Images

Map depicting the way early modern humans (Homo sapiens) are thought to have spread across the globe. It also shows the geographical spread of Homo erectus and the Neanderthals. The dates are approximations (and not 100% guaranteed).

Map showing fossil sites of Homo heidelbergensis and early Neanderthals.

A herd of woolly mammoths, as depicted by Charles R. Knight.

The 1642 CE Konponchudo, main hall of the Buddhist Enryakuji temple on Mount Hiei, Japan. The building stands on the site of the original shrine built by Saicho, also known as Dengyo Daishi, (767-822 CE), the monk and scholar who founded...

Saicho, also known as Dengyo Daishi, (767-822 CE) was a monk and scholar who founded the Buddhist Tendai Sect in Japan.

Tomb of Bede the Venerable, Durham Cathedral.

This beautifully engraved title page from a 1612 edition of the collected works of St. Bede contains a wonderfully stern admonition pasted onto to it at the bottom that threatens excommunication for anyone who might misappropriate the book.

Illuminated Anglo-Saxon manuscript, a near contemporary copy of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum. Russian National Library, Saint Petersburg.

St. Bede the Venerable (c. 673-735 CE), Westminster Cathedral.

The pagoda of the To-ji temple, Kyoto Japan. The temple was first built during the reign of Emperor Kammu (781-806 CE) and the pagoda added in 826 CE. It was subsequently destroyed by fires but then restored. It is the largest pagoda in Japan...