Skip to main content Skip to footer
FREE ENTRY Open Monday-Sunday, 10am-5pm Plan your visit For families For schools Collections
Login Menu
  • Museum of London
    • Permanent galleries
      • London Before London
      • Roman London
      • Medieval London gallery
      • War, Plague & Fire
      • Expanding City gallery
      • People's City Gallery
      • World City
      • The London 2012 Cauldron
    • What's on
      • Exhibitions and displays
      • Walks, talks and tours
      • Last chance to visit London Wall
      • Grime Stories: from the corner to the mainstream
      • Harry Kane: I want to play football
    • Plan your visit
      • Find us
      • Museum accessibility
      • Eating and drinking
      • Floor plan
      • Shop
      • Group visits
  • Museum of London Docklands
    • Permanent galleries
      • No. 1 Warehouse
      • Trade Expansion
      • London, Sugar & Slavery
      • City and River
      • Sailortown
      • First Port of Empire
      • Warehouse of the World
      • Docklands at War
      • New Port, New City
      • Mudlarks children's gallery
    • What's on
      • Exhibitions and displays
      • Walks, talks and tours
      • Workshops
      • Executions
    • Plan your visit
      • Find us
      • Museum accessibility
      • Eating and drinking
      • Floor plan
      • Shop
      • Group visits
  • West Smithfield
  • Discover

    Discover London Through History

    View all
    A woman depicted as a Roman laureate female, possibly a Muse, on one of a pair of miniature bracelet plaques made of gold. It is possible that the 18th century recipient of the plaques was named after the Muse and that the figure depicted is a delicate reference to the classical antecedents of her name. (ID no.: C1705) Behind the scenes

    The Roman princess of Spitalfields

    Sr Curator of Archaeology, Dr Rebecca Redfern’s interest in the intriguing Spitalfields Princess spans over two decades!

    the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Cauldron designed by Thomas Heatherwick Sports

    The magic of the 2012 London Olympics cauldron

    Did you know you can find the 2012 London Olympics cauldron in the Museum of London collection?

    min watch

    roman temple of mithras Roman London

    Quiz: Guess the Roman London mystery object

    The Romans left us some weird and wonderful objects to find in our city. Can you guess what these artefacts from Londinium are?

    ‘Mermaid slinkiness’ in 1930s’ London fashion, Bassano Studio (ID no.: IN11903) Look of London

    ‘Mermaid slinkiness’ in 1930s’ London fashion

    In this edition of our fashion series, we delve into female fashions of the 1930s.

  • Shop
  • Support us

    Support us

    • School children looking at objects

      Reach every London schoolchild

    • Paddington Bear being cleaned by a conservator

      Celebrate the London collection

    • West Smithfield aerial visual - landing page image

      A new museum for London

      • Donate
      • Memberships
      • Corporate partnerships
      • Volunteer
  • Account Account
  • For families
  • For schools
  • Collections
Museum of London
  • Permanent galleries
  • What's on
  • Plan your visit

The London 2012 Cauldron: Designing a moment

2012

Roman London

AD 50-410

Permanent galleries

London before London

450,000 BC – AD 50

Discover the story of London before the city was even built

  • The Twitter logo, showing a bird with its mouth open, meaning 'Share this page on Twitter'
  • The Facebook logo, showing the letter F, meaning 'Share this page on Facebook'
  • Envelope icon meaning 'Share this page via email'

London before London explores the rich lives of the people living in the Lower Thames Valley from around 450,000 BC until the creation of the Roman city of Londinium around AD 50.

  • Around 200,000 years ago this giant, woolly mammoth walked across a cold landscape that would become modern day Ilford.
  • Iron age wheel boss from a chariot on display in the London Before London gallery.
  • Mesolithic hunters used every part of the animals they hunted. Deer antlers made tough tools.
  • This beautiful mace head was made from stone that originated in Norway or the Orkneys. It would have taken many hours to shape and polish and would have been carried on a wooden staff as a symbol of power. Its importance may have been the reason it was chosen as a sacrifice to the River Thames.
  • London-Before-London-gallery-view-2.jpg
  • The museum holds a nationally important collection of Bronze Age material. In the gallery you can see the wealth of objects, including stunning bronze weapons.
  • The person who made this bowl certainly left an impression. It was possible to take casts of the finger indentations around the neck to discover that the person who decorated it had slender fingers and long nails.
  • Jadeite prehistoric axe found near Mortlake, in the London Before London gallery.
  • The reconstructed head of one of London’s oldest residents is displayed next to her skeleton. This Neolithic hunter-gatherer is named after the location of the gravel pit where she was buried, between 5640 and 5100 years ago.
  • Skeleton of the Harper Road Woman, prehistoric inhabitant of the London area, in the London Before London gallery.

Not to be missed on your visit

View slideshow

Around 200,000 years ago this giant, woolly mammoth walked across a cold landscape that would become modern day Ilford.

Jaw of a mammoth, 200,000 BC

Around 200,000 years ago this giant, woolly mammoth walked across a cold landscape that would become modern day Ilford.

Iron age wheel boss from a chariot on display in the London Before London gallery.

Iron Age chariot fitting, 350 BC – 150 BC

This is a fitting from an Iron Age chariot. It is decorated in the swirling stylised patterns of the period and, demonstrating that the chariot owner was a person of style and wealth.

Mesolithic hunters used every part of the animals they hunted. Deer antlers made tough tools.

Axe and pots from the Neolithic period, 4,000 BC – 2,200 BC

Prehistoric hunters used every part of the animals they hunted. Deer antlers made tough tools.

This beautiful mace head was made from stone that originated in Norway or the Orkneys. It would have taken many hours to shape and polish and would have been carried on a wooden staff as a symbol of power. Its importance may have been the reason it was chosen as a sacrifice to the River Thames.

Neolithic mace head, 2900 BC – 2100 BC

This beautiful mace head was made of stone from the Orkneys. Carefully polished and shaped, it was thrown into the river as a sacrifice to the Thames.

London-Before-London-gallery-view-2.jpg

River Wall

For thousands of years people placed precious objects, including the bodies of the dead, into the Thames. This display showcases many of the treasures recovered from its waters.

The museum holds a nationally important collection of Bronze Age material. In the gallery you can see the wealth of objects, including stunning bronze weapons.

Bronze Age swords

The museum holds a nationally important collection of Bronze Age material. In the gallery you can see the wealth of objects, including stunning bronze weapons.

The person who made this bowl certainly left an impression. It was possible to take casts of the finger indentations around the neck to discover that the person who decorated it had slender fingers and long nails.

Neolithic bowls, 3500 BC

The person who made this bowl certainly left an impression. From casts of the finger indentations around the neck, we know its decorator had slender fingers and long nails.

Jadeite prehistoric axe found near Mortlake, in the London Before London gallery.

Neolithic Jadeite axe, 4000 BC – 2200 BC

This axehead was made to look beautiful, not to be used. The jadeite stone is from the Alps and it would have been considered a precious object amongst in the Thames Valley 6000 years ago.

The reconstructed head of one of London’s oldest residents is displayed next to her skeleton. This Neolithic hunter-gatherer is named after the location of the gravel pit where she was buried, between 5640 and 5100 years ago.

The Shepperton Woman

The reconstructed head of one of London’s oldest residents is displayed next to her skeleton. This neolithic hunter-gatherer was buried in Shepperton between 5640 and 5100 years ago.

Skeleton of the Harper Road Woman, prehistoric inhabitant of the London area, in the London Before London gallery.

Harper Road Woman

This young woman was a witness to history. She was alive at the time of the Roman invasion of Britain and may have been aware of the destruction of Londinium by Boudica. .

Gallery access

The gallery is open during the museum's normal hours:

10am-5pm, Monday-Sunday

The gallery is on the entrance floor and can be accessed by lift.

London before London also of interest

Palaeolithic mammoth tooth

3D Prehistoric objects

Get a 360 degrees view of some of our collection objects!

Find out more

Teachers during a 2015 'prehistory in the primary classroom' CPD session at the Museum of London.

Prehistory learning resources

Facts, guides and quizzes for teachers or students.

See our resources

associated_Beasts-Install-27th-March-2019_Mammoth-Jaw.jpg

The Big Beasts of London

Discover the prehistoric monsters that once roamed the lands of London.

Read now

Museum of London

MapContact

Museum of London Docklands

MapContact
  • About us
  • Friends membership
  • Donate
  • Volunteer
  • Jobs
  • Families
  • Schools
  • Universities
  • News room
  • Venue hire
  • Supporting London museums
  • Group visits

Museum of London registered charity number 1139250

  • Accessibility
  • Legal
  • Copyright
  • Log in | Manage my account
  • Museum of London Privacy Notice
  • Cookies policy
  • Follow us on Twitter for news, views and conversation about London

  • Join us on Facebook and share your views on current London issues

  • Browse our YouTube videos of teaching resources, London history, fashion and more

  • See objects from our collection, snapshots of events and share your visits with us on Instagram

Be the first to hear about new exhibitions and events

Please enter a valid first name

Please enter a valid last name

Please enter a valid email address

Get our newsletter