#cultural-artifacts

#cultural-artifacts

A History of the United States in 100 Objects - hosted by Roman Mars and produced by BBC Studios and 99% Invisible - tells that history one thing at a time. A gold coin from an 1857 shipwreck that triggered a financial panic. An antebellum schoolbook that became an instrument of Black liberation. A ceramic dalmatian from the set of Wheel of Fortune. Or a tiny screw that shows how the US created a hidden industrial empire.

The lined document, with a torn bottom edge, holds the draft lyrics for Dylan's 'I'm Not There,' written in 1956 and recorded with The Band around 1967.

Alexander Butyagin, the head of the sector of ancient archaeology of the northern Black Sea region of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, was arrested in Poland in December 2025 at the request of Ukraine, which is seeking his extradition to stand trial in Ukraine. He is being charged with conducting illegal excavations in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

When he landed, a group of artists were waiting, eager to view first-hand an object they had only seen in books, online and in a museum.

The MingKwai typewriter, invented by Lin Yutang, revolutionized Chinese typing by breaking down complex ideographs into fundamental components for easier usage.

Oxford University academics used a chalice made from a human skull potentially belonging to an enslaved Caribbean woman at formal dinners until as recently as 2015.