cemetery, 122 Photos

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Context (1930) The far North East end of site Zone 4, facing Prescot Street Zone 4 Far East end of site Remains of heavily truncated skeleton (1918) Anies defining the cut of tomb foundation (1839) Anies & Tomasz and tomb burial (1839) Across site looking north west North East corner of Zone 4 Pitland in Zone 4 Looking South West across Zone 4 South east end of site in Zone 4 Zone 4 South East (1901) Burial (1890) (1898) Roman quarry pit (1894) Roman quarry pit (1873) Roman quarry pit (1887) Roman quarry pit Roman coffin stain with skeleton (1891) Tomasz in grave cut (1910) Roman grave (1859) Grave cut [1910] - the deepest one on site so far (1863) Roman quarry pit (1909) Oval-shaped Roman quarry pit (1907) The basement of one of the houses on Prescot Street [1910] Grave cut Liz's current project - a skull Anies and some well-placed advertising Adrian, Ashley & Tomasz discuss the basement area in Zone 4 Fergal taking samples from soak-away (1555) Across Zone 4 looking south west Liz cleaning a skull North East corner of Zone 4 [1915] Roman pit Cist Cremation (1805) Double Cremation Opposite view of Double Cremation (1812) GeoPhoto Burial (1812) Rich Cremation (1801) Detail of Cremation (1801) Detail of Cremation 1801 Detail of offerings associated with 1801 Three flagons laid outide wooden container (1801) GeoPhoto Burial 1810 (legs only) Burial (1810) Early stages of (1801) Pit [1873] Cremations 1805 and 1820 with lids on Will and Jon tackle a double cremation Double Cremation Aerial View Aerial View of Zone 3 eastern end East End of the Site The Whole Site Zone 3 Working Shot Zone 3 Working Shot Chalk Burial 1834 GeoPhoto Stone Lined Tomb 1839 Stone Lined Tomb (1839) Digger Bliss (1801) after partial lifting of the grave goods (1801) after partial lifting of the grave goods Looking back over zone 2 Western end of Zone 3 looking north Remnants of the Ring Ditch [1770] Zone 3 border with Zone 4 Fergal and Ruth Double Cremation 1805/1820 looking south (1831) after excavation (1831) GeoPhoto (1831) GeoPhoto (1831) Upturned skull Burial (1831) Wide shallow pit [1829] (1824) GeoPhoto Burial (1824) Liz looking so happy to be lifting the feet of (1812) Detail of Burial (1812) Greg excavating burial 1812 Ruth lifting cremation (1801) Clearing a large pit Cut of Cremation Burial [1856] Cremation 1851 Grave Cut [1835] Cut [1801] of Cremation Burial Tile Cist 1805 After Opening (GeoPhoto) Grave Cut [1832] Shallow Pit [1844] Burial 1813 - Grave Cut Context 1574 - Roman pit Context 1566 - shallow linear cut Context 1561 - large posthole/small pit Context 1570 - Pit Anies, pretty in pink. Context 1581 - Gary's Roman pit Placed stones within a linear feature Working shot north east Roman building materials (?) from context 1455 David protects his hearing Gary and Ionut Adrian digging pit 1469 Looking north Adrian admires Anies' techniques Ruth and Will digging a drainage feature 1406 1406 again If you're not on the list, you're not coming in Will in 1478 - possibly a Roman robbed out wall foundation Liz in a ditch - 1471 & 1473 Fergal cleaning something or other Gary sorting out some levels Gary is working out his line of collimation Never underestimate the comedy value of an auto level Across site looking south west 1406 - drainage feature 1443 gravel surface 1443 gravel surface 1458

The open evenings held on the 15th, 16th and 17th July were a great success, with 95 visitors to the site over the three evenings, which also included a number of residents from the houses on South Tenter Street overlooking the site – some of whom remembered playing on the site when it was a car park in the 1980’s. There was lots of positive feedback from visitors and we think that everyone gained a clear picture of what we are doing here at Prescot Street and why it is so interesting. Huge thanks are due to the wonderful Natalie Cohen, Rob Whytehead and David Bowsher, for their interesting and informative talks, Guy for his expert guided tour, and the Prescot Street staff that stood in for me at late notice and managed the finds handling. As I had been struck down with a kidney infection, I missed two out of the three evenings, so I am going to have organise another open evening in September, in order that I can experience something similar to the National Archaeology Week fun myself. I will confirm final details in August on the Prescot website.

On Saturday 19th July, the Camden Young Archaeologist’s Club came to visit the site and learn about what goes on behind the big white hoardings on a commercial archaeology site. The group enjoyed a site tour by me (obviously not as comprehensive as Guy’s!), handled some of the more exciting finds and especially enjoyed the skulls and found out about stratigraphy – although the big yellow machinery was slightly more distracting for some… Thanks to Sarah Dhanjal and Mike Corbishley for arranging the visit and Johanna and Lowell for helping out. I will post some pictures soon.

Some of the visitors comments from the open evenings are below:

Just wanted to thank you very much for yesterday evening. It was so enlightening and interesting to see archaeology from a professional point of view. I very much enjoyed seeing the site and hope for all the best results from the finds for you and all the team.

Thank you so much for arranging the visit to Prescot Street for us. We all enjoyed it immensely and were very impressed by the GIS system of recording and analysis

I was prepared to be disappointed – but was not at all! Top marks for everything on Prescot Street dig!

Good mix of activities, especially liked seeing archive system (GIS)

Very informative, excellent overview of the East London Roman Cemetery and post-Roman development

Very grateful for a very pleasant, informative and informal event

Having seen some sites in the countryside in Greece and Turkey I was surprised how literally it was a building site.