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Irving Finkel of the British Museum explains how royal scribes wrote the Amarna Letters in Babylonian cuneiform and softened kings' threats into polite diplomacy, with animated maps and letter cards. Interview footage: The British Museum, Curator's Corner Ep100; map data: Natural Earth.

Irving Finkel of the British Museum reads the Amarna Letters, in which the king of Babylon and Tushratta of Mitanni complain to Pharaoh about delayed messengers and gold, with animated maps and letter cards. Interview footage: The British Museum, Curator's Corner Ep100; map data: Natural Earth.

Irving Finkel of the British Museum tells how the Amarna Letters, the pharaohs' cuneiform diplomatic tablets, were found at Amarna in Egypt in 1887 and sold off as old clay, with an animated map. Interview footage: The British Museum, Curator's Corner Ep100; map data: Natural Earth.

Animated map of the Terracotta Army pits near Xi'an and Qin Shi Huang's unopened tomb mound, with photos of the warriors. Maps from AWS Terrain Tiles, Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap; photos via Wikimedia Commons.

Animated map of Maya lidar discoveries in Campeche and Guatemala: Valeriana and 6,764 structures from a forest-carbon survey, plus PACUNAM lidar around Tikal. Lidar images: Auld-Thomas et al. 2024, Antiquity, CC BY 4.0.

Sébastien Rey of the British Museum on Gudea's temple at Girsu. Video: The British Museum, Curator's Corner.

Irving Finkel of the British Museum on the Lewis Chessmen. Video: The British Museum, Curator's Corner.

Animated map of the Roman road network from the 2025 Itiner-e atlas, with photos of the Via Appia, a milestone and the Peutinger Table.

Hadrian's Wall and Vindolanda: open-licence photos of the wall, milecastles and the Vindolanda tablets, with narration and captions.

Christopher Rollston of George Washington University on the Mesha Stele (Louvre) and the forged Moabite pieces that followed its discovery. Lecture: Philosophical Society of Washington (PSW Science). Images: Wikimedia Commons (Mbzt, CC BY-SA 4.0; Tangopaso, public domain). Music: Pixabay.

British Museum curator Thorsten Opper on the bronze Head of Nero found in the River Alde, Suffolk. Video: The British Museum, Curator's Corner. Music: Pixabay.

British Museum curator Dr Daniel Antoine on infrared images revealing tattoos on the Gebelein mummies. Video: The British Museum, Curator's Corner. Music: Pixabay.

Dr Lee Clare of the German Archaeological Institute on Göbekli Tepe's T-pillars. Interview: Archaeology with Flint Dibble. Photos: DAI Göbekli Tepe Archive. Music: Pixabay.

British Museum curator Dr Sue Brunning on the Sutton Hoo helmet's garnet eyebrows. Video: The British Museum, Curator's Corner.

Cemal Pulak discussing the Uluburun shipwreck and the only gold scarab of Nefertiti ever found.

Adolfo Roitman, curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum, on the oldest biblical manuscripts from Qumran. Clip: Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Photos: Ardon Bar Hama (public domain), Dennis G. Jarvis (CC BY-SA 2.0), Peter van der Sluijs (CC BY-SA 4.0). Music: 'Mystery History' by BearStockMusic (Pixabay).

Andrew George (SOAS) on the Gilgamesh Flood Tablet and George Smith's 1872 discovery. Clip: Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East. Tablet photos: Mike Peel & Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin (CC BY-SA 4.0). Music: 'Ancient Mystery' by Sonican (Pixabay).

Neil MacGregor, then Director of the British Museum, on the Cyrus Cylinder — a Babylonian cuneiform barrel from Persia. Clip: The British Museum. Cylinder photo: Daderot (CC0). Music: 'Discovery Epic' by Paul Yudin (Pixabay).

Matthew Morgenstern of Tel Aviv University on Aramaic incantation bowls buried under house floors, over photos of a Mandaic bowl. Clip: Tel Aviv University. Bowl photos: The Met and Royal Ontario Museum (CC0). Music: 'Cinematic Dark Mysterious Music' by Tunetank (Pixabay).

Aaron Butts on King Ezana of Aksum, the first Aksumite ruler to present himself as Christian, over photos of the Ezana Stone and his coins. Audio: University of Toronto Arts & Science. Photos: Wikimedia Commons. Music: 'Dramatic Cinematic Documentary' by MusicDream (Pixabay).