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A History of the World in 100 Objects
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A History of the World in 100 Objects (2011) (edit title/settings)

by Neil MacGregor (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

‘In this book, we travel back in time and across the globe, to see how we humans have shaped our world and been shaped by it over the past two million years. The story is told exclusively through the things that humans have made – all sorts of things, carefully designed and then either admired... read more

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “I think they realized, as world leaders have realized throughout history, that nothing binds a nation and a people together quite so effectively as a foreign war against a common enemy, whether that enemy is real or manufactured. Pg. 66”
    Toby Wilkinson, archaeologist
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • Surprisingly, the areas of the modern brain that you use when you’re making a handaxe overlap considerably with those you use when you speak. It now seems very likely that if you can shape a stone you can shape a sentence.
    Highlighted by 6 Kindle customers
  • The brain is an extremely power-hungry mechanism. Although it accounts for only 2 per cent of our body weight, it consumes 20 per cent of our entire energy intake, and it requires constant nourishment.
    Highlighted by 5 Kindle customers
  • Around 50,000 years ago something dramatic seems to have happened to the human brain. Across the world, humans started to create patterns that decorate and intrigue, to make jewellery to adorn the body,
    Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers
  • Something happened in the human brain, between say 50,000 and 100,000 years ago, that allowed this fantastic creativity, imagination, artistic ability, to emerge – it was probably that different parts of the brain became connected in a new way, and so could combine different ways of thinking, including what people know about nature and what they know about making things.
    Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers
  • Coordinating groups of people on this scale obviously required new systems of power and control, and the systems devised in Mesopotamia around 3000 BC have proved astonishingly resilient. They have pretty well set the urban model to this day. It’s no exaggeration to say that modern cities everywhere have Mesopotamia in their DNA.
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • about 11,000 years ago, a human hand then shaped and chipped this beautifully chattered, rounded pebble into one of the most moving objects in the British Museum. It shows two naked people literally wrapped up in each other. It’s the oldest known representation of a couple having sex.
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • They were making objects that were less about physically changing the world than about exploring the order and the patterns that can be seen in it. In short, they were making art.
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • The Maya believed that their ancestors essentially came from corn, and they were formed of yellow and white maize dough.
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • But Ice Age conditions were critical as well: it was a very challenging time for people living in harsh, long winters – the need to build up really intense social bonds, the need for ritual, the need for religion, all these related to this flowering of creative art at the time.
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • So archaeology, DNA and the bulk of academic opinion tell us that the original population of America arrived in Alaska from north-east Asia less than 15,000 years ago.
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
Show all 11 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

When I first came through the doors of the British Museum in 1954, at the age of eight, I began with the mummies, and I think that’s still where most people begin when they first visit.

Table of Contents edit see section history

PART ONE - Making us Human
Chapter 1 - Mummy of Hornedjitef
Chapter 2 - Olduvai Stone Chopping Tool
Chapter 3 - Olduvai Handaxe
Chapter 4 - Swimming Reindeer
Chapter 5 - Clovis Spear Point

PART TWO - After the Ice Age: Food and Sex
Chapter 6 - Bird-shaped Pestle
Chapter 7 - Ain Sakhri Lovers Figurine
Chapter 8 - Egyptian Clay Model of Cattle
Chapter 9 - Maya Maize God Statue
Chapter 10 - Jomon Pot

PART THREE - The First Cities and States
Chapter 11 - King Den’s Sandal Label
Chapter 12 - Standard of Ur
Chapter 13 - Indus Seal
Chapter 14 - Jade Axe
Chapter 15 - Early Writing Tablet

PART FOUR - The Beginnings of Science and Literature
Chapter 16 - Flood Tablet
Chapter 17 - Rhind Mathematical Papyrus
Chapter 18 - Minoan Bull-leaper
Chapter 19 - Mold Gold Cape
Chapter 20 - Statue of Ramesses II

PART FIVE - Old World, New Powers
Chapter 21 - Lachish Reliefs
Chapter 22 - Sphinx of Taharqo
Chapter 23 - Chinese Zhou Ritual Vessel
Chapter 24 - Paracas Textile
Chapter 25 - Gold Coin of Croesus

PART SIX - The World in the Age of Confucius
Chapter 26 - Oxus Chariot Model
Chapter 27 - Parthenon Sculpture: Centaur and Lapith
Chapter 28 - Basse-Yutz Flagons
Chapter 29 - Olmec Stone Mask
Chapter 30 - Chinese Bronze Bell

PART SEVEN - Empire Builders
Chapter 31 - Coin with Head of Alexander
Chapter 32 - Pillar of Ashoka
Chapter 33 - Rosetta Stone
Chapter 34 - Chinese Han Lacquer Cup
Chapter 35 - Head of Augustus

PART EIGHT - Ancient Pleasures, Modern Spice
Chapter 36 - Warren Cup
Chapter 37 - North American Otter Pipe
Chapter 38 - Ceremonial Ballgame Belt
Chapter 39 - Admonitions Scroll
Chapter 40 - Hoxne Pepper Pot

PART NINE - The Rise of World Faiths
Chapter 41 - Seated Buddha from Gandhara
Chapter 42 - Gold Coins of Kumaragupta I
Chapter 43 - Plate showing Shapur II
Chapter 44 - Hinton St Mary Mosaic
Chapter 45 - Arabian Bronze Hand

PART TEN - The Silk Road and Beyond
Chapter 46 - Gold Coins of Abd al-Malik
Chapter 47 - Sutton Hoo Helmet
Chapter 48 - Moche Warrior Pot
Chapter 49 - Korean Roof Tile
Chapter 50 - Silk Princess Painting

PART ELEVEN - Inside the Palace: Secrets at Court
Chapter 51 - Maya Relief of Royal Blood-letting
Chapter 52 - Harem Wall-painting Fragments
Chapter 53 - Lothair Crystal
Chapter 54 - Statue of Tara
Chapter 55 - Chinese Tang Tomb Figures

PART TWELVE - Pilgrims, Raiders and Traders
Chapter 56 - Vale of York Hoard
Chapter 57 - Hedwig Beaker
Chapter 58 - Japanese Bronze Mirror
Chapter 59 - Borobudur Buddha Head
Chapter 60 - Kilwa Pot Sherds

PART THIRTEEN - Status Symbols
Chapter 61 - The Lewis Chessmen
Chapter 62 - Hebrew Astrolabe
Chapter 63 - Ife Head
Chapter 64 - The David Vases
Chapter 65 - Taino Ritual Seat

PART FOURTEEN - Meeting the Gods
Chapter 66 - Holy Thorn Reliquary
Chapter 67 - Icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy
Chapter 68 - Shiva and Parvati Sculpture
Chapter 69 - Sculpture of Huastec Goddess
Chapter 70 - Hoa Hakananai’a Easter Island Statue

PART FIFTEEN - The Threshold of the Modern World
Chapter 71 - Tughra of Suleiman the Magnificent
Chapter 72 - Ming Banknote
Chapter 73 - Inca Gold Llama
Chapter 74 - Jade Dragon Cup
Chapter 75 - Dürer’s Rhinoceros

PART SIXTEEN - The First Global Economy
Chapter 76 - Mechanical Galleon
Chapter 77 - Benin Plaque: The Oba with Europeans
Chapter 78 - Double-headed Serpent
Chapter 79 - Kakiemon Elephants
Chapter 80 - Pieces of Eight

PART SEVENTEEN - Tolerance and Intolerance
Chapter 81 - Shi’a Religious Parade Standard
Chapter 82 - Miniature of a Mughal Prince
Chapter 83 - Shadow Puppet of Bima
Chapter 84 - Mexican Codex Map
Chapter 85 - Reformation Centenary Broadsheet

PART EIGHTEEN - Exploration, Exploitation and Enlightenment
Chapter 86 - Akan Drum
Chapter 87 - Hawaiian Feather Helmet
Chapter 88 - North American Buckskin Map
Chapter 89 - Australian Bark Shield
Chapter 90 - Jade Bi

PART NINETEEN - Mass Production, Mass Persuasion
Chapter 91 - Ship’s Chronometer from HMS Beagle
Chapter 92 - Early Victorian Tea Set
Chapter 93 - Hokusai’s The Great Wave
Chapter 94 - Sudanese Slit Drum
Chapter 95 - Suffragette-defaced Penny

PART TWENTY - The World of Our Making
Chapter 96 - Russian Revolutionary Plate
Chapter 97 - Hockney’s In the Dull Village
Chapter 98 - Throne of Weapons
Chapter 99 - Credit Card
Chapter 100 - Solar-powered Lamp and Charger

Maps
List of Objects
Bibliography
References
Acknowledgements
Index

Series & Lists edit see section history

This book is in Folio Society. (edition-based publisher list)
This book is in NPR: Best Gift Books of 2011. (authoritative list)
This is book 16 of 16 in New York Times Bestsellers - Hardcover Nonfiction (Current). (authoritative list)

Preceded by Rin Tin Tin.

This book is in Amazon.com Best Books of 2011. (authoritative list)
This is book 3 of 10 in Amazon.com Best Books of November (2011). (authoritative list)

Preceded by Catherine the Great, and followed by The Angel Esmeralda.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Neil MacGregor (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Viking Adult
Country: USA
Publication Date: October 27, 2011
ISBN: 978-0670022700
Page Count: 736

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Adults

References to adult themes (including sex) are present, but most young adults could handle them without trouble.

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