Bodies at the Museum of London

Just as each person differs from the next on the surface, so each skeleton differs from all others, and can reveal not just what a person looked like, but also the conditions in which they lived. A new exhibition at the Museum of London, ‘London Bodies: the Changing Shape of Londoners from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day’ draws on research based on over 6,000 skeletons in the Museum’s care.

Such a large number – with many dating from the Roman, medieval and Georgian periods – has enabled fascinating conclusions to be made about how Londoners have changed over the centuries; whether they were well fed, what diseases they suffered from and how sections of society differed.

The exhibition uses modern methods of analysis and the latest technology to recreate the faces and bodies of our ancestors. Examples are shown together with images, objects, clothing and artefacts to build up a picture of Londoners from the Neolithic period to the present.