This paper will explore how the British Museum has presented and translated objects that reflect human experience, adaptation and identities in the deep past and reflect on how well such displays have reflected prehistoric life-ways. The collection of the British Museum spans 2.5 million years of global history but although this includes substantial prehistoric collections, few of these, in particular the Palaeolithic collections, are currently on display. The institution faces specific contextual challenges in deciding how to display the deep history of a global collection, particularly as other prehistoric collections are often presented in contexts that are specialised (regional or period specific), or conceptually separated from the broader human past (museums of anthropology, human evolution, or natural history). The challenges of displaying the deep human past can therefore be met in very different ways. Through two case studies of British Museum temporary displays relating to Europe and the Middle East (the 850,000 year old hominin footprints from Happisburgh and the 9500 year old plastered Pre-Pottery Neolithic B skull from Jericho) we will question public appetite for, and understanding of, deep history and explore how the Museum has approached communicating the interdisciplinary nature of research into deep history to public audiences.


Author(s): Fletcher, Alexandra - Scott, Rebecca (The British Museum)