diff --git a/src/client.js b/src/client.js
index 82c6df904..1907cceaa 100644
--- a/src/client.js
+++ b/src/client.js
@@ -2014,7 +2014,7 @@ MatrixClient.prototype.scrollback = function(room, limit, callback) {
         const matrixEvents = utils.map(res.chunk, _PojoToMatrixEventMapper(self));
         if (res.state) {
             const stateEvents = utils.map(res.state, _PojoToMatrixEventMapper(self));
-            room.currentState.prependStateEvents(stateEvents);
+            room.currentState.setUnknownStateEvents(stateEvents);
         }
         room.addEventsToTimeline(matrixEvents, true, room.getLiveTimeline());
         room.oldState.paginationToken = res.end;
diff --git a/src/models/room-state.js b/src/models/room-state.js
index cbabacc1c..fb049daa9 100644
--- a/src/models/room-state.js
+++ b/src/models/room-state.js
@@ -263,14 +263,13 @@ RoomState.prototype.clone = function() {
 };
 
 /**
- * Add previously unknown state events just before
- * prepending events to the timeline.
+ * Add previously unknown state events.
  * When lazy loading members while back-paginating,
  * the relevant room state for the timeline chunk at the end
  * of the chunk can be set with this method.
  * @param {MatrixEvent[]} events state events to prepend
  */
-RoomState.prototype.prependStateEvents = function(events) {
+RoomState.prototype.setUnknownStateEvents = function(events) {
     const unknownStateEvents = events.filter((event) => {
         return this.events[event.getType()] === undefined ||
             this.events[event.getType()][event.getStateKey()] === undefined;