The Museum of the Wood Age

From tools and devices to construction and artistic expression, Max Adams explores wood – the material that shaped human history.

A passionate and imaginative exploration of wood – the material that shaped human history.

Wood – humankind's long-term partner in our evolution from woodland foragers to engineers of our own destiny – has no equal in strength, resilience, adaptability and availability.

The Museum of the Wood Age investigates the influence of basic devices – wedge, inclined plane, screw, lever, wheel, axle and pulley – to reveal the myriad ways in which wood has been worked throughout human history. From the simple bivouacs of hunter-gatherers to sophisticated wooden buildings such as stave churches; from the decorative arts to the humble woodworking of rustic furniture; Max Adams fashions a lattice of interconnected stories and objects that trace a path of human ingenuity across half a million years of history.