A Visit to the British Museum Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mesopotamia

Ur, in its heyday, was a coastal city on the Euphrates in the area known as Mesopotamia. It was the most important city located on the Persian Gulf. Everything that came into Mesopotamia by sea had to pass through Ur. It was wealthy, and had massive political influence on the whole area. It is now several miles inland in an area of Iran. Ruins of a 21st Century BC temple, the Ziggurat of Ur can be seen. This was excavated in the 1930s.

Many scholars believe that Ur is in fact the Ur Kasdim referred to in Genesis as the birthplace of Abraham.

The game in the picture is known as the Royal Game of Ur, and part of the rules can be seen on the broken tablet at the top of the picture. They are written in Sumerian cuneiform. This particular game dates from around 2400BC so is in remarkable condition. It was found in the 1920s during excavations of some of the royal tombs. It is thought that it could well be a predecessor of backgammon.

Answer: The Parthenon

Between 1801 and 1812 the 7th Earl of Elgin organised the removal of around half the statues and sculptures that adorned the Parthenon. He was British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the time, and had their permission to do this. Even at the time many people regarded this as nothing more than vandalism. However, after debating the matter in Parliament, the British government fully exonerated his actions, bought the collection from him, and put it on display in the British Museum in 1816. They have remained there ever since.

In the intervening years there have been accusations of damage to the marbles by over zealous cleaning, and demands from Greece for their return. The remaining marbles had to be removed from the Parthenon in the 1930s due to damage by both war and pollution. It seems unlikely that the sculptures will ever be returned to Greece. Even if they were they could not go back on to the Parthenon. The Greek government have been replacing the originals with replicas, and housing the originals in a museum.

Answer: Easter Island

Easter Island is part of Polynesia, and is about as far away from anywhere else as you can get. Although part of Chile it is over two thousand miles from that country. It is famous for the 800-plus statues known as moai. They are found all over the island, mainly along the coastline, and are believed to represent the ancestors.

By the time there was any European contact with it in the 1700s the population of the island was already in decline. Trees had been over harvested, to the extent that there were none left to build boats, and many of the population died through starvation.

At one stage there were as few as 100 people left on the island, but the population is now stable at around 5,500, most of whom are descendents of the original indigenous people.

Answer: Mosaic

Mosaic is thousands of tiny pieces of coloured stones of various types fitted together into a pattern. Materials used range from marble, coloured stones, semi precious stones such as lapis lazuli, even seashells and glass beads. The work reached a peak under the Roman empire, and it was used in public buildings, private villas and bath houses.

Many fine examples can be found in Roman remains all over Britain. The pictures often depict scenes from Roman mythology and legend, but geometric patterns and pictures from everyday life are also common.

In private villas they were often a statement of wealth. In public buildings they often depicted the use of the building, or were the insignia of a particular guild or organisation.

Answer: Various animals

The Egyptians mummified animals of various types, especially cats. Cats were sacred animals in their religion, and they extended the practice of mummification to them. They were offered to Bast, the cat goddess. In 1888 an Egyptian farmer accidentally unearthed a tomb containing the mummified remains of thousands of cats and kittens. The tomb is estimated to date to between 1000 and 2000 BC. When it was properly excavated and investigated some eighty thousand mummified cat remains were found.

The practice did not stop at cats. Ibis, which were a sacred bird, were also mummified. The Egyptians believed in having everything you might need in the afterlife in your tomb with you, so as well as having furniture and personal effects buried with them a favourite pet might also be mummified. Tombs have been found containing mummified dogs, horses, even cows. The same care was taken with these animals as with humans. When unwrapped for scientific examination some of these animals have been found in a remarkable state of preservation.

Answer: The process was expensive

Before mummification Egyptians buried their dead in the desert. The hot dry sand quickly took the moisture from the bodies, and created almost perfect mummies by a natural process. When they started to use coffins they realised that the bodies decayed when not exposed to the hot sand, so gradually the process of mummification came about. Every Egyptian was entitled to be mummified and buried with such personal items as they might need in the afterlife.

However, the process was expensive and not all families could afford to pay for it.

In practice this meant that mummification became reserved for the higher classes of Egyptian society. The farmers, peasants and slaves continued to be buried in the desert without coffins, allowing the natural mummification process to happen.

Answer: 1870s

The first rail line in Japan opened in 1872. It ran between what is now Tokyo and Yokohama. The first private rail company, Nippon Railway, was founded in 1881. The Government of Japan gave great importance to rail transport for many decades. Fossil fuel was very expensive as they had no natural resources and everything had to be imported. Railways made the best use of imported coal, moving the maximum number of people and goods at any one time. Rail companies bought rural land cheaply to expand the rail network, and cities soon started to be built in areas where there were major stations.

Although not dated this picture is believed to date from shortly after the time the first steam train arrived in Japan. It is not a picture of an actual engine, more the artist's idea of what one would look like. It is unlikely he had actually seen one when he painted the picture, it is more likely that it was done from a description of a steam train.

Answer: Brush holder

In the Chinese zodiac the monkey is an auspicious creature. It can be found on walls and doors as a symbol that brings good luck to officialdom. This little pot was probably used as a calligraphy brush holder by a government official.
Although simple in form the detail on the carving is beautifully done, indicating it was an expensive item at the time it was made.

Jade is very difficult to date so the exact age of the pot is not known. The style of carving though indicates that it is over 200 years old, it could though be much older. For symbols such as the monkey the style of jade carving didn't change much over several centuries.

Answer: Sutton Hoo

Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, is the site where an undisturbed Anglo Saxon ship burial was found in the 1930s. Although virtually all of the ship had disappeared, the timbers having rotted, the outline of it was perfectly preserved. No body was found in the ship, which did lead to discussion as to whether or not this was an actual ship burial. Soil analysis eventually led to the conclusion that there was a body that had completely rotted away over time.

It is the artifacts from Sutton Hoo that are so special. These horns are possibly amongst the least embellished. An almost perfect Anglo Saxon helmet was found, along with a shield, various swords and some very intricate metalwork, all in a good state of preservation. There were also personal items, eating utensils, plates, bowls, again all very well preserved. This one find gave more insight into Anglo Saxon Britain than any others.

Of the incorrect answers Mildenhall and Fishbourne are both Roman sites in Britain and Lewis is well known for the find of 12th century chessmen.

Answer: The Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone, which was discovered in 1799, has inscribed on it a royal decree. It is in three languages. The top shows hieroglyphs, under that is what is known as Demotic script, and under that is ancient Greek. As all three sections say the same thing this stone gave scholars the key to deciphering the hieroglyphs being found all over Egyptian buildings, in ancient scrolls, and in tombs. Even with this key it was still some time before scholars felt able to say with any degree of certainty that they could now read the objects they were studying.

There was massive public interest in the stone, and copies of both it and just the text soon circulated all over Europe. Although discovered by the French it came into British hands in 1801 and was promptly transported to the British Museum. It has been on display there since 1802 and is probably one of the most viewed museum objects in the world.