A History of the World in 100 Objects

BBC Radio 4 has started an excellent new series, "A History of the World in 100 Objects", which will be broadcast throughout 2010. Rather then telling history in the standard way by focusing on documents, it uses objects from the collection of the British Museum, and covers 2,000,000 years of human history. The radio shows, which can be streamed or downloaded, are 15 minutes long.

The podcasts are narrated by Neal MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, and includes the voices of many contributors. One of the great things about the project is that it's interactive, and anyone, provided they meet the project guidelines, can add an object to the website.

Here's a description of the project.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4/2009/11/history_of_the_world_100_objects.html

The homepage for the project:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/explorerflash/#/object_TnAQ0B8bQkSJzKZFWo6F-g

Here are two objects from the collection. The first is a sculpture of swimming reindeer, found in France, from about 11,000 B.C.


The second is a Mesopotamian clay tablet from about 300o B.C., with information about beer rationing.




The podcasts:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/ahow


This video explains how to add an object to the site. Registration with the BBC is required.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ahistoryoftheworld/