CROSSRAIL experts have revealed that there was already a transport “network” operating in London back in the Bronze Age, some 3,500 years ago.

The east-to-west London train route is due to open in 2018, but archaeologists working on Crossrail building sites in Plumstead have discovered compelling evidence that Bronze Age Londoners got there first, during a time in which mammoths on the line would have been a more believable excuse for delays than cows.

“This area was probably criss-crossed by a network of pathways,” said Jay Carver, one of the Crossrail archaeologists.

“Our archaeologists uncovered several wooden stakes and at least two that appear to have cut marks from a metal axe.

“Although we haven’t identified an actual trackway yet, the timbers are similar to those used to make the trackways and certainly show that people were in the area exploiting the woodland.”

Many of the finds, including a mammoth jaw bone, made by the Crossrail archaeology team are now on display at the Crossrail Visitor Information Centre near Centrepoint.