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Neil MacGregor, former director of the British Museum, focuses on how the natural world and seasonal change have shaped shared beliefs. The Yupik people of Alaska depend on the seal, and ancient Egyptians looked to the god Osiris to bring fertility to their arid land. Both societies, in radically different climates, devised practices that acknowledged the fact of their dependence on the natural world – and engaged everybody with the responsibility of co-operating with it.

(Photo: Statue of Egyptian god Osiris. Credit: The Trustees of the British Museum)