A man found a human bone older than both Stonehenge and Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza while out rowing on the River Thames in London. Graphic designer Simon Hunt saw the human femur, or upper leg bone, lying on the pebbles and rocks of the riverbed one morning.
When he first saw it, Simon couldn’t tell how old it was, so called the police to report his find.
“It looked very old, but part of me was thinking what if it isn’t?” he told the BBC. “I have no idea what a bone would look like if it had only been in the water for two years, so what if it was something more sinister?”
READ MORE: The London bus driver who broke his leg driving over the gap on Tower Bridge and saved lives of 20 passengers
He picked up the bone and put it in a clear plastic bag to take it home. When he called police, they asked him to show them where he had found the bone so they could investigate. Unfortunately, the tide had come in and the spot was underwater by the time officers arrived.
The police decided to send the bone for lab testing, which took several months. Eventually, investigators called Simon to tell him to come to the police station to collect it.
“They told me it was old, and asked me to guess when it was from. My own frame of reference for old things that are tangible is sort of medieval, but I was way off,” Simon said.
The bone came from the late British Neolithic period between 3516 and 3365 BC, making it older than both Stonehenge and Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza.
An archaeologist estimated the person’s height as 5ft 7in, but they couldn’t tell what the person’s gender was.
“People have said to me they think it’s weird that I found it in London, but we have to remember there was no London then,” Simon said. “I think it must’ve been in mud or something, as it’s so well-preserved, and then it was disturbed and found its way to me in the river.”
Eventually, Simon hopes the bone will go to the Museum of London, but for now its sat in his house “somewhere where the cat can’t have a nibble”.
“I want to be respectful because this was a person,” he said. “This bone was part of someone’s leg, who was walking around here more than 5,000 years ago.”
You usually need a licence from the Port of London Authority to go mudlarking to search for items of value lying on the banks of the Thames, as it is illegal to remove artefacts from the foreshore without one. But Simon was carrying out his civic duty and has not received any complaints, according to the BBC.
Do you have a story you think we should be covering? If so, email seren.hughes@reachplc.com
Want stories like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up to our FREE newsletters here .
Discussion about this post