Objects that tell us about the history of the world
Five out of the ten objects chosen to tell a history of Oxfordshire are from Oxford University museums. In the project led by the BBC, the county's curators selected objects which 'tell us about Oxfordshire history and its place in the world'. The Ashmolean Museum has two objects, firstly with the oldest piece in Oxfordshire's list, a Roman coin showing the short-lived emperor Domitianus II. This coin is the only material evidence anywhere in the world that he did actually exist and when, and was found in the Oxfordshire village of Chalgrove by someone with a metal detector. Also included is the Museum's painting 'The Return of the Dove to the Ark' by Sir John Everett Millais. It was chosen because the Pre-Raphaelite art movement influenced not only painters, but also architects, poets and writers. Read more