Britain, Europe and Prehistory
The material story of Britain and Europe from the Ice Age to the medieval period. Stonehenge-era gold, the Sutton Hoo ship burial, the Lewis Chessmen, and the everyday objects that shaped these societies.


The deep backstory of Europe, told in gold, ships, and game pieces.
efore there were nations there were the people who worked this land through the Ice Age, the Bronze Age, and the long centuries after Rome withdrew. What they left is not written history but objects, made with a craft that rivals anything later.
Trace the line from Stonehenge-era goldwork to the Sutton Hoo ship burial, blazing with garnet and gold, to the walrus-ivory Lewis Chessmen with their worried faces. Each rewrites the lazy assumption that the distant European past was a darker, simpler place.






