Humans are naturally acquisitive and throughout history there have been countless examples of man's obsession with collecting.
The Emperor Hadrian is known to have collected Greek marbles and Egyptian antiquities. Prehistoric flints and fossils have been found
in Roman villas in contexts which suggest they were prized possessions. As European travel increased in the seventeenth century so did
interest in the riches of the past. By the eighteenth century the 'Grand Tour' was taking the wealthy young abroad particularly to France,
Italy and Greece. From this era emerged the foundations of many of today's great collections. Clearly the major motivation for collecting
antiquities is an interest in past civilisations. As our own is derived from them, their study can help us put our own world into perspective
and teach us that human nature has not altered as much as we might like to think. To be able to actually handle the material culture of our
predecessors beings them to life in a way that reading and visiting museums cannot. In addition to this many of the objects are aesthetically
attractive and make beautiful displays.