magical Practice
The Hay archive of Coptic manuscripts consists of seven fragmentary sheets of leather bearing spells for divination, protection, healing, personal advancement, cursing and the satisfaction of sexual desire. Purchased from the heir of the Scottish Egyptologist and draftsman, Robert Hay (1799–1863), the manuscripts arrived at the British Museum in 1869....O'Connell, Elisabeth
Egyptology, papyrology, Coptic studies, and religious studies
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Ancestors, Artefacts, Empire: Indigenous Australia in British and Irish Museums
Museums across Great Britain and Ireland hold Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (collectively referred to as ‘Indigenous’) cultural heritage of exceptional value which is largely unknown, rarely seen and poorly understood. Gifted, sold, exchanged and bartered by Indigenous people, and accepted, bought, collected and taken by travellers, colonists, explorers, missionaries,...Sculthorpe, Gaye ; Nugent, Maria ; Morphy, Howard
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Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything
The accompanying hardback title to the British Museum exhibition Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything. This landmark publication documents a major new discovery of over 100 drawings by the foremost Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. Acquired by the British Museum in 2020, these previously unpublished drawings had been forgotten for...Clark, Tim
drawings, Japanese art, and Hokusai
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Thomas Becket: murder and the making of a saint
The murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December 1170 sent shockwaves across medieval Europe. He rose from ordinary beginnings in London to become chancellor to King Henry II and then Archbishop of Canterbury, making him one of the most powerful men in England. Becket’s fortunes changed when...de Beer, Lloyd ; Speakman, Naomi ; Koopmans, Rachel
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Peru: a journey in time
The accompanying catalogue to the British Museum exhibition Peru: a journey in time. The environments of the Central Andean region in Peru, South America, are some of the most geographically rich and diverse in the world. This publication highlights the history, beliefs and cultural achievements of the different peoples who...Cooper, Jago ; Pardo, Cecilia
archaeology, Peru, and material culture
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Nero: the man behind the myth
One of the best known figures from Roman history, Nero (r. AD 54–68) is most often characterised as a tyrannical and ineffectual ruler, who fiddled while Rome burnt. Such a reputation has, however, been shaped by ancient literary sources written by his adversaries and enemies and, in light of new...Opper, Thorsten
Nero, Roman empire, and history
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Museum, Magic, Memory: Curating Paul Denys Montague
An investigation of the work of curation and of reactivating a colonial era collection by working with communities of origin, told through the lens of a particular collection made by Paul Montague in New Caledonia in 1914.Adams, Julie
Curation, Museum, and Anthropology
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Making Change: The Decimalisation of Britain’s Currency
On a grey, drizzly Monday, 15 February 1971, Britain went decimal. Ten years in the planning, ‘D-Day’ upended a currency system that had been unchanged for more than a millennium. A national effort requiring cooperation at every level of society, many expected decimalisation to be a disaster. This is the...Hockenhull, Tom
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The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry: Unravelling the Norman Conquest
Political intrigue and treachery, heroism and brutal violence, victory and defeat - all this is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, an epic account of one of the pivotal episodes in English history embroidered on a strip of linen. Famously, it shows the stricken Anglo-Saxon king Harold dying on the battlefield...Musgrove, David ; Lewis, Michael
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Journal Special Issue: The Art of Gardens: Views from Melanesia and Amazonia
This volume argues that looking at gardens through the lens of art and aesthetics generates new insights into the role that gardens have for those who make and depend on them. Drawing on some of the debates around the anthropology of art, we suggest that aesthetics provides a rich analytical...Mitchell, Jean ; Bolton, Lissant
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Precious Treasures from the Diamond Throne: Finds from the Site of the Buddha’s Enlightenment
The Mahābodhi temple at Bodhgayā in eastern India has long been recognised as the place where the Buddha sat in meditation and attained enlightenment. The site, soon identified as the ‘Diamond Throne’ or vajrāsana, became a destination for pilgrims and a focus of religious attention for more than two thousand...Willis, Michael
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Charles Masson: Collections from Begram and Kabul Bazaar, Afghanistan, 1833–1838
From 1833–8, Charles Masson (1800–1853) was employed by the British East India Company to explore the ancient sites in south-east Afghanistan. In return for funding his exploration of the ancient sites of Afghanistan, the British East India Company received all of Masson’s finds. These were sent to the India Museum...Errington, Elizabeth
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Pots, Prints and Politics: Ceramics with an Agenda, from the 14th to the 20th Century
From the introduction of woodblock printing in China to the development of copper-plate engraving in Europe, the print medium has been used around the world to circulate knowledge. Ceramic artists across time and cultures have adapted these graphic sources as painted or transfer-printed images applied onto glazed or unglazed surfaces...Ferguson, Patricia F.
European art, Asian art, and Ceramics
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Imagining the Divine: Art in Religions of Late Antiquity Across Eurasia
This groundbreaking volume brings together scholars of the art and archaeology of late antiquity (c. 200−1000), across cultures and regions reaching from India to Iberia, to discuss how objects can inform our understanding of religions. During this period major transformations are visible in the production of religious art and in...Elsner, Jaś ; Wood, Rachel
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Ceramic Exchange and the Indian Ocean Economy (AD 400–1275) Volume I: Analysis
From AD 500–1000, the Indian Ocean emerged as a global commercial centre, and by around 750–800 a sophisticated trade network had been established involving the movement of goods from Japan and China in the east, to southern Africa and Spain in the west. However, the Indian Ocean’s commercial system has...Priestman, Seth M.N.
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Ceramic Exchange and Indian Ocean Economy (AD 400–1275). Volume II: Indian Ocean Pottery Classification
From AD 500–1000, the Indian Ocean emerged as a global commercial centre, and by around 750–800 a sophisticated trade network had been established involving the movement of goods from Japan and China in the east, to southern Africa and Spain in the west. However, the Indian Ocean’s commercial system has...Priestman, Seth M.N.
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Repurposing Ritual. Pap. Berlin P. 10480-82: A Case Study from Middle Kingdom Asyut
Repurposing Ritual is the editio princeps of a group of papyrus fragments from ancient Asyut in Middle Egypt currently kept in the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung in Berlin. The papyri are significant for the study of ancient Egyptian religious and funerary culture because they contain in a neat hieratic handwriting...Regulski, Ilona
Egyptology, text transmission, mortuary ritual, and written culture
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Iron Age and Roman Coin Hoards in Britain
More coin hoards have been recorded from Roman Britain than from any other province of the Empire. This comprehensive and lavishly illustrated volume provides a survey of over 3260 hoards of Iron Age and Roman coins found in England and Wales with a detailed analysis and discussion. Theories of hoarding...Bland, Roger ; Chadwick, Adrian ; Ghey, Eleanor ; Haselgrove, Colin ; Mattingly, David J.
archaeology, hoards, artefacts, numismatics, Roman, Iron Age, and landscape
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Model of a Summer Camp
The Model of a Summer Camp is a fascinating object with a range of stories to tell. Originating in the Sakha (Yakutia) region of far northeastern Russia, it depicts a yhyakh celebration – a festival of huge cultural importance to the region. This concise book takes a detailed look at...Argounova-Low, Tatiana ; Brown, Alison K. ; Jansari, Sushma
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Arctic: culture and climate
Often imaged as one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, the Arctic has in fact been inhabited for nearly 30,000 years. The various communities that call the region home have found ingenious ways to harness and celebrate the environment, and to co-exist with its wildlife. Today, man-made climate change...Lincoln, Amber ; Cooper, Jago ; Laurens Loovers, Jan Peter
Arctic and climate change
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Living with Art: The Alexander Walker Collection
In 2004 the British Museum received a bequest of 211 modern and contemporary prints and drawings from the London-based film critic Alexander Walker (1930–2003). Undoubtedly one of the most important bequests in recent years, the acquisition of these works has transformed and significantly expanded the Museum’s collection of modern and...Daunt, Catherine
British Museum, collection, art, contemporary, modern, collector, private collection, London, critic, collecting, film, prints, artists, drawings, and art market
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Piranesi Drawings: Visions of Antiquity
The British Museum's collection of 51 drawings by the Venetian 18th-century artist is published and analysed for the first time with new findings about their dating, function and provenanceVowles, Sarah
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Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa
The contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa is rich and vibrant. Whether living in their countries of birth or in diaspora, the featured artists are part of the globalised world of art. Here we see artists responding to and making work about their present, histories, traditions and...Porter, Venetia ; Tripp, Charles ; Morris, Natasha
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Rivalling Rome: Parthian Coins and Culture
One hundred years after the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander of Macedon, we see the emergence of a new Iranian dynasty that, by 140 BC, has extended its rule to Western Iran and Mesopotamia. The Arsacid Parthians, famous for their riding and archery skills, became Rome’s most dangerous...Sarkhosh Curtis, Vesta ; Magub, Alexandra
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Edmund de Waal: Library of Exile
Edmund de Waal: library of exile has been published to accompany the British Museum and Edmund de Waal’s art installation of the same name. A preface by Booker Prize-nominated author Elif Shakef considers the importance of literature and its capacity to transcend language and borders. The introduction from British Museum...de Waal, Edmund
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Tantra: enlightenment to revolution
Published to accompany the British Museum exhibition Tantra: enlightenment to revolution explores the radical philosophy that transformed the religious, cultural and political landscape of India and beyond. Originating in early medieval India, Tantra has been linked to successive waves of revolutionary thought; from its 6th century transformation of Hinduism and...Ramos, Imma
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Arctic: culture and climate
For more than 25,000 years, Arctic peoples have made warm and hospitable homes in diverse and innovative ways out of ecosystems of ice. For the first time in their long history, however, Arctic communities are facing the real possibility that the foundations of their way of life—sea ice and permafrost—will...Lincoln, Amber ; Cooper, Jago ; Jan Peter, Laurens Loovers
archaeology, museum collections, Indigenous Arctic People, Arctic, climate change, and anthropology
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The social context of technology: non-ferrous metalworking in later prehistoric Britain and Ireland
The Social Context of Technology explores non-ferrous metalworking in Britain and Ireland during the Bronze and Iron Ages (c. 2500 BC to 1st century AD). Bronze-working dominates the evidence, though the crafting of other non-ferrous metals – including gold, silver, tin and lead – is also considered. Metalwork has long...Adams, Sophia ; Brück, Joanna ; Webley, Leo
Prehistoric Britain and Ireland, Metalworking, and Technology
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Mummy Portraits of Roman Egypt: Emerging Research from the APPEAR Project
This research has revitalized scholarly and scientific research into Roman Period Egyptian mummy portraits and provided a critical tool for understanding their production and influence on the history of art.Svoboda, Marie ; Cartwright, Caroline
science, Roman Period, pigments, multispectral imaging, wood, mummy portraits, painted panels, and Egypt
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Thunderbird. A Temple Hymn from Ancient Sumer
Thunderbird brings to life a temple hymn from ancient Mesopotamia that celebrates the power and splendour of the divine House of Ningirsu, built by the Sumerian ruler Gudea. Dating back 4,000 years, the hymn describes the earliest recorded dream in history – a divine commission sent to Gudea as an...Rey, Sebastien ; Rebet, Christine
Temple Hymn, Ancient Myth, Girsu, Gudea, and Sumer
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The Italian coins in the British Museum volume 1: South Italy, Sicily, Sardinia
A catalogue of the British Museum's collection of coins of South Italy, Sicily and Sardinia between 610 and 1860, with introductions on the history of the coinage and the provenance of the collection.Cook, Barrie ; Locatelli, Stefano ; Sarcinelli, Giuseppe ; Travaini, Lucia
British Museum, coinage, Italy, monetary history, and Sicily
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A Riverine Site Near York: A Possible Viking Camp?
The location known as ‘A Riverine Site Near York (ARSNY)’ represents a category of Viking site known from the historical record but one that until recently had remained largely undetected archaeologically: the Viking camp. The published investigations at Repton, Derbyshire, although undoubtedly important, created a false paradigm for the scale...Williams, Gareth
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Ceremonial Living in the Third Millennium BC: Excavations at Ringlemere Site M1, Kent, 2002–2006
The discovery in 2001 of an exquisite Early Bronze Age gold cup at Ringlemere Farm in Kent prompted an extensive survey and excavation of the site from 2002–2006. Excavation revealed a site with a long history of use, the most striking evidence being for intensive activity in the third millennium...Needham, Stuart ; Parfitt, Keith
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Inscriptions of the Aulikaras and Their Associates
The Aulikaras were the rulers of western Malwa (the northwest of Central India) in the heyday of the Imperial Guptas in the fifth century CE, and rose briefly to sovereignty at the beginning of the sixth century before disappearing from the spotlight of history. This book gathers all the epigraphic...Balogh, Dániel
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A Buddhist Ritual Manual on Agriculture: Vajratuṇḍasamayakalparāja - Critical Edition and Translation
This volume is the first in-depth study of a recently discovered Sanskrit dharani spell text from around the 5th century CE surviving in two palm-leaf and three paper manuscript compendia from Nepal. This rare Buddhist scripture focuses on the ritual practice of thaumaturgic weather control for successful agriculture through overpowering...Hidas, Gergely
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Reimagining Captain Cook: Pacific Perspectives
The accompanying publication to the British Museum exhibition Reimagining Captain Cook: Pacific Perspectives, held from 29 November 2018 – 4 August 2019. On the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook’s extraordinary voyages of exploration, this publication reflects on and charts the enduring legacies of his encounters with Pacific peoples. Objects...Adams, Julie ; Bolton, Lissant