Тhe oldest examples of art in the Museum are images of the natural world. These ancient carvings on antler, bone and ivory from the Ice Age (c. 40,000-8000 bc) include images of animals such as reindeer and mammoth that shared the world of these early human communities.

Тhis panel would have been at the head of a four-sided open structure placed around a grave. The ornamental inscription on the outer face is carved in Kufic script, the oldest calligraphic form of Arabic script. It had been in use for over a century by the time of the emergence of Islam, and was used to write down the earliest copies of the Qur'an.

Тhis is the gravestone of a young woman named Aban. It is an example of a funerary stela known as a nefesh ('soul' or 'personality'), important for retaining identity in the next world.

This polynesian dress would have been worn by the chief mourner after the death of an important person. He would also have carried a menacing long club edged with shark teeth, and led a procession of mourners through the local area, attacking people, sometimes fatally. This 'reign of terror' could last for up to a month.

From the ninth century, reliquaries (containers for religious relics) were often made in an idealized form of the relic itself. This 'head' was said to contain fragments of the skull of St Eustace. According to legend, Eustace was a general under the Roman emperor Trajan (reigned AD 98-117) who was converted to Christianity while hunting, after seeing a vision of a stag with a luminous crucifix between its antlers. Some time later, after victory in battle, he refused to join in thanksgiving to the Roman gods, and was burned to death with his wife and sons.

Тhis figure of a fabulous beast is part of a group reputed to be from the tomb of Liu Tingxun, an important Chinese military commander who died in AD 728. A memorial tablet found with these figures records his skill in military matters and the arts of statesmanship, and that he died at the age of 72.

Тhis very large Buddhist painting on hemp cloth from Korea is one of a pair that would have originally been placed inside the entrance of a temple. Buddhism was oppressed during the early Choson period (AD 1392-1910) but gained more respect after the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592, when Buddhist monks organized armies and fought against the invaders. This painting is from late in the Choson period, when Buddhism became more active.

Тhis is the sarcophagus of an Etruscan woman named Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa. The Romans adopted many features of Etruscan culture, and their early sarcophagi and cinerary urns (containers for cremated remains) show strong Etruscan influence.

Тhis scene is one of eleven fragments from a tomb belonging to a 'scribe and counter of grain' named Nebamun. Stylistically the magnificent paintings, can be dated to the reign of Thutmose IV (1400-1390 вс) or Amenhotep III (1390-1352 вс).

Тhe idea of hell came to China with Buddhism during the early first millennium AD. From the late Tang dynasty (AD 618-906) judgement scenes in Hell became more common in Chinese art. In these scenes, the newly deceased appear before the ten Judges of Hell and their assistants to have their virtues and vices assessed and to receive an appropriate punishment. The dead have to account to the Judges for their deeds in the same way as the living had to account to magistrates, their secular counterparts. The Judges' assistants would carry the rolls of documents required to support a case.