A History of the World in 100 Objects Omnibus - Old World, New Powers

Another chance to hear "A History of the World in a Hundred Objects", where the Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, retells the history of humanity through the things it has made... and which have found their way into the Museum's collection. This week he is looking at the key power struggles taking place across the globe around 3000 years ago, as ambitious new forces were building sophisticated new societies. And he does so with the help of: a set of stone carvings depicting, perhaps for the first time, the terrible effects of war on civilian populations; a stone sphinx of a black ruler that conquered Egypt from the south; a Chinese bronze bowl buried with the dead for feasts in the afterlife; a set of brightly coloured textiles from the Peruvian peninsula of Paracas; and what may well be amongst the world's first proper coins, minted during the reign of Croesus. And amongst those on hand to plot the wider significance of these objects in our world history are Lord Ashdown, Zeinab Badawi, Dame Jessica Rawson, Dr Wang Tao, Zandra Rhodes and James Buchan. Producers: Rebecca Stratford, Anthony Denselow and Paul Kobrak.