The Crossrail Project is building railways through London between Essex and Kent in the east and Acton in the west: the Elizabeth Line. In anticipation of remains at the sites of new stations and ancillary structures, more than 200 archaeologists investigated the route between 2009 and 2016. Now London's Docklands Museum is showing about 500 of the many thousands of finds in ‘Tunnel’. At the same time, the exhibition describes how archaeological research and recording works.

The exhibits run from Early Würm animal bones to Mesolithic debitage, Roman hipposandals and styli, Medieval pilgrim badges, fragments of a Victorian chamber pot from a Medieval moat, and Art Deco sherds of Great Western Railway crockery. Were the latter smashed by Alexander Keiller en route to his research at Avebury? Remembering what funded that work, prehistorians must enjoy the Keiller marmalade jars in the sample of the 13000 pots recovered from the site of Crosse & Blackwell's food factory. There is a lot of human bone on show, including three skeletons. Bones and artefacts were shown from the intriguing remains of a Roman cemetery and mass grave beside the Walbrook (Harward et al. Reference Harward, Powers and Watson2015), a late Medieval cemetery at Charterhouse Square with a pit for victims of the Black Death (1348–49), and the New Churchyard, which included burials from the Great Plague (1665; see figure). The accompanying book (Keily Reference Keily and Allen2017) reproduces much of the text, most of the illustrations and a selection of the exhibits.

‘Tunnel’’s first fortnight, in February, immediately drew more visitors than expected. Many avidly exchanging observations with each other, they found the displays absorbing. Yet, in large part, the finds are left to speak for themselves. How can such simple presentation work?

Curated by the Museum of London, it is very skilful indeed. ‘Tunnel’ is compact. Most of the exhibits are small. An introduction to the engineering establishes a spare but well-focused style of display. There follow nine sections corresponding to sites investigated. Low lighting between dark ceiling and floor suggests the tunnels, but the exhibits are lit clearly in wall cabinets and floor cases. Photographs and illustrations of various sizes provide context for the finds both as historical evidence and as archaeological discoveries. Labels, diagrams and five sizes of printed text allow visitors to set their own pace and level of attention. Magnifying glasses are provided for some of the smallest exhibits. There are a couple of fragments of Samian ware to handle, and samples to sniff that evoke the kind of contents carried in ancient jars. Skulls from the Walbrook site are accompanied by five little panels to lift for answers to questions from ‘Were only skulls found?’ to ‘are they evidence for [. . .] continuation of a pre-Roman [. . .] cult?’ (for anyone missing ‘Tunnel’ or wanting more information, see Harward et al. Reference Harward, Powers and Watson2015). Four sections have video films, ranging from accounts of the research on the ground, in the laboratory or among archives to pictures of giant boring machinery and the wildlife reserve created at the route's western end. Accompanying a length of massive chain from the former shipyard at Canning Town, there is film footage of HMS Albion's disastrous launch in 1898.

Brief texts explain particular aspects of the archaeology. There is a simple explanation of stratigraphy. Mesolithic artefacts and debitage from Woolwich are explained more fully than more familiar finds such as the Roman coins from Liverpool Street. Small movable toys explain a railway depot to children. For helping to understand how buildings by Tottenham Court Road Station were recorded, there is a book of photographs to admire. Little plaques introduce environmental archaeology, geoarchaeology, dendrochronology and ‘What [. . .] archaeologists do’; while, outside the exhibition, a poster illustrating a project archaeologist, geoarchaeologist, surveyor and digger, alongside jobs for engineers, urges younger visitors to ‘become an archaeologist or engineer’.

‘Tunnel’ does not address general issues directly, but it does prompt thought about the biological and economic conditions for urban life. It also shows both how different much of the ground was thousands of years ago and how easy it is to recognise that certain kinds of artefact change little—although, contrary to her own experience of London, one lady did doubt whether a potsherd from a Tudor layer could be German. . . The remark of another, that the exhibition should have done more to engage children, only helps to show how engrossed she was. ‘Tunnel’ is a model of professional outreach and a lesson in open-endedness.

One of the skeletons shown in ‘Tunnel’, below images of its excavation. © Museum of London.

‘Tunnel’ continues at the Docklands Museum until 3 September 2017.