纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 063伊费头像（8）（在线收听）

But there's a sense in which the Ife sculptures have also become embodiments of a whole continent, of a modern Africa confident in its ancient cultural traditions. Here's Babatunde Lawal again:

"And then of course today many Africans, and Nigerians in particular, are proud of their past, a past that was denigrated as being crude, primitive in the past. And then to realise that their ancestors were not as backward, as it were, as they were portrayed - it was a double source of joy to them. This discovery unfurled a new kind of nationalism in them, and they started walking tall, feeling proud of their past. And then contemporary artists now seek inspiration from this past, to energise their quest for identity in the global village that our world has become."The discovery of the art of Ife is, I think, a supreme example of a widespread cultural phenomenon: that as we discover our past, so we discover ourselves. And more: to become what we want to be, we have to decide what we were. Like individuals, nations and states define and redefine themselves by revisiting their histories.

In the next programme we're going to be in China, where the interpretation of history has always been a central part of the political debate. We'll be at the same date as the Ife head, and with an equally high-status object... but we'll be looking not at ritual bronze, but at sacred porcelain.