Britain: One million years of the human story at Natural History Museum

Of course I loved this exhibition. Not only am I fascinated by how people live but I'm fascinated by the ice age and how people began. This is probably a lot due to my love of Jean Auel's Earths Children books, the first four of which I've re-read repeatedly since I was 13. The stories follow Ayla, an early modern human child who comes to be taken care of by a group of neanderthals. The detail is epic without being boring and describes so many imagined societies and culture.

Anyway, the exhibition tells the story of human life in Britain. You can actually touch replicas of their tools! And watch video of how the tools were made! And did you know hippos used to live in this country back in the day when we were still attached to Europe?? There were hippos right where Trafalgar Square is! They have maps showing how things looked attached to Europe and gradually changing into an island.

There are skeletons on hippos and other animals in the exhibition. Bones with knife marks on so they know the animals were hunted by people. Giant antlers. Magnified images of pollen which is how they can tell what kind of plants were about. Models showing a neanderthal and an early modern human.

The climate changed a lot over the millions of years, from hot for hippos, to too cold for anyone. Neanderthals and homosapiens both lived here and there was interbreeding. Many people today actually have neanderthal DNA. There is video at the end where people have found out how much neanderthal they have. So interesting.

I might actually visit again because I want to absorb more.

On till 28 Sept 2014


Links:

Britain: One million years of the human story
Earth's Children