London before London
10 September 2002
London before London: travel back half a million years
Opening on Friday 18 October, a new prehistoric gallery at the Museum of London will explore the Thames valley long before the capital was even a twinkle in Claudius’ eye.
London before London will take visitors back over half a million years, from when hippos and elephants roamed Trafalgar Square to when Heathrow Airport was an Iron Age settlement, and people measured their time by the phases of the moon.
Jack Lohman, Director of the Museum of London, said, “The new gallery changes our ‘mindscape’ of London and prehistory suddenly seems like yesterday. It will provide an insight into a puzzling and distant past.”
Beginning at a time when London was nothing but tundra and the local population would fit on a double decker bus, London before London traces the relationship between people and their surroundings. The Thames is central to this story, and to the lives of the human communities who lived along its banks.
The river provided water for cooking and cleaning, endless supplies of food, an altar for religious offerings and sacrifices, and the last resting place of the dead. In the centre of the gallery, a ‘River Wall’ will feature almost 400 objects recovered from its banks, including numerous bronze and iron swords reflecting its role as a sacred river.
Many of these discoveries and much that we know about the history of human settlement have come to light as a result of gravel extraction in the Thames valley to supply London’s construction industry. It is very appropriate that the major part of the funding for London before London, should come from the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF).
Set up by the Government earlier this year, the ALSF gives grants to projects such as the new gallery that enable the community to share in the archaeological discoveries made through aggregate extraction. The grant was allocated by English Heritage, which helps administer the ALSF.
London before London will challenge the stereotype of the noble savage, hunting wild beasts with clubs and living in caves. Sophisticated communities established extensive trade networks and adapted to their environment in order to survive. Displayed in the gallery are a range of carefully fashioned tools and weapons that formed the backbone of daily life – used in everything from cooking to construction. Status symbols of wealth and power show that hierarchical systems existed even in prehistoric times, perhaps the ultimate possession was a 6,000 year old jadeite axe especially imported from the Alps.
When homo sapiens arrived 40,000 years ago they gradually abandoned their nomadic lifestyle. Through the domestication of animals and cultivation of the land, they transformed much of their natural habitat. By the time the Romans arrived in AD43 the foundations for London were already laid. As London before London will show – if you put prehistoric man in a suit and gave him a mobile phone, he could be working in the city today.
Editors’ notes:
The funds of the ALSF are derived from levies on the aggregates industry and are administered jointly by English Heritage, English Nature and the Countryside Agency. The ALSF will enable the aggregates industry to work with Government Agencies, local authorities and local communities to deliver a wide range of benefits in areas where there has been aggregate extraction. English Heritage allocates funds for projects which concern the historic environment, including historic buildings, archaeological sites and landscapes.
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