A History of the World in 100 Objects: Standard of Ur

The Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor, retells the history of human development from the first stone axe to the credit card, using 100 selected objects from the Museum. Neil examines one of the most spectacular discoveries of ancient royal goods. Magnificent gold and silver jewellery was found nearly 100 years ago at a royal burial site in the city of Ur in southern Iraq, at the heart of one of the first great civilisations in the world. It leads Neil to contemplate the nature of kingship and power in Mesopotamia. One of the objects buried alongside the dead was The Standard of Ur, a set of mosaic scenes mounted on a single box that show powerful images of battle and regal life and that remain remarkably well preserved given its 4,500-year-old history. Contributors include sociologist Anthony Giddens, on the growing sophistication of societies at this time, and the archaeologist Lamia Al-Gailani, who considers what Ancient Mesopotamia means to the people of modern-day Iraq