Britain- One Million Years of Human History

Britain - One Million Years of Human History is currently on at the Natural History Museum.   It's a fairly small exhibition, but quite interesting all the same - you need about an hour to see it properly.

I had to queue to get in, but the queue moved fairly quickly, and once in the museum, I soon found that it was the dinosaurs, rather than the latest exhibition, that most people, especially the children, had come to see.

I had some difficulty in finding the exhibition - it wasn't well sign-posted, but after asking several people, I eventually found it.

Britain - One Million Years of Human History looks as Britain over the past million years, with its regularly changing climates, and its various periods of human habitation, beginning with the Neanderthals.

Very interesting things are emerging about the Neanderthals - not only did they not die out, as was traditionally taught, but modern Europeans - and in fact, everybody except Africans - carry from 2% - 4% of their DNA.   So far from having a lot in common with apes, they must have been very like us, and the re-constructed figures of the Neanderthals in the exhibition would not warrant a second glance if they walked along any high street in Britain today.   They were very definitely human.  

Most experts assume that human beings originated in Africa and then moved out to populate the world, and it used to be thought that they killed off the stupider Neanderthals, who weren't really human anyway.    But is it possible that in fact, even if some people did move from Africa to the Middle East and Europe, that they simply intermarried with the people who were already there, i.e. the Neanderthals, and that Europeans today are essentially descendants of the Neanderthals?     It's an interesting thought, particularly in view of the 900,000 year old footprints discovered on the beach in Suffolk, which showed that people were living in Britain all that time ago, presumably Neanderthals.

The exhibition finished with a video on the latest project to map people's DNA to show how people migrated in the past, as evidenced by their DNA.    The video focussed on about six people, and showed that in some cases they had unusual ancestors.    The chap from Mauritius unsurprising, had a colourful racial background, which reflected the various people who have visited the island or settled there over the centuries; less to be expected was a English/Welsh woman who had American Indian ancestry.

Altogether an interesting exhibition, and well-worth a visit, especial as the entrance price is quite reasonable.