A History of the World in 100 Objects -- Mummy of Hornedjitef

Podcast of "A History of the World in 100 Objects" From BBC Radio 4

Mummy of Hornedjitef

It all starts with the sound of the past. It was the sound of a haunting magnetic pulse from a mighty star. The explosion that killed the star, happened in summer of the year 1054 and was seen in Europe, North America and China. We can still hear it, thanks to the technology that we have nowadays, but back then they could see this dying star was possible to be seen.

A millennium ago, in America, pyramids are taking shape on the Mississippi River, in China, people started to use the world first banknotes, Bagdad is known for being the largest city in the world. In West Africa, Ghana rules a vast empire and on an island in Northern Europe, there is a nasty surprise on the horizon of a king named Harold.

Neil MacGregor goes back in time and across the globe to see how we shape the world and how we have been shaped by it. He retells the story through the things people created over the past two million years.

His journey begins at the age of eight in 1954 when he came for the first time face to face with a fascinating ancient artefact, an Egyptian mummy, at the British Museum. For this project, he chose a particular mummy case because it carries all kinds of different message millennia.

One of the most impressive mummy cases in the museum is the one that belongs to Hornedjitef. The coffin was made around 240 BC for a high ranking Egyptian priest. The mummy itself is like a document that gives us contains information about him and that period.

Egyptologist John Taylor, who investigated the mummy at the British Museum, tells how the remains of Hornedjitef arrived in London 1835. At that time, after he got there, they study him, who he was, what his job was and the religious background did he had. They found out that if he preserved his body he would live beyond death but before that he needed to with utmost care. In his tomb, there were charms, amulets and spells and even a map of heaven, that he considered it would help him in the afterlife.

Nowadays, due to modern technology, we can scan mummy's body and examen them in great details. Experts also look at the substances that were utilised in mummification and test them to see the chemical composition to find out what materials were being used and where they come from.

Tracking the source of the materials that were been used is possible by analysing the composition of the substances so that specialists can fill the gaps of text we had.

Egyptian author Ahdaf Soueif is asked how she felt about seeing so many Egyptian artefacts so far from their home. She replied that it is not a bad thing to have Egyptian Obelixs, stones and statues sprinkle all over the world because it reminds us about that period and common heritage. If she could decree a universal education program she would make every child in the world to learn a brief history of the entire world the focus on the common ground.

Another dying star is recorded by the radio telescope that was not able to be seen 1.8 million years ago. At that time, all of our ancestors lived in Africa. Here starts the story of making tools. Those tools represent the first step on the great journey of shaping our world, for Neil MacGregor "It's making things and then coming to depend on things that sit us apart from all other animals". He is going to talk about it in next programme.

Year 1 - Unit 1 & Unit 2

Year 1 - Unit 1 & Unit 2

Week 2: A History of the World in 100 Objects

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