Contents
03 Editorial
05 Insight Muriel Gray comments on the significance of a sledge made in the Arctic
07 News
11 Acquisitions
15 Gifts from the past Stephen Coppel shows how successive benefactors shaped a collection of work by an Australian artist
17 Around the UK
20 Across the world
22 Diary
24 The world of Stonehenge Neil Wilkin shines a light on Britain’s best-loved Prehistoric monument and the society that created it
30 Poetic prints Akiko Yano introduces a collection of Japanese woodblock prints made in Kyoto and Osaka
Hokusai, ‘Mei Jianchi avenges himself on his enemies’, from The Great Picture Book of Everything,
1820s–40s. Purchase funded by the Theresia Buch Bequest, in memory of her parents Rudolph and Julie Buch, with support from Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation).
34 Dynastic ambitions Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis tells the story of Iran’s Pahlavi dynasty through coins and medals
36 How old was humanity? Clive Gamble looks back at a year when ideas about the origins of human civilisation were turned on their head
40 The forgotten fall of the Roman Empire Edward J. Watts discusses the decline and medieval rebirth of the Roman Empire
44 Postcards from the Acropolis Thomas Kiely highlights some remarkable images produced by visitors to the Parthenon
48 Women who dared to rule Katherine Pangonis gives an insight into some formidable female rulers of medieval Jerusalem
52 Early human violence Daniel Antoine, Isabelle Crevecoeur and Julie Anderson review what science is now telling us about Palaeolithic Egypt
54 Tantric goddess Imma Ramos presents a specially commissioned Bhutanese work
56 Indian polymath Andrew Robinson celebrates the work of Satyajit Ray
59 Book reviews
64 Curator’s choice Julie Adams investigates a barkcloth beater
The British Museum: +44 (0)20 7323 8000 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG britishmuseum.org British Museum Friends: +44 (0)20 7323 8195 friends@britishmuseum.org British Museum Magazine: +44 (0)20 7323 8125 Editor: Caroline Bugler Editorial Assistant: Jessica Lane Proofreader: Helen Knox Advertising: Charlotte Agace: Charlotte@parkwalkmedia.com Photography: BM Photography and Imaging (unless stated otherwise) Design: Tina Hall/Perfect Sky Repro: The Logical Choice Printing: Precision Colour Printing All images © 2021 The Trustees of the British Museum, unless stated otherwise All information correct at time of going to press. We aim to ensure that information about exhibitions outside the British Museum is correct, but readers are advised to check with venues before visiting.
British Museum Friends accept no responsibility for the content of advertisements in this Magazine and have no view on the authenticity or legal status of any works that might be mentioned or illustrated therein. It is the policy of the British Museum Friends to accept antiquities advertisements only where we receive assurance from the advertiser that the illustrated object is documented to have formed part of a legitimate collection prior to 1970.
Cover Milky way over Stonehenge by Dr Sebastian Voltmer/ www.astrofilm.com
British Museum Magazine Winter 2021
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