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The ancient Greeks learned the art of sculpture from the Egyptians. Initially, they worked in the Egyptian style, creating figures that copied their rigid poses and forward-facing gaze. The distinctive classical Greek aesthetic emerged over centuries, celebrating freedom of movement, idealised proportions and a sense of harmony and balance. 

Bird skeletons are fascinating; they need to be lightweight to fly but strong enough to withstand the stresses of flight. To achieve this, birds have hollow bones, and the bones themselves are structurally very dense, stiff and strong.

A vanitas is a type of still life painting that reminds the viewer about the fleeting nature of life through the use of symbolic objects. It illustrates the futility of earthly pleasures, the transient nature of life, and death's certainty.

The Dance of Death, also known as danse macabre, is an allegory describing the universality of death. Many artists have created their interpretation of The Dance of Death; each version comprises a series of separate images featuring a character from the social strata, from a king to a peddler.

We've compiled our list of top ten deadly medieval weapons; of course, we wouldn't forget popular favourites like the sword and axe, but we've also included some unusual weapons you may not know as well.

Tattoo culture as we know it today has origins stretching back thousands of years. Tattooing has been practised across the globe since at least Neolithic times (1900 BC), as evidenced by the finds of mummified preserved tattooed skin and the archaeological record.

A memento mori (Latin for 'remember that you must die') is an artistic or symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death.