site, 202 Photos

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Burial (2120) Context (2104) Context (2034) Burial (2106) Ruth & Will sampling deposit (2137) Tomas & Anies at work on their chalk-lined burial The Prescot Street site looking East East end of Zone 4 East along Prescot Street towards the BT Radianz building The construction is well under way in what was our Zone 1 Tiny machines and giant props The North West corner of the old Zone 1 - it's VERY deep! Across Zone 4 facing West Zone 4, looking South West Looking directly West across site Planning Zone 4 Across Zone 4 looking North East Context (2044) Context (1930) Context [1953] Context [1555] - a mysterious brick-lined feature Context (1308) Context [1973] Taking samples Context (2000) Context [1444] Urn in [2008] Context [2013] - a pit Zone 4 facing North Context (2000) another mysterious feature Context (2029) - a truncated inhumation Context [2008] Across the construction site looking North West View across site looking North West Gherkin, piling rig and archaeologist. The far North East end of site Zone 4, facing Prescot Street Zone 4 Far East end of site Far East end of site in Zone 4 of the excavation Gary's goat Context (1930) A Georgian wishing well (1920) Post-medieval drainage feature in Zone 4 Across site looking north west North East corner of Zone 4 South east end of site in Zone 4 Working shot looking east across Zone 3 Adrian and context [1275] Anies digs, whilst Gary and Ashley supervise Will & Ruth Site shot facing south east Liz, Ruth and Will Gary & Anies are enjoying excavating their soak-away Adrian working on [1275] Adrian working on [1275] Adrian working on [1275] Horn-core ready for delivery to the Museum of London for analysis Even more horn-cores. I had just told Gary that Chaz wanted him to dig another soak-away... Site looking east Working shot looking east, with much machine watching The samples, ready for Campion in Cambridge. Guy, Site Director and Head of Ops David undertaking GIS business I'm checking on Gary's findsmanship. Being the findsman is serious business Putting the finishing touches to the small finds register PSHQ The last area of Zone 2 looking east Foundations of one of the houses that stood at South Tenter Street Anies under the bluest of skies [1268] a bit of wall Looking south across Zone 2 [1250] base of a soak-away [1265] Roman pit [1258] Domed brick lined soak-away Working shot looking south east across site Site looking east along southern limit of excavation [1252] Yet another soak-away Across Zone 2 looking south Adrian Fergal and Liz working on a soak-away Ruth working on her horncore-lined soakaway (1098) 18th century horncore-lined soakaway (1098) 18th century horncore-lined soakaway (1098) looking west Liz and site facing west across what was Zone 1 The latest horn core pit Ruth recording the latest horn core pit Ashley Working shot Liz Liz excavating a cremation burial Site looking north north east Gary trying to catch up on his paperwork...about time too Anies trying to work out an edge David pauses..reflects. Liz sampling an unurned cremation Greg taking a 1 metre box sample through cultivation soil Ruth working on another horn core pit Site shot looking east across Zone 2 Soak-away face Fergal's soakaway (1095) Ruth recording a scatter of cremated bone Fergal & Iancu pausing to ponder the meaning of it all... A sample bucket full of sampled goodness Sample 36 ready for delivery to L - P : Environmental A sample bucket (1032) Łukasz's current project Gary excavating another skeleton (1039) Cremation? Skeleton (1032) Ancillary vessel within cremation burial, probably an offering of some kind Ancillary vessel within cremation burial, probably an offering of some kind Site shot looking south west Lukasz planning Reducing the ground level in Zone 2, looking west Looking north across Zone 2; Tom in a soak-away, Lukasz clearing modern drains View north; David digging a Roman linear feature Anies carefully supervising Fergal's shovelling techniques Paula digging a post-medieval brick-lined pit Evaluation trench 2 from 2006 - view north View north - post holes - possible Roman graves and evaluation trench View west - see the lovely site hut... Working shot across site Ashley removing backfill from 2006 evaluation trench 2 Zone 2 looking North West Zone 2 looking North Zone 2 looking North East Zone 2 North Zone 2 South Zone 2 looking East Zone 1 being backfilled Zone 2 looking North IMG_3578.JPG IMG_3578.JPG Eurovision dance routine in practise Working shot of Zone 2 and Andy looking pensive Gary and Liz share an interesting conversation about Post Medieval finds Liz in a small pit Greg finding an exciting 3rd century coin Chaz goes down into Zone 2 A big shiny digger Gary taking a short break after a spot of heavy shovel action Lucasz cleaning the basement wall in Zone 2 Andy and Fergal discuss big surveying fun Jon cleaning a wall in Zone 2 Gary explains the correct method of mattocking Lukasz digging Post-Medieval basement wall Working shot of Zone 2 looking south west Basement walls of street front on Prescot Street - south of Zone 2 Work starting in Zone 2 Lucasz cleaning up Site looking east Zone 1 completed South end of site CIMG2913.JPG Some analyse finds from excavations Some work for the police or army as forensic archaeologists Some work in education and outreach Some archaeologists work in museums Some manage archaeological sites Some work as researchers and lecturers Some work for the local council or national agencies such as English Heritage Some specialise in underwater archaeology Some are field archaeologists like Greg. Brick Lined Soakaway 08042008683 Half Moon Passage / Alie Street Half Moon Passage / Alie Street Rear of Half Moon Passage Aerial View Three Eras Horn Cores Horn Cores Horn Core Three Features Horn Core Pit Well and Drain Machine Work Horn Core Pit The Diggers Still Life with Shovels Trench 3 Trench 3 Trench 2 Basement Trench 1 Roman burials from 2006 evaluation Last remaining building on site - now demolished Last building Prescot Street Site Hut Medieval leather shoe sole and vamp Leather shoe Diggers at work CIMG0425.JPG

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.