British Museum

New Capabilities

Holds the Lycurgus Cup

The Lycurgus Cup, a 1,600-year-old Roman glass cup in the British Museum, looks jade green in reflected light and ruby red when lit from behind. Scientists at the University of Sheffield have reproduced that effect using a recipe reverse-engineered from a fragment of the original.

Updated Oct 27

New Capabilities

As of May 2026: Lead institution on Barnham excavation

Early humans struck pyrite against flint to spark fires in a Suffolk field 400,000 years ago—350,000 years before the previous oldest evidence. British Museum archaeologists found two pyrite fragments near a hearth littered with fire-cracked hand axes and sediment burned to 700°C, evidence that early Neanderthals made fire.

Updated May 19