Imagine stepping back tens of thousands of years, right into prehistoric London. Forget bustling streets and historic landmarks—the whole place looks like a scene straight out of an Ice Age blockbuster. Picture vast, windswept plains stretching as far as the eye can see, fringed by dense forests and crisscrossed by icy rivers. And instead of double-decker buses or black cabs, your view is dominated by giant, shaggy mammoths lumbering through the wild, their massive curved tusks glinting in the pale winter sun. This was London in the Ice Age: a frozen wilderness teeming with creatures that would make today’s London Zoo look like a petting zoo.
A Winter Wonderland… Or Tundra
London back then wasn’t covered by the towering ice sheets of the far north, but it was still cold—bone-chillingly so. This was a landscape that could put Siberia to shame, where temperatures could plunge and stay low for months on end. Think snow, frost, and hardy tundra plants clinging to life in the harsh weather. But rather than bare rock and desolate ice, the area that would become the city of London was a dynamic mix of grasslands, scrappy patches of forest, and meandering rivers, including a young River Thames carving its path across the land.
The Thames wasn’t the steady, urban river we know today. In fact, it would have looked a bit like a rough, braided ribbon winding its way through valleys and melting ice, spreading out into marshlands in places and shrinking to a trickle in others. These waters were essential to the great herds of animals that roamed here, a kind of prehistoric watering hole, attracting all kinds of life. And where there were herds of grazing animals, there were sure to be hunters lying in wait, making the whole scene look like a Stone Age safari.
Enter the Mammoths
The undisputed stars of this Ice Age London were the woolly mammoths. Imagine creatures about the size of a small house, covered in thick, shaggy fur to fend off the freezing temperatures, with spectacular curved tusks that looked like something from a fantasy novel. A full-grown mammoth could weigh up to six tons—more than an average London bus—and yet they were gentle giants, mostly content to roam in herds, graze, and keep the grasslands from getting too wild.
Mammoths didn’t just survive here—they thrived, and they were a crucial part of the ecosystem. Grazing and moving in huge herds, they kept the landscape open and prevented forests from spreading too much, creating grasslands that other animals depended on. And these prehistoric landscapers didn’t work alone. They shared their chilly habitat with other cold-loving creatures, like the woolly rhinoceros (imagine a tank covered in fur) and the giant deer, whose enormous antlers could reach twelve feet across—so wide you’d need to double-check that measurement if you saw it.

Predators in the Ice
Of course, it wasn’t all about grazing in peace and quiet. Ice Age London was a dangerous place. Where you had massive herds of herbivores, you also had predators keen to make the most of such an all-you-can-eat buffet. Cave lions, saber-toothed cats, and packs of hyenas prowled the landscape, stalking the mammoth calves and other unlucky grazers that strayed too far from the herd. For these hunters, the vast, open grasslands of prehistoric London were the perfect hunting ground.
These predators were formidable. Imagine a lion that could rival today’s big cats but adapted to hunt in icy climates, its powerful build perfect for taking down larger prey. And the saber-toothed cats? Those infamous long, sharp teeth weren’t just for show; they were weapons honed by evolution for a very particular style of hunting, designed to deliver a quick, powerful bite to soft flesh. If you found yourself alone on these tundra plains, it wouldn’t be the freezing temperatures that worried you the most.
Humans in the Mix
Now, add a little bit of drama to this prehistoric London setting: early humans. Neanderthals and, later, modern humans arrived, driven by curiosity, necessity, or a desire to test the limits of survival. These early inhabitants didn’t build skyscrapers or set up high streets, but they knew how to work together and get creative with stone tools. Mammoths were a major prize for these Stone Age hunters—imagine the bounty of meat, hides, and bones a mammoth could provide. Hunting one, though, was risky business. It would have taken cooperation, strategy, and a healthy dose of courage to take down one of these massive animals.
These early humans also left traces of their own presence. Archaeologists have found ancient tools, bones with cut marks, and even stone points in the Thames area, giving us glimpses into their lives and encounters with these mammoths. They likely used clever tactics—driving mammoths toward cliffs or using the landscape itself to their advantage. Success meant the difference between life and death, survival through the bitter winters, and food to carry them into the warmer months.
The Climate Shift and Farewell to the Mammoths
For thousands of years, the Ice Age ebbed and flowed, with temperatures rising and falling in cycles. But eventually, a major warming trend signaled the end of this era. Forests began spreading, and the cold-loving mammoths found themselves in a world changing faster than they could adapt. Warmer weather brought dense forests, which replaced the grasslands that had sustained them. With limited food sources and a shrinking habitat, mammoths struggled to survive, retreating further north until they finally disappeared from what would become London.
Human hunting may have hastened their extinction, but it was really the changing climate that sounded the death knell for these giants. By around 4,000 years ago, mammoths had vanished from the mainland, leaving only bones, tusks, and footprints embedded in mud as signs of their passing.
The Legacy Beneath Our Feet
Today, London’s mammoth past is hidden under the layers of a bustling cityscape, but every so often, pieces of that ancient world resurface. Construction crews digging in the London clay have unearthed mammoth bones, tusks, and even remnants of ancient plants from the Ice Age. Each find gives us a chance to connect with a time when the London area was an untamed wilderness, a reminder that beneath the city’s paved streets lies a world of ancient life.
The mammoths may be gone, but their story endures, woven into the layers of London’s earth. They remind us of a time when giants roamed where buildings now stand, when rivers ran wild and untamed, and when a very different kind of London existed, shaped by ice, wild creatures, and the relentless march of time.