Oxford University’s Ashmolean Museum is one of the world’s oldest public museums, replacing private cabinets of curiosity with organized displays designed to educate the public. It opened its doors in 1683 and is still open to the public for free today. The core of the original collection was donated by Elias Ashmole, an astrologer, alchemist, and Freemason, and the museum has continued to collect for the last 450 years. It now has more than 1.2 million objects related to art and archeology. Below is a list of ten objects in the museum that tell important stories about the ancient world.
1. Jericho Skull
The Jericho Skull is one of more than 70 skulls covered in plaster that have been recovered from the Levant that were made during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Period (8,600-7,500 BCE). This was a period when clay was starting to transform human culture, though clay art was limited to crude figurines and pottery. The skull in the Ashmolean was discovered at Jericho, in Palestine, in 1953.
The face of the skull is covered with plaster, and the eyes are decorated with cowrie shells. The back of the skull may have originally been covered with something else to resemble hair. Some other examples of plaster skulls show evidence of pigmentation, suggesting they were painted. The Ashmolean skull belonged to an adult male. It shows signs that the shape of the skull may have been modified, perhaps through infant head binding. However, other plaster skulls do not show the same modification, and they belong to both males and females of all ages.
Most of the plastered skulls were found with other human remains, buried under houses, including alongside other, non-plastered skulls. Wear and tear also suggest that the skulls were handled, and not simply interred.
The skulls are very early examples of ancient people’s treatment of their dead. They seem to have kept the dead close, burying them under the home, suggesting an important connection with their ancestors. Some scholars suggest that the plaster and decoration were used to make the skulls of important ancestors appear more human. Other scholars suggest the skulls may be evidence that the early people of the Levant engaged in a cult of the head, not unlike the Celtic cult of the head several millennia later.
2. Sumerian King List
This clay prism, inscribed on all four sides with cuneiform script, is one of our most important resources for understanding the prehistory of Mesopotamia. Discovered at Larsa in Iraq in 1922 by the British archaeologist Herbert Weld Blundell, it is known as the Weld-Blundell Prism. It contains the most complete surviving copy of the Sumerian King List. Around 25 other, less complete fragments, have been found.
Written in the Sumerian language, the prism provides a list of Sumerian cities and cities in neighboring regions, with the names of their rulers and the lengths of their reigns, providing important chronology for understanding Mesopotamian history. It is not a historical document, with the list starting in mythical times, during which kings ruled for thousands of years. However, it eventually enters the historical era, ending with King Sin-Magir, who ruled around 1837-1817 BCE.
The prism is also important for providing corroborating evidence for the Mesopotamian belief in a flood myth, which is told in the Epic of Gilgamesh. According to the inscription, after kingship descended from heaven, and a group of kings ruled for a total of 241,200 years, a flood is described as sweeping over the earth. Order is returned to the world when kingship resumes.
3. Protective Spirit
This carved gypsum slab comes from the Northwest Palace of the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, in modern-day Iraq. It is only one of many decorated reliefs recovered by the archaeological excavations conducted there between 1845 and 1851.
British excavator Austen Henry Layard gifted the slab to the Ashmolean Museum in response to receiving an honorary degree from the University of Oxford. This reflects how early treasure hunters considered themselves the owners of the ancient treasures they recovered, whereas today, antiquities belong to the nation where they are discovered.
The slab, which was originally painted, shows a man with the head of a bird in a fringed skirt. He is a supernatural spirit, placed at the entry to the palace throne room to protect it from bad supernatural entities. The figure holds a cone and a bucket used for purifying the gateway, creating a magical barrier against evil. A small cuneiform inscription verifies that the protector was mounted here during the reign of Ashurnasirpal II (reigned c. 883-859 BCE).
This is only one of many protective deities placed in strategic positions around the palace, usually next to doorways and on the walls of the most important rooms. They reflect the Mesopotamian belief that supernatural spirits were active in the world and that the unseen battles of good and evil supernatural spirits deeply affected their lives.
4. King Scorpion’s Macehead
The King Scorpion’s Macehead was found during excavations of the Temple of Horus in the ancient Egyptian city of Hierakonpolis. It depicts an unnamed pharaoh wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt. While no name is given, pictographs of a rosette and a scorpion appear near his head. The rosette was commonly associated with kings of the Predynastic Period and the First Dynasty, suggesting a date between 3100 and 3000 BCE for this king. The scorpion is what inspired modern scholars to call him King Scorpion, even though this was almost certainly not his name or royal title.
The limestone macehead is 25 centimeters (9-10 inches) long and pear-shaped. It must have been ceremonial rather than military. The macehead bears a striking resemblance to the King Narmer macehead from the same period and findspot, and also in the Ashmolean Museum.
The King Scorpion’s macehead shows the king with the tail of a bull, suggestive of strength and vigor. He is standing by a canal holding a hoe, suggesting his role in ensuring the annual Nile flood and good harvests. The king is facing a man holding a basket, for the crops, and men holding standards, indicative of his military role. In the top register of the image is a row of nomes (an Egyptian territorial division) standards, with a bird strung up by its neck hanging from each of them. This may represent his military conquests over other nomes. During this time in Egyptian history, many regional kings were vying for power.
This macehead is often called the Major Scorpion Macehead because it can be coupled with the more fragmentary Minor Scorpion Macehead, which shows the king wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. He sits on a throne below a canopy holding a flail, suggesting his command over Lower Egypt. The same scorpion and rosette appear near his head, offering an identification. Facing him is a Falcon holding the end of a rope in its claws, a motif that also appears on the Narmer Palette. Narmer was the founder of the First Dynasty and is credited with uniting Upper and Lower Egypt. Scholars suggest that King Scorpion may have been his successor.
5. Ballyshannon Sun Disc
The Ballyshannon sun disc is an extremely thin and finely worked gold disc from Ballyshannon, County Donegal in Ireland, dated to between 2500 and 2000 BCE. Discovered as part of a pair in 1669, it is one of the first pieces of prehistoric history discovered in Ireland or Britain and one of the oldest pieces ever discovered. It was donated to the Ashmolean in 1696, making it one of the earliest pieces donated to the museum after its founding collection from Elias Ashmole.
The disc is decorated with a beaten raised cross surrounded by circles and other geometric patterns. These are believed to represent the rays of the sun and their life-giving energy. The discs have a hole in the middle, suggesting they were worn on the chest as buttons or brooches, probably by kings and other leaders as status symbols. It has been suggested that the practice assimilated the king with the sun, suggesting a cult of the sun in ancient Ireland.
There is evidence that Ballyshannon has been occupied since Neolithic times (4000-2500 BCE), and the sun discs were found by a group of men looking for a place where the giants were believed to have buried their gold ornaments. This is an interesting connection back to Irish folklore, as the Fomorians were thought to be giants who battled with the Tuatha De Danann for control of Ireland before men came and displaced them both.
6. Knossos Jar
This large jar, standing 75 centimeters (29-30 inches) high, has three handles and depicts an octopus with only six arms in an underwater scene. It was donated to the Ashmolean in 1911 by Sir Arthur Evans, the famous excavator of the remains of Minoan civilization at Knossos on Crete. He was also the keeper (director) of the Ashmolean Museum from 1884 to 1908.
Minoan culture thrived on Crete from around 1900 to 1450 BCE, which was when their island was largely destroyed, invaded by warriors from Mycenae, another culture from Greece. This jar dates to exactly that period of change and shows a mix of Minoan and Mycenaean styles, with the shape representing Mycenaean culture, and the sea creature motif representing the Minoans.
The Minoans famously used a script called Linear A for their writings, which evolved into Linear B under Mycenaean influence. While Linear B has been deciphered, Linear A has not, and scholars continue to battle to be the first to unlock its secrets.
7. Djed-Djehuty-Iuef-Ankh Mummy
The ancient Egyptians believed in life after death. From the earliest times, the bodies of pharaohs were carefully prepared for the afterlife and laid to rest in mastaba tombs, which evolved into pyramids, and later in hidden underground tombs. But, by the start of the Old Kingdom, it was not just the pharaoh who could enjoy a second life in the Duat. Wealthy Egyptians, who could afford the right funerary practices to preserve their bodies and prepare their souls for crossover, could also join them.
Priests were among the wealthiest and most politically powerful people in ancient Egypt, and they were among the first to enjoy mummification for the next life. This nest of three coffins in the Ashmolean belonged to a priest of the god Montu called Djed-Djehuty-luef-Ankh, which means “the god Thoth says may he live.”
The outermost coffin is rectangular and decorated with images of the sky. A jackal god is also at the feet of the coffin, to guard the dead and guide him into the next life. The two inner coffins are human-shaped, showing the face of Djed-Djehuty-luef-Ankh with a striped wig and beard, familiar from the coffin of King Tutankhamun, who lived and died more than 500 years earlier. His organs have been removed, the cavities filled with a substance like sawdust, and his body is wrapped in bandages, with protective amulets tucked among the folds.
The area known as the Valley of Nebhepetra Montuhotep, just outside Thebes, was associated with the god Montu from at least the 11th Dynasty (c. 2150-1991 BCE) when the pharaoh Nebhepetra constructed a mortuary temple there with dedications to Montu. During the New Kingdom, probably the reign of Hatshepsut (c. 1479-1458 BCE), the valley was incorporated into the domain of the cult of Amun.
By the 25th Dynasty (c. 747-656 BCE), the valley had become a favored burial place for the priests of Montu and their families. Djed-Djehuty-luef-Ankh was found in a burial shaft with his mother Nesmutatneru, and a woman Tabakenkhonsu, described as the daughter of the Montu priest Hors, who was probably the wife of Djed-Djehuty-luef-Ankh. Her mummy is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a world away from her husband in Oxford.
8. Plaque With Yakshi
This stunning terracotta figure was found on the banks of the Tamluk River in 1883 and was the first and finest to be discovered in the region. These terracotta figures were commonly produced in Bengal around 200-100 BCE. She was designed by pouring terracotta into a mold, and then further details were added by hand. The Ashmolean also has a mold that was used to make similar terracotta figures. She probably represents a Yakshi.
Yakshas (male) and Yakshis (female) are spirits believed to inhabit trees, mountains, rocks, rivers, oceans, and other aspects of nature. Their prevalence in sculpture suggests that nature worship was common in India at this time. They could be benevolent guardian spirits that brought good fortune, or mischievous spirits capable of creating bad luck.
Like other Yakshis, she is depicted as a voluptuous figure with a nude upper body and wearing lots of large jewelry. Her large headdress shows five symbolic weapons in her hair.
9. Tombstone of Claudius Agathemerus and Myrtale
This tombstone from Rome was set up for a Greek doctor called Claudius Agathermerus and his wife Myrtale sometime between c. 90-110 CE, and features portraits of the couple. The inscription in Greek identifies the doctor as a “swift healer of disease” and says that the pair are now together in Elysium, a Greco-Roman afterlife.
Two details of this tombstone often surprise observers. First, while being found in the heart of Rome, the inscription is written in Greek. Many Roman doctors were Greek or trained in Greece, and Greek was considered the language of the educated. Many educated Romans spoke the language. Second, Myrtale appears slightly in front of her husband, drawing attention. This probably suggests that she outlived her husband and commissioned the tombstone.
During this era, most private portrait sculpture was associated with funerary contexts, appearing on funerary altars and tombs. Family dedications, or dedications to a patron, are typical. It probably adorned a structure that contained their ashes. The practice was based on the ancient Roman practice of displaying wax portrait-masks of important ancestors during funeral processions to celebrate the lineage of the family. The masks were then kept in the family shrine, where they would have been visible to both household members and visitors.
10. Judaea Tetradrachm
Judea had a fraught relationship with Rome since it was made a Roman province in 6 CE. The Jewish people struggled to balance their unique religion and way of life with Romanization and religious observances demanded by membership in the Roman Empire. This resulted in a major revolt in 66 CE, which was put down by Vespasian and Titus, and arguably gave them the military might they needed to make Vespasian emperor of Rome in 69 CE. The conflict resulted in the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 CE.
The people of Judaea revolted again in 132 CE under the leadership of a man called Simon ben Kosiba, then believed at the time to be the promised Messiah of Israel. Because of his supposed connection with an ancient prophecy, he was called Bar Kokbha, which means “son of a star.” This tetradrachm was struck in Judaea while it was under his leadership.
It was created by overstriking a coin of the Roman emperor Trajan, whose portrait is still slightly visible underneath. The obverse shows the Temple of Jerusalem that was previously destroyed and not rebuilt, with the Hebrew legend “Simon.” The reverse shows the palm branches and citrus used for the feast of the Tabernacles with the legend “for the freedom of Jerusalem.”
Simon’s revolt would fail in 135/6 CE. This time, the Romans did not just destroy the temple. An estimated 500,000 Jews were killed and others were taken into slavery. Jews were then banned from Jerusalem, which the Romans rebuilt as a thoroughly Roman city called Aelia Capitolina, and the province of Judaea was renamed Syria Palaestina. This was a major factor in the creation of the Jewish Diaspora that would characterize the Jewish people for centuries to come.
