World

While large swathes of Europe were still erecting single story buildings the peoples the Indus Valley and Egypt were carving out sophisticated societies, using technologies and reason to construct their settlements. In this section some of the great civilizations are examined using the evidence that has survived them to tell their fascinating stories and accomplishments Read more

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  • Ancient Egypt - The Land of Punt

    Podcast

    In this podcast Professor Emeritus John Baines, University of Oxford, provides an introduction to the Land of Punt. The Land of Punt was an ancient region known from Ancient Egyptian records. It exported gold, aromatic resins, blackwood, ebony, ivory and wild animals, some of them perhaps traded from elsewhere. Recent...

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  • Ancient Egypt - The Middle Kingdom (2181-1650 BC)

    Podcast

    In this podcast Professor Emeritus John Baines, University of Oxford, provides an introduction to the First Intermediate Period (c. 2181–1650 BC) which followed the decline of the Old Kingdom, and discusses the history of Egypt's Middle Kingdom.  The Middle Kingdom lasted from approximately 2040 to 1700 BC, stretching from the...

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  • Diagrams in History

    Article

    One of the gifts of the social sciences to history is the use of expository diagrams; but attention is rarely given to the history of diagrams. Maps - schematized representations of locations in spatial relation to one another - can be dated back to Babylonia in the late third millennium...

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  • Film: The Making of Early England 500-1066

    Article

    In this Virtual Branch lecture Michael Wood returns to his popular territory of Early England 500-1066 using the lives of specific stories and individuals to cast light on the period. This lecture was recorded on the 9 July 2020 as part of the HA Virtual Branch and is available to all...

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  • HA Podcasted History: Ancient Persia

    Multipage Article

    In this series of podcasts Professor Thomas Harrison of the University of Liverpool examines the Persian Empire, life in ancient Persian society and the Greek-Persian War.

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  • How can there be a true history?

    Article

    "How can there be a true history, when we see no man living is able to write truly the history of the last week?" (Thomas Shadwell) Indeed! Once when I had to give a talk in Spain, I found this quotation by looking up ‘history' in the Oxford English Dictionary....

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  • Ideas on the Shape, Size and Movements of the Earth - Pamphlet

    Article

    This classic pamphlet takes you through some of the key ideas on the shape, size and movements of the Earth as they changed over time from classical cosmology to the work of Galileo and Isaac Newton.

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  • Podcast Series: The Indus Valley Civilisation

    Multipage Article

    In this set of podcasts Dr Mark Manuel of the University of Durham looks at the Indus Valley Civilisation.

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  • Recorded webinar: Maya ruler King Pakal II of Palenque

    Article

    The discovery in 1952 of the tomb of King Pakal II of Palenque has been called the most important archaeological find in the history of the Americas. Protected by a magnificently sculpted stone sarcophagus depicting Pakal’s descent to the underworld and re-birth as the maize god lay the body of...

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  • Reuse of the Past: A Case Study from the Ancient Maya

    Article

    The ruins of ancient settlements are dramatic and dominant features of the landscape today, and abandoned architecture and monuments were also significant features of the landscape in the ancient past. How did people interact with remnants of architecture and monuments built during earlier times? What meaningful information about the economic,...

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  • Sudan Holy Mountain: Jebel Barkal and its Temples

    Article

    This guide book was produced by Timothy Kendall and El-Hassan Ahmed Mohamed (Co-Directors NCAM Archaeological Mission at Jebel Barkal) and has been published on our website by their kind permission (© 2022 Timothy Kendall and El-Hassan Ahmed Mohamed) to support our podcast that examines the history of Ancient Nubia and the Kushite...

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  • The Christian Kingdoms of Nubia and Ethiopia

    Article

    Adam Simmons draws our attention to the need for further research into the relationship between the medieval Kingdoms of Ethiopia and Nubia – a fascinating time and place in African history which is neglected in the historical archive and about which, so far, there are only limited sources. The kingdoms of Ethiopia...

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  • The Undergrowth of History

    Article

    We can do all kinds of things with the past - examine it analytically, or question whether it ever existed, or churn it up inside ourselves until it turns into personal experience. We can dream it as we lounge amidst a heap of ruins, or petrify it into a museum;...

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  • Two Babies That Could Have Changed World History

    Article

    'At last have made wonderful discovery in Valley; a magnificent tomb with seals intact; re-covered same for your arrival. Congratulations.’ This telegram was sent from Luxor on the 6th November 1922 by Howard Carter to his coarchaeologist Lord Carnarvon in Britain. It started the Tut·ankh·Amen story which led to a...

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