Change is afoot at the Museum of London, which today (22 June 2012) reopened its Roman gallery following the first major update to this section since it opened in 1994.
Curtain up on Shakespeare’s lost theatre
June 6, 2012 By Filed Under: News
Museum of London archaeologists have uncovered the playhouse which staged the first performance of Romeo and Juliet before Shakespeare’s company moved to the Globe.
CA 268
June 1, 2012 By Filed Under: Issues
Orkney has been called the Egypt of the north. Studded with spectacular prehistoric monuments, the ancient landscape remains a powerful presence. Yet excavations continue to surprise. The island of Wyre was thought to be devoid of prehistoric activity until recent fieldwalking harvested a wealth of Neolithic finds. Wondering if this could be another Skara Brae, [...]
Furness’ mystery Cistercian
May 31, 2012 By Filed Under: News
Archaeologists have uncovered the grave of an as-yet unidentified Medieval abbot.
Orkney’s first farmers
An entire Neolithic settlement, predating Skara Brae, has been found on the tiny Orkney Island of Wyre.
Digging opportunity at Syon Park
May 24, 2012 By Filed Under: News
This year’s Museum of London community and training excavations will take place at Syon Park in Hounslow, it has been announced. Both investigations will focus on the house of Sir Richard Wynne, a Parliamentarian on whose land the 1641 Battle of Brentford was fought as anti-Royalist forces tried to stop Prince Rupert’s troops reaching London. [...]
Wellington Arch reopens
May 9, 2012 By Filed Under: News
Wellington Arch, the famous landmark on Hyde Park Corner, re-opened to the public today (9 May) after a major renovation project to transform it into London’s newest exhibition space.
CA 267
May 2, 2012 By Filed Under: Issues
The traditional image of a Medieval leper is a familiar one. Tainted by spiritual pollution, they were outcasts shunned by society. Yet excavations on the site of St Mary Magdalen leper hospital in Winchester are revealing a different picture. Here the afflicted were cared for in substantial structures, before being laid to rest in a [...]
Treating leprosy
May 2, 2012 By Filed Under: Features
Were lepers reviled as ‘unclean’ outcasts of the Middle Ages? Recent excavations cast doubt on this enduring belief
Pub Dig 4: Cavaliers and Cock Ale
April 27, 2012 By Filed Under: Reviews
After four weeks of fun, frivolity and fascinating finds, the first series of Pub Dig series has come to an end. Their final foray took us to Banbury, today an attractive market town - but during the English Civil War this Parliamentarian stronghold was the site of some of the bloodiest fighting of the whole conflict, [...]
Cutty Sark relaunched
April 26, 2012 By Filed Under: News
After a devastating fire in 2007, the Cutty Sark has risen from the ashes and today (April 26) re-opened to the public for the first time in 6 years. Officially opened by the Queen yesterday, the world’s last-remaining tea-clipper has undergone a £50million restoration project supported by a £25million grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund. [...]
Time Team: secrets of the Saxon gold
The discovery of the Staffordshire hoard (see CA 236) in July 2009 was one of the most exciting archaeological finds of the last decade. Since then, a dizzying array of interdisciplinary research has taken place to see what this extraordinary collection of artefacts can add to our understanding of Anglo-Saxon England. In this Time Team special, Tony Robinson guided us through what has been found out so far
Meet the Romans with Mary Beard
In this, the first episode of three, Mary Beard (Cambridge’s Professor of Classics) sets out to find the human stories behind the dazzling spectacle of ancient Rome.
Furness’ finest on display
April 19, 2012 By Filed Under: News
Two rare archaeological treasures – the silver-gilt head of a crosier and a ring set with a white gemstone that may have once belonged to a Medieval abbot -are to go on display at Furness Abbey, Cumbria, over the May bank holiday weekend (Fri 4-Mon 7 May).
Pub Dig 3 – pints and pilgrims
Another week, another micro-dig courtesy of the Pub Dig team, and this time Rory and Paul are at the Six Bells in St Albans, Herts. Built in c.1600, this is the only pub standing within the walls of old Verulamium, once the third biggest city in Roman Britain. Will the team unearth evidence of the site’s Roman past?
Pub Dig 2 – gin and comics
April 16, 2012 By Filed Under: News
The Pub Dig team are back, hunting for ‘evidence of historical naughtiness’ beneath Ye Olde Smugglers Inne in Alfriston, East Sussex.
Art across the ages
April 16, 2012 By Filed Under: News
St John the Baptist’s in Inglesham, Wilts., is a Saxon church that boasts a stunning gallery of artwork spanning seven centuries. Images and text compete for space on its walls, in some places overlapping up to 21 layers thick.
Pub Dig 1 – a barrel of laughs
April 4, 2012 By Filed Under: News
Last night saw the first episode of Pub Dig premiere on Channel 5: an exuberant hunt for Elizabeth I’s lost dockyard – once home to the fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588.
CA 266
April 2, 2012 By Filed Under: Issues
Medieval St Paul’s would have been a striking sight. Its central tower and spire, completed around 1220, rose to a height of over 400 ft, making it the tallest steeple in Europe. But it was not to last. In June 1561 a lightning strike brought down the spire, and just over a century later the [...]
St Paul’s before Wren
April 2, 2012 By Filed Under: News
Resurrecting London’s lost Medieval cathedral: what was St Paul’s cathedral like on the eve of the Great Fire?
