Oxford is a very old city, but within the walls of its museums it houses items that long predate human history – here is a rundown of the oldest object in each museum in Oxford.

The museum which displays the oldest item is the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

The oldest objects in the museum are meteorites.

The most ancient of which are a group known as carbonaceous chondrites, which were the first solid objects to form in the early solar system, before the earth or any of the planets existed.

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One of the most famous is the Allende meteorite, which went on permanent display in the summer, and which has been dated to 4.567 billion years old (30 million years older than the earth).

The ‘runner up’ spot is taken by the Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology.

The oldest objects on display at present are fossils in the Ashmolean Story gallery illustrating the first keeper of the Ashmolean, Robert Plot’s, research in the 17th century.

They are all from the Jurassic period (around 201-145 million years ago).

However, the oldest ‘portrait’ in the Ashmolean is considered to be the Jericho Skull c.7000 BC, which is not named after the Oxford district.

Oxford Mail: The Jericho Skull at the Ashmolean Museum The Jericho Skull at the Ashmolean Museum (Image: Ashmolean Museum)

A stone chopper from the Great Rift Valley of East Africa is thought to be the oldest object on display in the Pitt Rivers museum.

This item may not be the most visually striking, but what it can offer us is a glimpse into the lives of our earliest human ancestors.

The chopper is an example of Oldowan technology – the earliest widespread stone tool industry in the world which was first developed around 2.6 million years ago.

Due to their shape and the fact that they were only worked on one face, they are also known as ‘pebble tools’.

Oxford Mail: A stone chopper A stone chopper (Image: Pitt Rivers)

Oldowan technology was used by several species of hominid, including Homo habilis and early Homo erectus.

This stone chopper comes from a collection of geologist Walter Bishop at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and Koobi Fora in Kenya.

Oxford Mail: Dr Duncan Murdock at the Natural History Museum Dr Duncan Murdock at the Natural History Museum (Image: Natural History Museum, Oxford)

Mr Bishop worked extensively with paleoanthropologists Mary and Louis Leakey, who ran the research and excavation programme at Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important sites in the world for furthering our understanding of human evolution.

The Arshama letters are the oldest artefact in the Bodleian collections and include the original seals, which date from 5th Century BC.

Oxford Mail: The Arshama Letters The Arshama Letters (Image: Bodleian Library)

The item is being preserved as part of the ArchiOX project, which is helping to render it in 3D.

The parchment letters of the Persian prince Arshama to Nakhthor, the steward of his estates in Egypt, are rare survivors from the ancient Achaemenid empire.

These fascinating documents offer a vivid snapshot of linguistic, social, economic, cultural, organisational and political aspects of the Achaemenid empire as lived by a member of the elite and his entourage.

The oldest item in the History of Science Museum (HSM) is a vertical disc dial from 250 A.D., found near Bratislava.

Oxford Mail:

It is an early, and an important category of the HSM collections - dials of different types - and is on display in the Top Gallery.

In a world before mechanical clocks, people told the time using water clocks and sundials.

Many sundials remain from classical Greek and Roman antiquity, but almost all were fixed in one place, carved in stone and meant to serve as public or private monuments.

This tiny sundial is one of just a handful of ancient portable dials to survive.

Though only 6cm across, it mirrors the whole Roman world.

The History of Science Museum on Broad Street is also the oldest purpose-built museum in the world, originally housing Elias Ashmole’s Collections – the founder of the Ashmolean from 1683.

Oxford Botanic Gardens founder, Bobart the Elder, planted a yew tree in 1645, which still survives and can be seen in the garden today.

Oxford Mail: The yew tree in Oxford Botanic Gardens The yew tree in Oxford Botanic Gardens (Image: Oxford Botanic Gardens)

Although it’s almost 400 years old, this tree is actually still considered young for a yew tree, as they can live for thousands of years.

A yew tree has to live more than 900 years to become ‘ancient’.

In 2020, it was struck by Storm Ciara, with a large section breaking off.

This may look devastating. However yews have an incredible ability to renew and rejuvenate themselves, and it is expected the tree will fully recover in time.

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1