What is archaeology alongside a film crew like? Matthew Symonds found out. There is something different about a Time Team dig. Excavations normally have an air of calm, with people quietly troweling, sectioning features or wrestling with drawing frames. The hustle and bustle comes at tea time, when diggers compete for the best biscuits and… [Continue Reading]
Reconstructing the Hallaton Helmet
A Roman imperial jigsaw puzzle The discovery of fragmentary remains of several Roman helmets at Hallaton, Leicestershire, set conservators quite a challenge. Now, over a decade later their work is complete. Helen Sharp and Simon James reveal what has been learnt. It is 11 years since a mass of corroded iron was found in a… [Continue Reading]
The Hackney Hoard
One summer’s day in 2007 several companions set about an ambitious piece of landscaping in the back garden of their residence in Hackney, Greater London. As their shovels pierced the turf they were likely to have been thinking of the heavy work before them when a chance discovery brought them to a halt; for from… [Continue Reading]
Digging Jacob's Island
February 7, 2012 By Filed Under: News
A new chapter for Oliver Twist February 7th marks the 200th anniversary of novelist Charles Dickens’ birth. But how might archaeology offer a new chapter to his blockbusting London slum story, Oliver Twist? David Saxby, of Museum of London Archaeology, explains all. Few writers conjure up images of Victorian London more readily than Charles Dickens,… [Continue Reading]
CA 264
February is the bicentenary of Dickens’ birth. Revered for his vivid descriptions of Victorian London, he is also applauded for drawing attention to the plight of the poorest in society. One of the slums he visited was Jacob’sIsland, which became the backdrop to the thrilling dénouement of Oliver Twist. Yet while the level of… [Continue Reading]
