The galleries
Each gallery is one case: what happened, where and when, and the evidence it rests on.
Directory
Each gallery opens with its film. The rooms that follow are listed under it: objects to turn, evidence to handle, stills and records.
- Gallery 01 · The Copper AgeWho killed Ötzi?4 rooms: The film, flint and copper, read the X-ray, stills from the reel. On show: Barbed and tanged flint arrowhead; flat copper axe blade.c. 3300 BC · Ötztal AlpsOpen
- Gallery 02 · The Ice AgeWe weren't the only humans4 rooms: The film, bones from the Ice Age, two lineages in one bone, stills from the reel. On show: La Chapelle-aux-Saints 1; LB1, Homo floresiensis; Cro-Magnon 1, Homo sapiens; a sabre-toothed cat's canine.c. 50,000 years ago · Across EurasiaOpen
- Gallery 03 · The ancient worldThe scroll that survived the fire3 rooms: The case notes, the poet and the kings, keep the roll alive. On show: Sophocles; Ptolemy II Philadelphos; Alexander the Great as Helios; Ichneutae (The Trackers).48 BC · AlexandriaOpen · Film in production
- Gallery 04 · The CretaceousThe dinosaur at the bottom of the sea3 rooms: The film, a shell from the same seas, stills from the reel. On show: An ammonite from the nodosaur's age.110 million years ago · Alberta, CanadaOpen
- Gallery 05 · 1st century BCThe lump that was a computer2 rooms: The film, stills from the reel.1st century BC · Antikythera, GreeceOpen
- Gallery 06The warship that sank in the harbourClosed ·
- Gallery 07The king under the car parkClosed ·
- Gallery 08The girl who crossed EuropeClosed ·
- Gallery 09Frozen mid-fightClosed ·
Gallery 01 · c. 3300 BC · Ötztal Alps · Archaeology
Who killed Ötzi?
In 1991, two hikers found a body in the Alpine ice. It was more than five thousand years old, and in 2001 an X-ray showed how the man died.
Reel · 60 s · 3D reconstruction
Enter the galleryGallery 02 · c. 50,000 years ago · Across Eurasia · Human origins
We weren't the only humans
In the Ice Age, Homo sapiens shared the world with at least four other human lineages.
Reel · 64 s · Illustration
Enter the galleryGallery 03 · 48 BC · Alexandria · Ancient world
The scroll that survived the fire
Legend says Caesar's fire destroyed the Library of Alexandria. We follow a representative scroll, one like those the flames spared, and the case that slow neglect did what the fire couldn't.
In production
Read the case (film in production)Gallery 04 · 110 million years ago · Alberta, Canada · Palaeontology
The dinosaur at the bottom of the sea
In 2011, a digger in a Canadian mine hit an armoured dinosaur in rock that had been seafloor. It was a land animal, and its last meal was still inside it.
Reel · 60 s · 3D reconstruction
Enter the galleryGallery 05 · 1st century BC · Antikythera, Greece · Archaeology
The lump that was a computer
In 1900, sponge divers sheltering from a storm off a Greek island found a wreck full of statues. Beside them lay a lump of bronze with gears inside.
Reel · 55 s · 3D reconstruction
Enter the gallery
Opening soon
The next galleries are still closed. Each opens with its film.
Gallery 06
The warship that sank in the harbour
Gallery 07
The king under the car park
Gallery 08
The girl who crossed Europe
Gallery 09
Frozen mid-fight
