Frontal bone initially believed to be pottery shard to be shown at Museum of London

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The oldest skull ever found on the banks of the River Thames – dating from about 5,600 years ago – will go on display at the Museum of London.

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The fragment of a neolithic skull was mudlarked from the south bank of the river’s foreshore by Martin Bushell last September. The frontal bone, dated to about 3,600BC, is understood by the museum to belong to a male over the age of 18.

The discovery, which Bushell initially believed was just a shard of pottery, was handed in to the Metropolitan police. The force commissioned radiocarbon dating of the bone, which revealed that the man had died about 5,600 years ago.

From Wednesday it will be displayed in the London Before London gallery at the museum, among other artefacts from between 450,000BC and AD50 that were discovered in the Thames.

Dr Rebecca Redfern, the curator of human osteology at the museum, said the finding was incredibly significant because knowledge of the neolithic era was “very, very limited.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The neolithic skull ‘gives us so much insight into this poorly understood time period for London’, says Dr Rebecca Redfern. Photograph: Museum of London

She added: “The Thames is such a rich source of history for us and we are constantly learning from the finds that wash up on the foreshore.”

During the neolithic era, or the later part of the stone age, she said, the area surrounding the Thames was an open woodland landscape and its inhabitants were hunter-gatherers who were very mobile.

Redfern said: “They didn’t really build and didn’t create rubbish. They were perfect for the ecosystem but archaeologically it’s very difficult to find out about them.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Radiocarbon dating revealed that the person died about 5,600 years ago and was a male over the age of 18. Photograph: Museum of London

“It’s someone’s forehead really, but it gives us so much insight into this poorly understood time period for London.”

Discoveries of human remains have to be reported to the police, who must then perform checks to ensure they are not related to recent deaths.

DC Matt Morse said: “Upon reports of a human skull fragment having been found along the Thames foreshore, detectives from south-west CID attended the scene. Not knowing how old this fragment was, a full and thorough investigation took place, including further, detailed searches of the foreshore.”

While Victorian mudlarks picked the foreshore for a living, those who wish to scavenge river mud in search of items of monetary or cultural value nowadays must hold a permit from the Port of London Authority.

Last month, a rare Roman oil lamp found on the river’s foreshore by Alan Suttie, an amateur treasure hunter, also went on display at the Museum of London.

Other ancient objects found in the Thames in previous years include a neolithic polished macehead, a sword dated to the late bronze age and a bust of the Roman emperor Hadrian, dated to his visit to Britain in AD122 – all of which are on display at the British Museum.