The Latest Breaking News from British Museum

This glimpse into an almost entirely unknown England is full of astonishing artefacts that shed light on our early culture

The British Museum introduces Europe’s earliest ancestors, the activist artist sits his work next to Chinese antiquities and LGBT+ history month begins with the deep human past – all in your weekly dispatch

LONDON: A carved stone drum unearthed in England is one of the most significant pieces of prehistoric art ever found in the country, the British Museum said on Thursday.

Sculpture suggests artistic styles and ideas spanned huge distances even 5,000 years ago

The Burton Agnes chalk drum, a 5,000 year old chalk sculpture, was found on a country estate in the eponymous area of East Yorkshire.

5,000-year-old chalk drum decorated with motifs was discovered in Yorkshire alongside burial of three children

Letters: The sculptures in the British Museum could be replaced by exact replicas, and it would be fitting to return them to Greece this year, says Roger Michel. Plus letters from Anna Watson, Alan Gavurin and Richard Pickvance

Repatriating the spoils of empire is stuck in all manner of legal and historical impasses, says Charlotte Higgins, the Guardian’s chief culture writer

A major new exhibition connects the stones on Salisbury Plain to many points and cultures across Europe through 1,500 years of immigration

It forms part of The World Of Stonehenge exhibition at the British Museum.

Campaign for British Museum to return antiquities boosted by support from the Times newspaper