London Archaeology Research Articles

Centring Audiences: What Is the Value of Audience Mapping for Influencing Public Engagement with Cultural Heritage?

ABSTRACT Inherent biases, barriers to participation and other risks of exclusion thwart the UK cultural heritage sector’s capacity to benefit all citizens equally. However, growing evidence bases – from local audits to regional insight reports to national censuses – ostensibly make it possible to identify these biases and risks in increasingly fine-grained ways, and from there to design programmes to engage individuals who might not otherwise participate in the historic environment. In this paper, we assess the efficacy of ‘audience mapping’ for supporting the inclusion of specific, underrepresented audiences in UK cultural heritage. The audience mapping methodology we applied in the Towards a National Collection project Unpath’d Waters (UNPATH) offers a case study. Sixty datasets (including audience interviews, web analytics, observations, etc.) from 18 organisations catering to maritime heritage were compared to support the project in reaching three audiences: visually impaired people, cross-disciplinary researchers and non-coastal communities. We review our method and its outcomes, then position our learnings against other audience mappings conducted by the Museum of London Archaeology for commercial clients. Like all audience methodologies, mapping has problematic dimensions that can heighten rather than halt inequities. We consider how to adapt approaches (e.g. to surveying, consulting and ‘profiling’ people) to sensitively respond.

Digging Up Jericho: Past, Present and Future

Digging Up Jericho: Past, Present and Future

Lyn Blackmore, Ian Blair, Sue Hirst, and Christopher Scull,The Prittlewell Princely Burial: Excavations at Priory Crescent, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, 2003. London: Museum of London Archaeology, 2019. Pp. xxix, 514; many color and black-and-white figures and many tables. £35. ISBN: 978-1-9075-8650-7.

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsLyn Blackmore, Ian Blair, Sue Hirst, and Christopher Scull,The Prittlewell Princely Burial: Excavations at Priory Crescent, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, 2003. London: Museum of London Archaeology, 2019. Pp. xxix, 514; many color and black-and-white figures and many tables. £35. ISBN: 978-1-9075-8650-7.Janet KayJanet KayPrinceton University Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Speculum Volume 96, Number 2April 2021 The journal of the Medieval Academy of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/713411 Views: 79Total views on this site Copyright 2021 by the Medieval Academy of America. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The Medieval Priory and Hospital of St Mary Spital and the Bishopsgate Suburb: excavations at Spitalfields Market, London E1, 1991–2007. By Chris Harward, Nick Holder, Christopher Phillpotts and Christopher Thomas. 297mm. Pp xx + 315, 245 col and b&w figs, 41 tabs, CD-ROM. Museum of London Archaeology Monograph 59, London, 2019. isbn 9781907586484. £32 (hbk).

The Medieval Priory and Hospital of St Mary Spital and the Bishopsgate Suburb: excavations at Spitalfields Market, London E1, 1991–2007. By Chris Harward, Nick Holder, Christopher Phillpotts and Christopher Thomas. 297mm. Pp xx + 315, 245 col and b&amp;w figs, 41 tabs, CD-ROM. Museum of London Archaeology Monograph 59, London, 2019. <scp>isbn</scp> 9781907586484. £32 (hbk).

Public Benefit: the challenge for development-led archaeology in the UK

The challenge of providing public benefit from development control archaeology has been a concern across Europe after both the Valletta and Faro conventions encouraged the view that the public must be the key beneficiaries of archaeological work, and since then the theoretical concept of public benefit has become well recognised across our profession. However, it seems to me that the archaeological sector does not yet provide this in a meaningful way or know how to maximise the public benefit potential of our work; indeed, this is acknowledged at the highest levels (e.g. British Academy 2017, 33). The EAC established their Working Group on 'Making the Case' to investigate examples of best practice and provide a practical toolkit for the better articulation of public benefit arising from development-led archaeology (EAC 2019). In the UK the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists has published a briefing document that outlines the potential for public benefit offered by archaeology (CIfA 2020). This dovetails well with a new research project, funded by United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) and hosted at Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), intended to ensure that public benefit is at the heart of decision-making throughout the development control sector in the UK (MOLA 2019). This article provides an introduction to the rationale behind this project and outlines how the project ambitions could be achieved through a careful navigation through the complex structures of development programmes' procurement and management.

Creation of Functional Replica Roman and Late Antique Musical Instruments through 3D Scanning and Printing Technology, and their use in research and museum education

Replica artefacts are a well-established feature of Roman archaeology, particularly as used in experimental archaeology, by re-enactors, and in museum education. 3D scanning offers a new methodology for the accurate production of such artefacts, which can then be used both in scholarly research and in public engagement activities. This article describes methodologies for 3D scanning and 3D printing, together with appropriate craft techniques, in the creation of replica musical instruments from the collection of UCL's Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London. While there were some challenges in replica creation, discussed in further detail, 'functional replicas' were successfully made, that, we argue, replicate sufficiently accurately those features of the objects under investigation from a research perspective. These were the decibel levels (sound power levels), and, for some objects, frequency (pitch) ranges produced, and the variety of sounds that they could produce. This evidence makes an important contribution to our understanding of the contexts of use of the original instruments. Sound recordings virtually modelled in a likely use location, the courtyard of a typical house from Roman-period Egypt, were also produced and assist in our conceptualisation of the wider acoustic environment. Sound recordings and replicas were additionally used for public engagement purposes in a temporary exhibition at the Petrie Museum, and their contribution to museum education is assessed. 3D scanning and printing technology are demonstrated to be valuable techniques for the production of accurate replicas, which can be used successfully to contribute to scholarly research and museum education in new ways. Appendices include .stl files that may be downloaded and 3D printed, to make copies of the replicas for use in new research and education projects.

Archaeological oral health: a comparison of post-medieval and modern-day dental caries exposure of adults in East London.

Modern levels of dental decay worldwide are on the rise. This study aimed to calculate historical rates of decay and compare them with recent figures. To compare the rate of dental decay in East Londoners from a post-medieval burial ground and a published modern sample, a database of human remains held at the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) was interrogated. The resulting numbers of decayed and missing teeth were analysed and compared to the East London Oral Health Inequality study initially undertaken in 2010. A lower decayed/missing/filled teeth (DMFT) score was seen in the post-medieval burials.

Outside Roman London: Roadside Burials by the Walbrook Stream. By S. Ranieri and A. Telfer, with D. Walker and V. Yendell. Crossrail Archaeology Series 9. Museum of London Archaeology, London, 2017. Pp. xix + 228, illus. Price: £10.00.isbn 9781907586446.

Outside Roman London: Roadside Burials by the Walbrook Stream. By S. Ranieri and A. Telfer, with D. Walker and V. Yendell. Crossrail Archaeology Series 9. Museum of London Archaeology, London, 2017. Pp. xix + 228, illus. Price: £10.00.isbn 9781907586446.

Exploring Archaeological Organizations’ Communication on Facebook: A Review of MOLA's Facebook Page

OVERVIEWMOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) is one of the leading archaeological companies in the UK. It provides professional archaeological services and implements award-winning community engagement programs with a high-profile online presence. Its Facebook page is an important communication channel, serving the organization in raising public awareness, reaching the widest audiences, and engaging with the community. MOLA has developed a strategic approach to its archaeological communication on Facebook by ensuring regular updates of its research and by providing rich archaeological content aligned with media campaigns of the most notable archaeological excavations. This strategy helps the organization build a steady and engaged community of interest. The use of social networks for public engagement, the possibilities of rapid dissemination, and the challenges of ensuring sustainable online participation via social networks resonate with major concerns discussed by different researchers in the field. This review explores MOLA's Facebook page, seeking to showcase how the archaeological organization communicates through Facebook on a day-to-day basis and to reveal how Facebook users react to different kinds of archaeological content through measurable metrics.

Policy and Practice of London’s Historic Environment

ABSTRACT An original approach to understanding London – one of the world’s most prominent global cities – and its constant reform and modernisation of governance, planning and the historic environment through the first broad collection of social history. The past 40 to 50 years have seen successive governments attempt to resolve issues of governance, institutional structures and planning. The city, both in government and its institutions, is in a continuous state of flux – like many other global cities – and struggles with shifting boundaries of power as it attempts to strategically govern a range of social, economic, political and environmental challenges. The following paper evidences significant events that have influenced the shaping of planning and archaeology in London, and the organisations and legislation relevant to the practice of London archaeology in a unique way, enriching the basic skeletal history of legal frameworks and changing institutions with historical narratives offered by London archaeologists from a series of 55 in-depth interviews conducted between 2012 and 2013.

Cross Bones Graveyard: Excavating the Prostitute in Neo-Victorian Popular Culture

Cross Bones graveyard, an unconsecrated burial site in Southwark, London, was rediscovered in 1989 when Transport for London sought to extend the Jubilee Line, part of the Underground railway network. Subsequent archaeological investigations estimated that about 15,000 bodies were interred at the site, which covers only about 2000 square yards. From its late medieval origins until 1853, when it closed due to its being ‘overcharged with dead’, Cross Bones was synonymous with poverty and disease.1 Historically, Southwark was also the home to the licentious, the criminal, and those escaping justice, and has a unique legacy and history which informs how Cross Bones has been received and interpreted. Under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester, medieval Southwark was outside the conventional law of the King and the City, and as such, entertainments such as bear-baiting, playhouses (including Shakespeare’s Globe), and prostitution became commonplace, and effectively licensed by the church.2 By the Victorian period, Southwark was marked by low-standard housing: ‘each house is occupied by several families – indeed, the houses are crammed full of the poorest and most wretched of our inhabitants. The houses being so old, and built of wood, are literally alive with vermin’.3 Museum of London Archaeology’s excavation of the graveyard bears witness to these conditions: the pauper coffins and the fact that bodies were stacked nine or ten deep, point to the poverty of the people who lived nearby. Cross Bones is also frequently identified as a prostitute’s or ‘single woman’s’ burial ground, licensed as such by the Bishop of Winchester, but where such women were denied formal religious rites in death.

Reconfiguring Ruins: Beyond Ruinenlust

What explains the global proliferation of interest in ruins? Can ruins be understood beyond their common framing as products of European Romanticism? Might a transdisciplinary approach allow us to see ruins differently? These questions underpinned the Arts and Humanities Research Council–funded project Reconfiguring Ruins, which deployed approaches from history, literature, East Asian studies, and geography to reflect on how ruins from different historical contexts are understood by reference to different theoretical frameworks. In recognition of the value of learning from other models of knowledge production, the project also involved a successful collaboration with the Museum of London Archaeology and the artist-led community The NewBridge Project in Newcastle. By bringing these varied sets of knowledges to bear on the project’s excavations of specific sites in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan, the article argues for an understanding of ruins as thresholds, with ruin sites providing unique insights into the relationship between lived pasts, presents, and futures. It does so by developing three key themes that reflect on the process of working collaboratively across the arts, humanities, and social sciences, including professional archaeology: inter- and transdisciplinarity, the limits of cocreation, and traveling meanings and praxis. Meanings of specific ruins are constructed out of specific languages and cultural resonances and read though different disciplines, but can also be reconfigured through concepts and practices that travel beyond disciplinary, cultural, and linguistic borders. As we show here, the ruin is, and should be, a relational concept that moves beyond the romantic notion of Ruinenlust.

Conservation and Discovery: Peterborough Cathedral nave ceiling and related structures. Edited by Jackie Hall and Susan Wright. 310mm. Pp xvi + 193, 202 ills (chiefly col). Museum of London Archaeology, London, 2015. isbn 9781907586392. £25 (hbk).

Conservation and Discovery: Peterborough Cathedral nave ceiling and related structures. Edited by Jackie Hall and Susan Wright. 310mm. Pp xvi + 193, 202 ills (chiefly col). Museum of London Archaeology, London, 2015. <scp>isbn</scp> 9781907586392. £25 (hbk).

Grave Emotions: Textiles and Clothing from Nineteenth-Century London Cemeteries

What is the last thing someone ever wears, who decides, and what emotions do those garments embody? Excavations by Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) of two 1840s Non-Conformist and Baptist cemetery sites answer some of these questions for poorer mid-nineteenth century Londoners. The decayed textiles emerging from these graves are a new and emotionally rich source for exploring the distance of the recent past. The unexplained, chance-found scraps of clothing and shrouds read in their own context reveal unique information, breaking archival silence about burial rituals and death-related consumption practices in lower social levels than the middle classes. The choice of interred textiles and garments—such as a satin baby’s bonnet, pinned silk ribbons and a false waistcoat—their qualities and construction all bespeak emotions around pride, dignity, religious feeling, tenderness, and socially codified grief. Clothing fragments become a substitute fleshliness as the bodily tissue they cover wears away, the last traces of the invested, materialized emotions surrounding death. The article also moves between the technical and the interpretive to consider the emotions and affects these intimate, poignant and sometimes gruesome objects evoke in the researcher during analysis. How, or should, these feelings be considered as part of research after stripping my own emotional responses for the supposed objectivity required of an archaeological report?

Julia Skelly. Addiction and British Visual Culture, 1751–1919: Wasted Looks. Farnham: Ashgate, 2014.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewJulia Skelly. Addiction and British Visual Culture, 1751–1919: Wasted Looks. Farnham: Ashgate, 2014.Magnus CoppsMagnus CoppsMuseum of London Archaeology Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs Volume 302016 A journal of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/SHAD30010144 Views: 34Total views on this site © 2016 by The Alcohol and Drugs History Society. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The International Centre for Chinese Heritage and Archaeology (ICCHA): After a Decade of Success

The International Centre for Chinese Heritage and Archaeology (ICCHA) is a centre formed jointly by the UCL Institute of Archaeology and the Peking University School of Archaeology and Museology, and launched in Beijing on 15th December 2003. It was very much an initiative promoted by the then Institute director Peter Ucko, who continued to run the ICCHA after his retirement from UCL, until 2007. Since its beginnings the ICCHA has fostered links between the UK’s largest archaeology department and the oldest and most prestigious university department of archaeology in China. It aims to enhance communication both ways, about Chinese archaeology and heritage issues for a UK audience, and about world archaeology and archaeological method and theory in the West for the Chinese archaeological community. The ICCHA fosters important joint research, organises significant international academic conferences, promotes interest in Chinese archaeology and heritage in London through its regular seminar series ‘China Night’ at the Institute of Archaeology, and facilitates scholarly exchanges, at the level of research students, postdoctoral researchers, and academic staff. For further information see www.ucl.ac.uk/iccha.

Effects of Long Term Corseting on the Female Skeleton: A Preliminary Morphological Examination

This 2012/2013 study looks at corset dimensions and skeletal rib deformation in female remains from three time periods and two locations to understand certain aspects of longevity. All artifacts and skeletal remains originate from the Early Modern, Victorian, and Edwardian periods. The corsets are held in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and range in date from 1750-1908. The data on the skeletal remains are the result of the author’s examination of collections held in the Musée de l’Homme in Paris, France, and the Centre for Human Bioarchaeology at the Museum of London Archaeology (MoL) in London, England. An anachronistic view of corseted women posits that they lived short and painful lives. I examine these skeletal remains with an eye toward establishing that rich or poor, young or old, corseted women lived comparatively long lives, and that the corset was not, in itself, a death sentence. My findings indicate that although women experienced skeletal deformation because of corseting, they also lived longer than the average age for their times.

Roman and Medieval Development South of Cheapside. Excavations at Bow Bells House, City of London, 2005–6. By I. Howell with L. Blackmore, C. Philpotts and A. Thorp. MOLA Archaeology Study Series 26. Museum of London Archaeology, London, 2013. Pp. xiii + 114, illus. Price: £15.00. isbn978 1 907586 17 0. - Roman Roadside Settlement and Rural Landscape at Brentford. Archaeological

Roman and Medieval Development South of Cheapside. Excavations at Bow Bells House, City of London, 2005–6. By I. Howell with L. Blackmore, C. Philpotts and A. Thorp. MOLA Archaeology Study Series 26. Museum of London Archaeology, London, 2013. Pp. xiii + 114, illus. Price: £15.00. isbn978 1 907586 17 0. - Roman Roadside Settlement and Rural Landscape at Brentford. Archaeological Investigations at Hilton London Syon Park Hotel, 2004–10. By R. Cowie, A. Thorp and A. Wardle. MOLA Archaeology Studies Series 29. Museum of London Archaeology, London, 2013. Pp. xiv + 114, illus. Price: £15.00. isbn978 1 907586 19 4. - Romano-British Round Houses to Medieval Parish. Excavations at 10 Gresham Street, City of London, 1999–2002. By L. Casson, J Drummond-Murray and A. Francis. MOLA Monograph 67. Museum of London Archaeology, London, 2014. Pp. xviii + 220, illus., CD-ROM. Price: £25.00. isbn978 1 907586 22 4. - Roman Burials in Southwark: Excavations at 52–56 Lant Street and 56 Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1. By V. Ridgeway, K. Leary and B. Sudds. PCA Monograph 17. Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd, London, 2013. Pp. xiv + 143, illus. Price: £15.00. isbn978 0 9926672 0 7. - Volume 46

Mid 17th- and 19th-century English wine bottles with seals in London’s archaeological collections

This article details work which has, for the first time, delivered a comprehensive catalogue of 17th- and 19th-century dated English glass bottles with applied seals derived from archaeological excavations in London by MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) and its predecessors. This text introduces the cataloguing methodology employed, reviews the historiography of bottle seal studies and summarizes the survey results. We consider, among other issues, the context and parallels behind individual seal designs, their chronologies, geographies of their movement and spaces of use in early Modern London.

Evidence of skeletal treponematosis from the medieval burial ground of St. Mary Spital, London, and implications for the origins of the disease in Europe.

Treponematosis is a syndrome of chronic infectious diseases. There has been much debate on its origins and spread, particularly with regard to venereal syphilis, an unsightly and debilitating disease in preantibiotic populations. The osteological analysis of 5,387 individuals excavated by Museum of London Archaeology from the medieval burial ground of St. Mary Spital in London (dated c 1120-1539) provided an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the nature and prevalence of disease over a period of time. Twenty-five individuals were found with suspected treponematosis, originating from all but the earliest period of the burial ground. Descriptions of affected individuals from each period, together with supporting images, are provided. In this work, particular emphasis was given to the distribution of lesions on the skeleton and the variation in patterns by sex and over time. Little change was observed in the distribution of bony change between individuals dated to pre- and post-Columbian periods. However, a dramatic rise in the prevalence of the disease in the final period (c 1400-1539) may reflect documentary reports of a European epidemic from the late 15th century.