- Duration
- 3 hours
- Location
- London
Please note: All museum exhibits are subject to closure at short notice. Your expert will be able to explain any closures to you at the start of the tour and refocus the tour on the available exhibits if necessary.
Includes
- Timed admission tickets
- 3 hours with a Ph.D. or MA-level guide
Itinerary Details
Next, we’ll traverse the halls of the museum, visiting its most important rooms. This includes the Egyptian collection, where we’ll explore how ancient texts came to be deciphered in the first place and compare the ways in which hieroglyphs and cuneiform, the two earliest scripts, were cracked. We will also spend some time exploring the Rosetta Stone, and some of the nearly 130,000 pieces of cuneiform tablets from ancient Iraq that are on display. Depending on our interests or our guide’s specialty, we may also focus on the art of ancient Iran and/or ancient Iraq, or delve into the Parthenon Marbles. At the end of our time together we will emerge with a better understanding of this major institution and its key role in intellectual life worldwide, leaving us with a sense of wonder and appreciation.
FAQ
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Lawrence travelled and excavated extensively in Israel, Jordan and Egypt before attending the University of Durham where he studied archaeology. He specialised in ancient human remains during his Masters' at Liverpool University Medical School, followed by a year of travel and excavation in the UK and Africa. He won a scholarship to attend University College London, where he wrote his Doctorate on ancient populations of the Western Mediterranean basin and the Canary Islands. He has worked at the Peruvian site of Pachacamac since 2004, and has worked in Egypt since 2012. He currently directs a major excavation in northern Egypt, at a site dating to c.3000 BC, and also works with historical forensics at sites connected to the Spanish Civil War. He lectured in bioarchaeology at the University of London and the University of Winchester from 2004-2021, and has written extensively on bioarchaeology and osteology in a range of academic journals and edited volumes. He is particularly interested in palaeontology, art history, the rise of civilisation and the history of London. He has developed a particularly irreverent guiding style that appeals to children from 5 to 105!

Andrew completed a PhD in Classics at King's College London where he specialised in how the Classical world shaped British politics and culture. His research interests range from Ancient Greece to the British empire, and he has tutored secondary school children in everything from Tudor England to the Second World War. Andrew especially loves the eclectic historical landscape of London which allows one to find ancient ruins or historic pubs amongst the modern city. He teaches ancient history to undergraduates at King's College London and is a keen cyclist and runner.

With a French mother and Irish father, Suzanne was born and educated in Birmingham. She attended the Ecole du Louvre in Paris and Westfield College London, before working at the V&A, and Hodder Educational and Phaidon Press. She is qualified as a Clerkenwell and Islington Guide, City of London Guide and Blue Badge. Suzanne has lived in London most of her adult life and has cycled, walked and nosed around its streets for 45 years, learning to see and appreciate the many-layered qualities of the city, and getting to know its museums and great buildings. She has studied history and art history all her life. She is deeply passionate about sharing the rich history of the city, how extraordinary human beings can be, and what those human beings can create.
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