We spent some time thinking about the title of the exhibition. Other candidates were ‘Archaeology Now’, ‘Archaeology Today’ and ‘Archaeology in Practice’ but ‘Archaeology in Action’, a suggestion put forward by our colleagues at the Museum of London Archaeology, won by far the popular vote.

Few people outside the museum world would probably realise how much work an exhibition project entails and how many people from different departments need to be involved to make it happen.

My role as the project manager of the exhibition was to coordinate work, ensure the timetable was followed and key deadlines along the way were met, manage the budget, make sure the right people were speaking to each other and decisions were made when needed and keep everyone in the team and the rest of the museum informed of the developments.

The people who worked with me and who I would like to thank for their contribution to this project are (and did I say we were a small team?):

Jon Cotton, the curator, who selected the objects and images for the display, developed the text and film content, assisted the designer and conservator with the case layouts and object installation, liaised with people at the Museum of London Archaeology and other archaeological companies about the recent finds display and had the difficult task of selecting the five key sites that best represent archaeology in London.

Leigh Cain, the 3D designer, who developed the design concept and layout of the exhibition and turned the three straight, plain, dark grey walls of the exhibition space into an imaginative, clean and fresh-looking display.

Jayne Davis, the graphic designer, who developed the graphic elements of the exhibition, the title, the colours and the layout of the text and images on the walls, graphic panels, and object captions.

Jill Barnard, the conservator, who conserved the objects, liaised with the technicians for the object mounts, managed the installation stage of the exhibition and ensured the showcases provide a safe and suitable environment for the objects for the next two years. Kate French, Lisa Psarianos and Luisa Duarte who have also helped with the conservation of objects and the mounts.

Catherine Stevenson, the learning advocate, who ensured the exhibition is suitable for schools and families and helped to develop our ‘What do these finds mean?’ interactive, which we expect will be one of the most popular elements of the exhibition.

Nickos Gogolos, the registrar, who arranged the loan agreements between the museum and our object lenders and made sure we had all the necessary documentation on time for the exhibition’s opening.

Kirsty Marsh, the inclusion officer, who liaised with the Friends of Arnold Circus for the display of the wall-hanging ‘Bagaan’ a great example of community involvement with archaeology.

Cliff Thomas, Richard Tosdevin and Hilmi Nevzat, the technicians, who made the object mounts and prepared the showcases and object plinths, installed the objects and, as always, helped to sort out all sorts of odd and last minute issues with the display.

Richard Stroud, the photographer, who put together the introductory projection and the film about the Theatre excavation.

Andy Murray and John Iaciofano, the electricians, who wired up the exhibition so that film, sound, projections and powerpoint presentations are all possible in the space and who put the final lighting touch that made the objects in the showcases stand out.

Louise Baker, the Visitor Services team leader, who brought in the operational perspective and advised on aspects to do with the way our visitors will use the exhibition space.

Claire Kirk, the events officer, who organised the events programme so that the exhibition space is also used for talks, object handling sessions and demonstrations.

Nicola Kalimeris, Anne McMeekin and John Joyce from Communications who looked after the promotion of the exhibition and Vicky Lee, the marketing manager who together with Jayne Davis produced the exhibition’s advertising poster.

Cathy Ross, Annette Day, David Spence, Frazer Swift and Roy Stevenson, our approvals team, who had the task to approve and sign off countless versions of the exhibition’s text and film.

Steve Cox and Andy McCabe who looked after the security and health and safety aspects of the exhibition.

Thanks also to:

Our colleagues at the Museum of London Archaeology, Taryn Nixon and Jo Lyon for making the Theatre excavation display happen, Tracy Wellman and Carlos Lemos for developing the ‘Slice through time’ graphic that shows a simplified version of London’s archaeological stratigraphy,  Andy Chopping for providing most of the images that feature in the exhibition and Adam Corsini and Glynn Davis from LAARC for sourcing a lot of the material that is on display.

Nathalie Cohen, Lorna Richardson and Anies Hassan from the Thames Discovery Programme for their contribution and the beautiful film about their work with volunteers and the archaeology on the Thames foreshore.

Our contractors, Matt Di Fiore, Peter Sheldrick, Dave Richardson and their teams for the setworks, graphics production and alarms installation respectively.

Watch this page for more entries from Jon Cotton and do keep an eye for updates in our recent finds display in the coming months.

Elpiniki Psalti , Display and Exhibitions Project Manager

Sadly, I was only able to join the dig for 2 hours on Saturday morning, but it was a fun (if very hot and dusty) two hours. I arrived shortly after 9am, an hour before the Camden Young Archaeologists members; and Francis Grew and Kate put me right to work in a back corner of Trench 2. I am the person on the far left of one of the photos in the blog for Day 12 at Burgess Park below, which shows us all working in a neat little square.

There’s nothing quite as fun as revealing what once was a house, even if most of it is a post-bomb site pile of rubble (although I understand that the bomb didn’t actually hit the house outright) and I was very pleased to excavate a section of ceramic pipe, a Bakelite light switch with some wire still attached and a bit of glazed tile, along with a bit of what I thought might be fused glass from the heat of the explosion (but that is an un-educated guess!).  I left the glass in situ with the pipe, although perhaps the enthusiastic young archaeologist after me may have added them to a finds tray later on!

It was really fun to be on the field side of things (in contrast to the field notes side of things that records managers/archivists like me are used to) for a change and big thanks are due to the archaeology team who agreed I could come along.

Sarah Demb, Museum of London

Viewers of ‘Time Team’ and readers of archaeological site reports will be familiar with the recovery of animal bones from a wide range of species, usually dominated by those of domesticated mammals of major economic value for meat, milk, wool or traction. With increased wet-sieving of bulk soil samples, particularly over the past four decades, archaeological recovery of smaller species from all vertebrate groups; fish, amphibians, reptiles, small birds and mammals, continues to expand.

London sites produce particularly diverse assemblages of fish and wild birds and each unfamiliar ‘new’ species presents challenges in identification, indeed some bones are not identifiable to species-level. Museum of London Archaeology holds a useful reference collection used for identification purposes. This concentrates mainly on British fish, birds and mammals and has been built up over the years as a valuable resource in support of MOLA zooarchaeological studies.

Even with access to a reference collection and the increasing availability of reference literature and images, the relatively unfamiliar morphology, fragmentation and often small size, of archaeological fish bones are obstacles to their recovery and identification and this has resulted in their relative neglect by many workers and a reliance on external specialists.

 In an attempt to improve our own internal capability, MOLA Osteology has now established a solid nucleus reference collection of the economically important freshwater (e.g. pike), marine/estuarine (e.g. herring and cod) and migratory (e.g. salmon and eel) species most commonly encountered on London sites.  Researchers interested in studying the fauna of London should contact the LAARC

Welcome to the first post of the weblog that will be covering our work at a most important and exciting site in London’s Shoreditch, that of not just a theatre, but The Theatre, London’s first, purpose built playhouse, The Theatre of James Burbage and, of course, a certain William Shakespeare.

This will be a brief introduction to the site and the people working there.  Over the next few weeks we will be investigating a direct, physical connection with some of the giants of our cultural heritage and we want to show you a little of how archaeology works and to give you insights into what it can tell us about our past.

We will provide you with pictures, plans, videos and will keep you up to date with what we uncover and discover as work progresses.

We will introduce you to some more of the history of this place and the stories of those real people who were a part of that history, and of how the Tower Theatre Company is to revive a tradition of theatre on this site and protect this unique discovery.  It is, perhaps, more than a mere stroke of good fortune that a theatre will once again stand on this spot.

Tower Theatre Company

The Tower Theatre Company has made this work possible by funding the dig as a part of the site development.  You can find more details about them on their website:

http://www.towertheatre.org.uk

You can also find more details of the new and old Theatre at:

http://www.thetheatre.org.uk/index.htm

This site includes pictures, plans, video and details of the fundraising appeal to help pay for this important development.

We’d also like to thank Keltbray, the demolition and civil engineering specialists, who carried out the demolition of the previous building on site and are providing assistance on site over the course of the dig, Sir Robert McAlpine, civil engineers, who are the project management consultants for the project, Hannah Reed Civil and Structural Engineers who are working very closely with us to design the foundations of the new theatre around the remains of the old and the architects Bland, Brown and Cole who have managed to come up with a great outline design for the new theatre, based on the foundations that can be got in around the archaeology!

Dramatis personae

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players:

They have their exits and their entrances….

So, enter then, our humble players (from left to right): Ralph, Charlotte, Heather (in charge on site), Mark and Val.  These are the archaeologists who will be digging the site; they are backed up by a large team at Museum of London Archaeology including photographers, surveyors, finds and environmental specialists and processors and researchers to name but a few, but more of them later.

The story so far…..

Over the last few years we have been building up to this excavation, with geophysical surveys (using technology to “see” into the ground) and with small evaluation trenches.  To see some of the work from last year’s evaluation, follow this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=savcpQFVu8w

and Heather will show what went on.

In the last few weeks the final preparations have been completed: the last of the 19th-century warehouse that stood on the site has been demolished, the modern concrete floor broken up and taken away, the cabins containing the all important kettle are in place, the old evaluation trenches cleared and the digging has begun.

Already, the ground is yielding more of its secrets, 18th and 19th-century buildings, signs of local industries such as glass making, The Theatre and, predating The Theatre, parts of buildings that formed the large Holywell Priory, founded in the 12th-century and once the ninth richest in the country, more of that and the other discoveries in the next few weeks.

Finally, for this post, we leave you with a face:

Does he look familiar?  We’ll explain more in the next post as well as bring you the latest finds, stories from site and the past.

So, the stage is set, the players have their parts, the curtain has risen and more anon!

Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say goodnight, until it is next time……

The last of Oscar’s diary extracts is timed for 29 June, and over the last six months the team in Communications has got to know Oscar very well.

Oscar had a very sweet tooth and included in his diary lists of the treats he had bought that day not only for himself but for members of his family such as his sister Marjorie:

Saturday 22 February 1919 “It is my half day today and I went to Aldgate with Antram and bought a smoked sausage & ¼ of chocolate, a plateful of cockles, two buns, two bars of chocolate”

A veracious reader, Oscar provided an insight into the magazines and books of interest to youngsters at the time, indeed, at times you forgot that Oscar was still only 15 years old as he detailed his working day of early rises and mail deliveries around the docks of the East End, only for his diary to remind you as he writes how at lunchtime he would “stop for a play in the sack shed”.

Between January and June 1919 Oscar welcomed a new baby to the family, and introduced us to his friends and family from ‘Appa and Nana through to the brothers Antram.

As Oscar spent most of his working day outside, he kept meticulous note of the weather, and one of the highlights during this project was welcoming the BBC Weather Show to Museum of London Docklands to film a piece on the diary and indeed the links to all the content from that edition of the show from the Museum – all thanks to Oscar.

Extracts from Oscar’s diary have also been “tweeted” via Oscar’s twitter page @OscarKirk1919 and it is hoped that the success of this serialisation online can be repeated with other diaries from our collection.

The web pages dedicated to Oscar will remain as a resource under “Collections” on the Museum of London Docklands website www.museumoflondon.org.uk/oscarkirk

Fittingly, the last diary entry the Museum holds sees Oscar relate how the signing of the peace treaty that ended WWI was celebrated:

Sunday 29 June 1919 “Yesterday there were Maroons, Thunder Flashes and many other fireworks being let off after 3 o’clock and before 3 o’clock. Today a lot of people were drunk, as a result of the peace.”

Painting: Firework Display in Hyde Park. Oil on Canvas.Charles William Wyllie. The National Peace Celebrations were held in London on 19 July 1919 to mark the end of the First World War © Museum of London.

Gold finger!

Last week saw the second Continue Creating workshop for 2010. This is part of the Inclusion Programme and past participants of all projects are invited back to a workshop every month. It’s social, fun and a way of maintaining a relationship between the Museum and our friends. May’s workshop saw us making C19th style Jumpin’ Jack puppets. Sadly, I can’t seem to upload all the images so here are two of the stars. As you can see, they have a contemporary twist!

The excavation of St Mary and St Michael Church, Whitechapel by MOLA revealed one possible example of this affliction.  The skeletal remains of an adult male aged 26-35 years displayed active, localised bone changes to the mandible (lower jaw). There were areas of fine pitting together with occasional large pits to the buccal (cheek facing) and lingual (tongue facing) surfaces of the jaw. Towards the mandibular rami (posterior jaw) were areas of eroded bone that revealed the underlying spongy bone structure. The outer cortex of the bone also appeared abnormally thickened.

Radiographs of the jaw revealed regions of irregular, thinned bone and also areas of increased thickening towards the mentum (chin). While a diagnosis of ‘phossy jaw’ is difficult to prove conclusively, this helped to identify osteonecrosis of the mandible, a condition where the blood supply to the bone is disrupted resulting in the necrosis (death of bone cells). Such changes may also be caused by a range of other conditions and infections such as syphilis.

The identification of this condition from excavated skeletal remains provides a rare glimpse into the dangers faced in the work place and the changes related to the expansion of cities and industrialisation at this time

Recently I’ve been working on the animal bone from the Royal London Hospital (RLP05) excavated by MOLA in 2006. Some of this consists of waste from the hospital kitchens, and gives us fascinating evidence for the diet of both the patients and staff. The hospital was founded in 1740 and archaeological evidence suggests that the associated burial ground was in use from 1820-1854. The remains give a brilliant opportunity to combine the zooarchaeological data with the historical records, which show hospital food has never been great.

However, amongst the animal remains were a number of more unusual finds which were not from the hospital kitchen. Attached to the hospital was an anatomy school and many of the animal bones appear to originate from the activities carried out there. This includes a number of dissected cows, sheep, horses, dogs, cats and rabbit s, buried as partial or complete skeletons. We even have evidence that some of the skeletons were wired together to be used in teaching anatomy. There have also been a number of surprises including the skull of a guinea pig, the partial skeleton of a tortoise and a headless monkey. The tortoise was missing the skull, shell and most of its feet, which may have been kept by the anatomy school or deposited elsewhere. Similarly the lack of the monkey’s skull and neck vertebrae would suggest that the head had been kept by the anatomists.

As a British based zooarchaeologist, finds of tortoise and monkey are incredibly rare, and therefore we needed to turn to experts outside the Museum of London for help to identify the bones to a specific species. If you have been watching the BBC’s ‘Museum of Life’ with Jimmy Doherty (who makes very nice sausages, I’m lucky enough to live close to his farm) you’ll know that we have one of the world’s best zoological collections in London at the Natural History Museum. So it was with some excitement that I made my way to the Natural History Museum, only to arrive there and realise I’d gone to a free museum during a school holiday. After battling through the crowds, I was lead by Colin McCarthy, Collections Manager for Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish, to the museum’s old dry store number one. If you saw the first Museum of Life show it’s the amazingly huge store full of a host of old specimens ranging from zebra to tortoises (have a look at episode 1, 17min 40sec into the program). I could have stayed in there for days, but under Colin’s excellent guidance we quickly identified the tortoise as being a European tortoise either Greek or Herman’s.

Identification of the monkey required me to visit the zoological department and the mammals collection which is held over a number of different floors at the back of the museum. Identification of the monkey was much trickier and involved a good few hours examining different skeletons held in the museum’s collection. The monkey collection is held in row upon row of metal cabinets that don’t have windows. That means you need to be prepared for a surprise when searching the collection. At one point, standing on a step ladder to access an upper cabinet, I did open a door to be greeted face to face with a snarling monkey. Fortunately it was an old stuffed specimen, unfortunately, by the time I realised that I’d already undone any reputation I had as a cool zooarchaeologist by letting out a manly yelp, much to the amusement of the other researchers using the collection. Eventually we identified the monkey as a Mona Monkey, which comes from south-west Africa.

You may ask why go to such trouble to identify these species? Well, the tortoise may be one of the earliest archaeological examples of tortoise from the United Kingdom, and the Mona monkey is the first example of such a species to have been found archaeologically, certainly in London and possibly in the United Kingdom. Analysis of the specimens and the site is still ongoing, but these skeletons show how far and wide animals were traded at the beginning of the 1800s: the tortoise is likely to have come to London from the eastern Mediterranean and the Monkey from south-west Africa.

The next step is to investigate how the anatomy school acquired such animals and why, and what they were used? Identifying the bones to a species is just the beginning of the investigation.

A big thank you to Colin McCarthy, Louise Tomsett and Paula Jenkins for helping arrange my Natural History Museum visit and helping me on the day.
 
You can also find out more about my background and my other research at http://www.animalbones.org

Measure for Measure at the Almeida

Ally headed to the Almeida to see Measure for Measure. Once you’ve navigated the funky but slightly socially awkward fold-down bench seats, the Almeida is a brilliant characterful theatre, and the production was great- really playing up the black comedy in the text. As ever, the best characters are the baddies, and this play is no exception. A must-see for anyone who likes their Shakespeare tense and dark.

http://www.almeida.co.uk/production_details/production_details.aspx?code=90

Wonder Fish, 407 Camden Stables

Rachel dipped her toes (quite literally) into a bowl of Garra Rufa  aka Doctor Fish – so named for their ability to clear up even the most crusty of feet at Wonder Fish in Camden. The idea behind Wonder Fish is to immerse your feet into bowls of warm water full of the small minnow like fish. The fish instantly swarm to the most dry and crusty areas of your feet and nibble away to reveal a beautiful fresh layer of skin underneath. The fish originated in two areas of Turkey and have long been known for their ability to clear up skin conditions and dry skin. The treatment is now increasingly popular across the Japan, Korea and Turkey -  Alex tried the treatment when he was in Korea.

Tickly but painless with fantastic results! Just what you need after standing in a gallery all day! This is well worth a trip at only £6 for 15mins.

Kingdom of Ife: Sculptures from West Africa

You’ve probably read the rave reviews so we won’t go into to much detail except to say everything you’ve heard is true – a fab exhibition. Just the right size and particularly good panel descriptions. If you can’t make it to the exhibition you can see a couple of the sculptures on loan from the British Museum in our London, Sugar and Slavery Exhibition at Museum of London Docklands.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/all_current_exhibitions/kingdom_of_ife.aspx

Blaze at the Peacock Theatre

You’ve only got until the 28th March to see them but if you can get there, get to Blaze. An amazing show, back to back, non stop routines, intelligent with a sense of humour. Quite a few cheaper tickets were available to. Our £10 tickets at the back of the stalls had excellent views of the stage.

http://www.sadlerswells.com/show/Blaze

Henry Moore at TATE Britain

Ally went to see the Henry Moore show with a colleague – it was great but both found it hard to ‘turn off’ being Museum geeks! Unwittingly the highlight of their Day Of Culture had turned into a Gallery Maintenance Walk, with surreptitious wiping of fingers to check for dust and tut-tutting at peeling captions. However the exhibition is fantastic, even if we did struggle to hold back from touching the achingly tactile sculptures.

http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/henrymoore/default.shtm

Amsterdam

Alex went to Amsterdam to relax in luxury on the River Amstel. His favourite Modern Art Museum, the Steidlijk, was closed for major renovations and even the national museum, Rijksmuseum , was doing a “MOL” and was 3/4 closed! So abandoning culture, a spa and bath were ordered and he found the beautiful art deco baths which reminded him of the Selfridges lifts in our collection – but with much more nudity!

http://www.saunadeco.nl/faciliteiten2.html

http://www.stedelijk.nl

http://www.rijksmuseum.nl

Sheffield

Lynne spent the weekend up in Sheffield and put together her recommendations …

The Sheffield Museum

Exhibitions covering the history of the city and the natural history of the local area. Lynne was aware that Sheffield was famous for steel, surgical instruments and cutlery, but was unaware that it was the home of Basset’s liquorice allsorts and jelly babies! The museum underwent major renovation a few years ago and won The Guardian award for “Family friendly museum 2008”. There were lots of things for kids to do include using plastic food to construct a picnic lunch to take walking in the peak district,  dressing up as a Victorian maid or butler and using microscopes to examine pieces of Roman Samian ware.

There was also a really cool “bugs” gallery and the café served a “bug hunters” children’s meal in a “McDonalds style” package. The gift shop was very interesting, with a selection of beautiful soft toy dinosaurs. Lynne and her partner are now the proud owners of a T Rex and jelly baby badges!

Bakewell

This village on the Pennines is famous for a delicacy known as the Bakewell tart, it is also a really beautiful place. Even on a cold, misty day in early February, you could see the potential as a summer picnic spot. Cold chicken and salad, white wine, feet in the clear sparkling river, perfect! Be sure to visit the Bakewell pudding shop. Yes pudding, not tart! The shop does sell white iced almond confections with a strategically placed cherry, but do try the puddings. The puddings look a little like a treacle tart but taste like crème caramel (on a pastry base) and have the texture of custard tart. Very sweet and excellent with custard.

If you can’t make it to Bakewell you can ‘post a pudding’ with the The Old Original Pudding Company.

http://www.bakewellpuddingshop.co.uk

Yet to come ….

Ashley’s excited about going to a Powderfinger (Australian band) concert late April, Brixton Academy. It is rare that they perform let alone in the UK so well worth getting tickets if you can get hold of them.

The Visitor Services team here at Museum of London aims to engage and enthuse every visitor that walks through the door with our passion for London. We hope that this extends into our blog posts. Every month (or so) we make our recommendations for all things London plus a few highlights from our travels elsewhere. We hope that through our blog you’ll get to know us better, our personal obsessions, interests and past times – basically what we’re into each month.

If you do follow up a recommendation let us know what you thought of it either by…

• Popping in to see us in the galleries, you can’t miss us – we’re usually walking around with a chainmail hood, hand axe or similar – oh and the uniform’s a bit of a give away too!
• Sending us a letter – we love post! 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN
• Commenting on here, the Museum’s Facebook page, Tweeting at us… etc
• Dropping us an email – hosts-mol@museumoflondon.org.uk

Post by Rachel Kuhn, Team Leader

(Page updated with image: 8 April 2010)

At work in Elephant and Castle

As a newbie to the museum, I thought I’d say hello by introducing the project I’m currently working on, People and Change. The project, which was devised by Lucie Fitton, is working with predominantly adult asylum seekers to produce art work that will be displayed in the London, Sugar and Slavery gallery. The gallery has multiple themes and the one we’re exploring with this group is Change. Rosemarie Marke, an acclaimed painter and ex-aslyum seeker who was born in Sierra Leone, is leading the group. We’re working in two centres in Peckham with lots of different individuals. Each is producing a drawing or painting of what change means to them. Some have chosen to draw things associated with home (house, landscape, objects) or parts of London life that are totally new to them – e.g. football stadiums, London buses, British festivals. The more talented and regularly attending members, however, have branched out and are now producing more abstract work. We are encouraging them all to write something about the picture in their mother tongue, and this will be displayed with the piece on the wall with an English translation.

Simply being at the centre, reveals how rewarding and challenging this project is for both the Museum and the participants. Prior to this project, I had never been inside a support centre for asylum seekers and I have learnt a lot. Both centres are community halls that open one afternoon a week to offer a range of services – a hot meal between 1 and 2pm, medical consultation with a nurse, a crèche and nanny, advice on housing, employment and benefits, English lessons and arts and craft activities. There are usually at least 40 people there and in broad terms, half are young mothers with children under 5 and half are men between the ages of 25 and 40. Although we don’t talk about this, we know from the support workers that many are separated from their family, often recovering from trauma and in constant uncertainty over their future. For some people, even getting to the centre is quite a triumph. Either psychologically, or logistically, it can be very difficult. One of our regular attendees lives in Edmonton but goes to the centre every day.

We never know who is going to sit down when we set up our materials on the tables after lunch, but there are a few faces who have attended nearly all of the sessions. We meet quite a few people only once but even in one afternoon an individual can produce a very interesting piece of work. We don’t ask participants their story, unless they bring the subject up themselves, but sometimes people will tell us something about home. Often though, talk focuses around colour and technique and sharing artistic tips. One person had never seen a paintbrush before and until he was corrected by Rosemarie, was painting using the non-bristle end.

Home in Eritrea and Home in London

The point of the project, from the museum’s point of view is to give these individuals a voice in the gallery. From their point of view, we hope, it is to be able to express something and to share a calm experience for a few hours a week. There is not too much talking, which makes the session quite relaxing and takes the pressure off the participants to speak English all the time. We hope that the prospect of displaying their work at a high profile gallery is fun and confidence giving and we very much hope that the artists can be at the unveiling. There are a lot of factors, however, that guaranteeing this could be very difficult.

We are working in Peckham until the end of March and hope that the work should be up by autumn. When it does go on display, look out for work by the following characters – Gloria, Dawit, Mal, Bernard, Maria and Dani.

Social media

I have taken a few actions following on from my last blog entry about what we’re doing on social media. The first action was to get support from my colleagues in Press & Marketing to help me manage the some of our social media activities, and over the past few weeks, you may have noticed that the numbers of tweets by us have increased. This is due to one of my colleagues, Tim, taking over much of the activities on this platform. Though I occasionally still go and respond to tweets and retweets, both directed at @museumoflondon as well as when ‘Museum of London’ is mentioned, Tim has been doing a wonderful (and much more interesting – thank you Tim!) job on it. Please continue to show your support and follow us on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/museumoflondon

Tim has also been introduced to our Facebook account and he has started to update our statuses. I am still responding to all the comments and enquiries and adding the occasional status updates but I am hoping Tim will take over managing this soon as well. Yes I know I’m giving away the management of the juiciest aspects of web publishing (!!!) but this is very much due to the restriction in resources I am currently facing and the projects I am working on at present.

Information Architecture & web redesign

One of the things that have been keeping both Jeremy and I very busy is looking at restructuring our website information architecture and redesigning the site, in particular, addressing the site navigations. Between Jeremy, Rhiannon and I with support and input from many other people from across the organisation, we have come up with a number of new information architectures. We have now come to a compromise on one particular architecture and are in the process of testing it with users. We have also looked at a few design proposals and are currently deciding on which designer we will go with.

The hardest part of the activities so far has been getting the top level navigations right so that the three arms of Museum of London are all represented and clearly branded, without taking away from the fact that we are all one organisation. I can go on for days about the difficulties we have encountered so far, but for now, I won’t bore you further with it.

Just remember to look out for a whole new website at the end of May!

You are here

Something else my colleagues and I are working on and you should watch out for is our ‘You are here’ campaign at www.youarehere.org.uk. I won’t say any more about this, but check out this link in the coming months!

 The nineteenth century also saw major advances in the practice of dentistry and the development of new restorative techniques. New materials such as amalgam (mercury and metal) were introduced to fill cavities and prosthetics were used to replace missing teeth (Roberts and Cox 2003: 323).

These false teeth could be made of ivory, bone or porcelain and human teeth were also often used. These came from live donors or could be extracted from the dead, earning some extra money for body snatchers if the bodies they exhumed were too decayed to sell to anatomists (Richardson 1988).

 An example of dental work was recovered during the excavation by MOLA of  the cemetery of St Mary and St Michael. A maxillary (upper jaw) prosthesis was found associated with an adult female burial. This comprised a thin plate of rose-gold coloured metal that was carefully fitted around the remaining teeth. A high degree of skill had been used in the construction of this item and the metal was molded around the gums and palate in order to hold it in place. Four ceramic teeth were fixed in place by small gold pins. These replaced the right premolars, left second premolar and first molar teeth that had been lost during the individuals life. A dark material to the central aspect of the occlussal (biting surface) of the right secondary molar suggested that this person had also had a cavity filled.

This evidence provides an important glimpse into the types of dental treatment available. However, the construction of such dentures would have required considerable time and skill and would have remained out of reach of many individuals from poorer backgrounds in London.

If you do follow up a recommendation let us know what you thought of it either by …

• Popping in to see us in the galleries, you can’t miss us – we’re usually walking around with a chainmail hood, hand axe or similar – oh and the uniform’s a bit of a give away too!
• Sending us a letter – we love post! 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN
• Commenting on here, the Museum’s Facebook page, Tweeting at us… etc
• Dropping us an email – hosts-mol@museumoflondon.org.uk

So here are the things we’re into this month ….

A couple of the gang went to Tower 42. Amazing views – including out across the Olympic site, great service, nice Tapas type food. Very chic. Book a couple of weeks in advance though.

Chris visited Greenwich on a sunny Monday – recommended for a week day because area is much quieter then. Begin the day by having milkshakes at a café which promises over 100 flavours of milkshakes just down from the Cutty Sark. Visit the Maritime Museum and learn about British sea voyages, the telescope and take in a show at the Planetarium. Have lunch at one of the cheap Thai/Chinese places around Cutty Sark aimed at students – you get the £ to portion ratio!! Top tip – to try get in on the kids’ session at the Maritime Museum as they come up with some classic lines and are clearly legends in the making.

Rachel, Ashley and Leigh finally made it to a Jack the Ripper walk (having been promising to go for ages). They went on a walk organised by London Walks with Donald Rumbelow. A good one to go to with a bunch of mates and he really knows his stuff. When you’re done head for a curry in Brick lane. You can also buy Donald’s book, The Complete Jack the Ripper, in the Museum shop.

Our newest discovery is Jen’s Café in China Town – head there for ‘bubble tea’. Any flavour is good.

Ashley visited the Imperial War Museum and recommends the special exhibition on espionage.

A bit further afield, Kareen went to a cool coffee place in Stockholm on Sveavägen which is one of the main roads in the city. The place was full of strange antiquities and had a view out onto most of the city. Well worth a visit.

And Rachel headed to Paris – visiting the catacombs. Walk through the old underground quarries deep beneath the city streets that hold the remains of (allegedly) over six million Parisians.

And finally we have to give ourselves a quick plug … we (of course) recommend our brilliant Gallery Highlight Tours at 12.00 and 4pm every day – come and hear about 450,000 years of London history including Roman bikinis, medieval castration tools and prehistoric trepanation.

Post by Rachel Kuhn, Team Leader

At last year’s annual SMA conference, I (along with many others!) enjoyed an excellent presentation from Detective Sergeant Vernon Rapley about the work of the Metropolitan Police Service’s Art and Antiques Unit. D.S. Rapley discussed several recent cases of fakes and forgeries, such as the infamous case of Shaun Greenhalgh.

D.S. Rapley’s talk provoked a lot of interest and discussion amongst SMA members, and we recently had the privilege of learning more about the world of fakes and forgeries with a guided tour of the ‘Fakes and Forgeries’ special exhibition put together by the Metropolitan Police Service’s Art and Antiques Unit at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Of particular interest to me were the archaeological artefacts that had been forged, including a number of Anglo-Saxon coins.

Walking around the exhibition and listening to our guide, Detective Sergeant Ian Lawson, you couldn’t help but be struck by the lengths that people had to gone to in order to establish a history or ‘provenance’ for the objects they had created. In many cases, documentation ‘proving’ the authenticity of the objects had been forged, including letters from Museum curators.

The special exhibition and work of the Metropolitan Police Service’s Art and Antiques Unit has really brought home the need to work closely with other museums, particularly in London, to tackle fakes and forgeries.

A major difficulty when diagnosing pathological disease in archaeological skeletal remains is that many conditions may only affect the soft tissues of the body, such as the skin or organs. This may result in the death of a person before bone changes took place, leaving no visible traces on the skeleton to be observed. Some diseases, however, may directly affect the bones. The way that bone responds and the distribution pattern of changes throughout the skeleton, enable certain pathologies suffered in life to be identified.

One such pathology occasionally encountered in the osteological analysis of archaeological human bone is Paget’s disease. During life, the human skeleton constantly remodels, repairs and grows. Paget’s disease disrupts this normal routine and results in an increased bone turnover. This can affect single or multiple bones and involve the entire skeleton, resulting in severe deformity and enlargement of affected areas. The skull, spine, sacrum and upper legs are the most commonly involved.

This rare condition was first described by James Paget in 1877. Today the exact causes remain unknown and multiple origins are thought likely. In modern cases, the disease is more common amongst males than females and tends to affect older individuals.

The osteological analysis of post-medieval population from Bow Baptist Church, London by MoLA revealed one individual who displayed bone changes consistent with a diagnosis of Paget’s disease.

An older male aged 46 years or over displayed thickening of the cranial bones with new bone formed to the internal and outer surfaces that was porous and pumice stone like. Examination of radiographs revealed enlargement of the bone cortex with areas that displayed a ‘cotton wool’ like appearance.

The vertebral bodies also showed enlargement and this was more apparent in the lower lumbar regions of the spine. Radiographs showed sclerotic areas (thickening) at the margins of the vertebral centra and areas of porosity to the internal trabecular structures. This gave a ‘picture frame’ appearance in radiographs. The disease had also resulted in deformity and enlargement to the clavicles (collar bone), scapula (shoulder) upper legs and pelvis.

Pathological fractures are a common feature of this disease due to weakening of the bone structures that may cause bowing of the limbs. This individual had suffered compression fractures to several vertebrae. This had also resulted in degenerative joint disease and osteoarthritis throughout the spine. Osteoarthritis was also recorded in the hands and shoulder joints.

This individual may have been unaware that he had such a disease during life as many cases are asymptomatic. However, some people can suffer bone pain, headaches and hearing loss.

For more information see:

Brickley, M, and Ives, R, 2008 The bioarchaeology of metabolic disease, Oxford

Ortner DJ, 2003, Identification of pathological conditions in human skeletal remains. London

Roberts, C A, and Manchester, K, 2005, The archaeology of disease, Third edition, Stroud

Here at the Museum of London we are looking at the theme of place and focusing on the legacy left by the Romans. Between now and March 2011, we will be doing lots of exciting work with young adults, ranging from films, archaeology, podcasts, art and drama in a series of five key projects. Young adults are at the heart of the project and through this work we hope more of them find our fabulous Museum relevant and fun.

Key to the success of this project is our ability to involve young adults in the planning and development. We are also setting up a youth panel (called Junction) so that members can act as consultants and advise us on what young people want. There are two open recruitment afternoons in early February and we are looking for young adults ages 16 – 21 from all backgrounds.

Find out how you or anyone you know who may be interested can get involved (PDF 142kb, opens in a new window)

This month the Museum of London Docklands launches a web-based initiative bringing to life London’s Docklands in the early twentieth century through the diary extracts of a young messenger boy employed by the Port of London Authority at the time. Recently donated to our collection, the diary details Oscar’s daily activities both at work and home, personal interests (Oscar loved to read) and details of the things he enjoyed when not working ranging from comics and sweets he bought, to visits to the music hall. 

The Museum plans to feature the corresponding daily diary entries on the homepage of the Museum of London Docklands website and on other social media sites starting from January 1^st 2010.

A planned online archive of all diary entries and further supporting details relating to the subjects that Oscar covers in his diary will also be updated regularly. 

Oscar was 15 when he started to work in the East India Docks in 1918 ferrying messages and mail between different docks and Port of London Authority offices. Oscar would have been provided with a uniform and would be expected to look smart at all times (Oscar notes making a “boot pad” on Sunday January 5^th 1919, possibly to keep his boots clean). 

Although work days for Oscar could be arduous he still found time for fun as the start of his diary entry for Wednesday 22^nd January 1919 highlights: “got chapped hands today. Played between 12.30 and 1.30 in the sack shed”.  Oscar was also saving to buy a bicycle of his own, by giving his father a few pence at a time towards the cost. By the time the entries in the diary finish in July 1919 he had given his father 1/6d (7.5p) towards the cost.

Oscar’s diary is currently on display in the Sainsbury’s Study Centre at Museum of London Docklands.  Find out more about Oscar’s thoughts and duties daily on our website from January 1^st 2010 and follow Oscar on Twitter at:  http://twitter.com/OscarKirk1919

As well as human remains, the osteology department deals with the animal bones recovered from archaeological sites, which are examined and reported upon by the two zooarchaeologists (or archaeozoologists, believe it or not a matter of some debate within the animal bone community), James Morris and Alan Pipe.

As zooarchaeologists we operate in association with many different fields and specialists. We often utilise zoological data from modern day animals enabling us to understand how their ancestors would have behaved, we also consult with other environmental archaeology specialists, such as archaeobotanists so we can get an overall picture of past environments and economies. Working in the osteology department also gives us a good opportunity to work alongside our human bone counterparts. Although we will often joke with human bone specialists that they only have to deal with one species compared to our hundreds, a lot of our methods and practises are the same and there is a great deal we learn from working beside each other. Finally and most importantly we are also archaeologists, in that our primary aim is always to investigate and shed light on humanity’s past, animal remains are merely the tools we use.

You may now be thinking to yourself, how do they do that? Well, consider how you interact with animals in your day to day life. Firstly, if you’re not vegetarian, there’s the animals you eat and use for raw materials such as leather, then the animals who are your companions and pets, the animals you work with such as horses and finally the wild animals who sometimes live alongside you unawares. Even today we have many different relationships with the animal kingdom and it is through examining these relationships that zooarchaeologists can tell us about past human societies.

The photo shows sheep/goat (it’s hard to tell the difference between the two species) metacarpals (top) and metatarsals (bottom) from medieval leather working site, the bones are often left attached to the skin during the tanning process. Photo by J. Morris  

 The primary bread and butter of zooarchaeological work is food (please forgive the pun), in that the majority of the animal remains archaeologists recover are food waste. What we are able to do is construct not only what people are eating, but how and why. By examining the remains we can tell how an animal was butchered and what parts people were eating. As with everything, different food goes in and out of fashion. Today we often eat just the prime cuts, but this was not always the case, when I was a kid I remember my mum sending me to school with tongue sandwiches (which were impossible to trade), a meat which is eaten less and less today. We also see such changes in the past; the medieval period providing a classic example. Think of a medieval aristocratic feast and a picture of stuffed piglets, swans and peacocks springs to mind, yet eventually the nature of such meals changed along with the species used. Such meals were also a far cry from the food the majority of people were eating. By examining the animal bones we can pick up such differences, which add to our knowledge not only of social status, but the way people used food as a show of wealth.

As a final point with the time of year in mind it’s worth thinking about Christmas celebrations and asking yourself, how many other times a year you eat roast turkey. Perhaps zooarchaeologists in the future will be examining what appear to be annual deposits of turkey bones in landfill sites and wondering about the activities which created them.

If you are interested in finding out more about animal bones then please visit the  International Council of Archaeozoology website

You can also find out more about James’ research at http://www.animalbones.org/

An archaeological archive differs from a traditional archive as it includes both records (paper, photographic, digital) and finds. At the LAARC, we accept archives relating to archaeological projects undertaken in the Greater London area, and I am responsible for managing the digital records that are received as part of these archives. Archaeology and computing are closely intertwined, and archaeologists are often considered to be at the cutting edge when it comes to all things ‘IT’! Archaeology can generate a wealth of digital records including GIS data sets, digital site plans and drawings, reports, databases and spreadsheets, digital photos, video footage and even websites. Since I started at the LAARC, we have received over 10 000 new digital files!

More specifically, my job as Archaeological Records (Digital) Officer involves:

• checking through the digital records that are deposited to see that they have been prepared in accordance with our Standards for Deposition,
• archiving the records and preparing them for download via our Online Catalogue so that they are easily accessible to researchers, and
• ‘technology watch’ – keeping up to date with digital preservation issues and new advances in archaeology and digital technology

In addition, I assist LAARC Archivist Cath Maloney by responding to general enquiries, issuing site or ‘project’ codes to contractors commencing new archaeological projects in London and supervising researchers who visit the LAARC. I also get involved with the LAARC’s outreach activities which I really enjoy – it’s good to take a break from my computer every once and a while!

Go to the Museum of London Learning section

Go to the Museum of London Docklands Learning section

This is the end of quite a big work project for me and I’m quite pleased with the results.

There are three big reasons why the new sections are a good thing:

1. They tidy up the way that we present a large amount of information about our learning programmes online
2. They give a nice, easy, attractive and clear way for children to find a selection of our fun online games (see kids section)
3. You can now find out information through either of the two websites (Museum of London and Museum of London Docklands)

A substantial number of the resources that were previously available are still available on the sites. Let us know in the comments below if you can’t find anything and we’ll try and direct you.

There are also some new resources. Here are 6 cool new things featured in the new learning sections:

1. We took this opportunity to make some new interactive whiteboard presentations and quizzes available for KS2 Tudors, KS2 Anglo-Saxons, KS2 Romans, KS3 Romans and KS3 Medieval.  See the resources section for more information.
2. Each of our schools sessions now have their own webpage which will eventually link to the relevant teachers pack (some are already up, others are coming soon).  See the Museum of London ‘what’s on -schools’ section and the Museum of London Docklands ‘what’s on – schools’ section for more information.
3. Each of our adult courses now has their own page as well.  See the ‘adult courses’ section
4. We have a regularly updated ‘session availability‘ pages for Museum of London and Museum of London Docklands so you can check before calling the box office which dates are still available for the school session you’d like
5. There’ll be information to help you with your risk assessments going up very soon
6. It should be much easier to join our Teachers Network and stay informed!

Please look at the new sites and let me know what you think, especially if you regularly used the old site.  I hope you find the new sites useful and easy to use!

Living and working in a city of London’s magnitude, with its densely packed population and layer upon layer of history, it is not uncommon for the dead of long ago to resurface. A gardener may accidently have uncovered some remains or construction workers digging new building foundations may have disturbed an old rubbish pit full of animal bone or an unexpected burial ground.

Human or animal?

When the police are contacted, the first vital question they need to answer is whether the bone is human or animal. To an untrained and sometimes trained eye, tiny fragments of bone can often be difficult to distinguish.

Working with archaeological material on a daily basis, osteologists at Museum of London Archaeology often encounter poorly preserved and heavily fragmented bone and disarticulated skeletons (where the bones are no longer in anatomical position). These may have originated from burials that have degraded or been disturbed in the ground over time, or bone that has been deliberately burnt and broken through the act of cremation. Animal bone is also a common finding on archaeological sites and is often mixed with the human skeletons.

 The experience and familiarity gained by working with such material gives the osteologist an advantage in identifying bone. Many medical doctors for example, may only be used to dealing with recent, well preserved and complete human skeletal material or might not have handled animal bone.

Following a phone call, osteologists will either visit the site where the bone was found or occasionally the police may bring the remains into the office. If the bone is identified as animal, and is of no interest to the police, the English Heritage area Archaeological Advisor will usually be informed and if the find is of archaeological significance, further work may take place.

Modern or old?

If the bone is human, then the next question that the police need to know is whether it is of modern or historical/ archaeological date.

Using GIS, a system which allows us to look at historic maps and the location of previous archaeological finds overlaid onto the modern ordnance survey maps, we can quickly determine if the remains are likely to have originated from a historic burial ground.

Importantly, by visiting the site and seeing the remains in the ground where they were found, we can look at the different layers of soil which have built up through time and together with any artefacts found can use this to determine what period the bone dates from. If the bone is deemed of archaeological date (defned by the Human Tissue Act as 100 years old or more) then the Ministry of Justice, and the local Archaeological Advisor are contacted to discuss the best way to proceed. This may warrant further archaeological investigation.

On rare occasions, where bone is thought to be modern and suspicious then our experienced Forensic Archaeologists assist the police in the recovery of the remains and associated evidence. Archaeological excavation techniques involve the detailed collection and recording of evidence that can be vital in the reconstruction of a possible crime.

Detailed recording of the human remains can provide evidence of age and sex and may help with victim identification. Analysis of the bone may also help establish a date: evidence of modern dental work for example will distinguish the material from archaeological remains. Samples may also be sent for radiocarbon dating to help determine what time period the person lived.

If human bones are encountered (or if you find remains and are unsure if they are human or not) you should always contact the police first, it may also be appropriate to contact the GLAAS Advisor for your area. Human remains whether from a modern or archeological time should always be treated with care and respect. It is vital that the bone is not disturbed further or removed from the ground. This will help to preserve the bone and if left situ (where they were found), this will retain important information about the context and type of burial.

Click here for further information and contact details of the Museum of London Archaeology Forensic Archaeology team.

Unfortunately, at present we do not have any vacancies or opportunities for work experience in this area. If you are interested in finding out more about forensic archaeology you may find the links below of interest. There are also a large number of Universities with undergraduate and post-graduate courses which include aspects of forensic archaeology.

www.forensic-science-society.org.uk

www.bahid.org

The Learning section will include:

• information for teachers about our schools programmes
• printable resources for teachers to support our schools programmes
• online resources for teachers and pupils to use either to support a visit to the Museums or independently
• fun games for children to play online
• information about our adult learning courses
• factpacks to help you learn more about the history of London

Why not take a look around the site as it looks at the moment http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/learning. It’s already got loads of interesting stuff on there. We’re not adding any new resources at this stage, we’re just trying to make it easier to find.

Take a look around now and get familiar with how it looks at the moment. I’d love to hear your feedback on how it compares once the new site is launched!

The race is on to locate the key commissioning agreement for the Lord Mayor of London’s grand State Coach. This week I’ve been approaching key media outlets in the hope that they can help track down the location of the family last known to own this fascinating historical document in time for an international conference on ceremonial coaches at the Museum in November.

The beautifully ornate coach was commissioned in 1757 for the princely sum of £860 and takes pride of place each year in the annual Lord Mayor’s Show.

When not on ceremonial duties, the Museum is working to provide the coach with a brand new home when our new Galleries of Modern London open in Spring 2010.

Find out more about our new galleries here

Our curators have been able to locate a copy of the agreement at the London Metropolitan Archive and the notes held with this copy indicate that the original was last known to be in the possession of one “Mr P.K Glover Esquire” from Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire in 1958.

Having been unable to locate the Glover family through conventional means, this week we launched an appeal on the local BBC radio station (Three Counties) and  in the Bucks Free Press to see if anyone knows of the whereabouts of either the family or the agreement.

We believe that the Glover family descended from a long line of 18th and 19th century coachbuilders from Tottenham in London and although not directly linked to the subsequent building of the coach (that we know of) it would appear that an interest in the subject continued.

So if you think you know a family member or indeed have information on the whereabouts of the agreement the Museum would really like to hear from you…

For now the search continues as I plan to approach key specialist and enthusiast publications.

FAUNAL DIETARY EVIDENCE FROM TORRE ABBEY, TORQUAY,
DEVON

INTRODUCTION

Torre Abbey was founded in AD1196 as a Premonstratensian monastery. Although it became wealthy, it was partially demolished after Dissolution in AD1539, and then occupied by Thomas Ridgeway and subsequent owners, passing into the possession of the
Cary family in AD1662 until AD1930 when it was sold to Torquay Borough council. Animal bone and invertebrate remains from recent excavations show dietary composition linked to changes in use and occupancy of the building.

ANIMAL BONES

These derived largely from ox, sheep/goat and pig indicating consumption of good quality beef, mutton and pork. There was a smaller component of chicken, goose Anser anser and mallard/domestic duck Anas platyrhynchos. Game was represented by thrush family Turdidae, pheasant Phasianus colchicus, partridge Perdix sp., teal Anas crecca, wild duck (not mallard), rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, brown hare Lepus europaeus, fallow deer Dama dama and red deer Cervus elaphus. The fish were mainly marine; thornback ray Raja clavata, cod Gadus morhua and gurnard Triglidae with one migratory species; salmon Salmo salar.

 INVERTEBRATES

These were mainly molluscs, particularly the common/flat oyster Ostrea edulis with small numbers of other important edible species including common mussel Mytilus edulis, common cockle Cerastoderma edule, great scallop Pecten maximus, common whelk Buccinum undatum, common periwinkle (‘winkle’) Littorina littorea, a fragment of the internal shell (‘cuttlebone’) of common cuttlefish Sepia officinalis, and a fragment of edible crab Cancer pagurus.

Also, there were less commonly eaten species; common limpet Patella vulgata, razor shell Ensis sp., and rough cockle Acanthocardia tuberculata. Though common in British coastal waters and still consumed here; they are rarely recovered from archaeological sites in
London.

The invertebrates suggest consumption of a variety of littoral and inshore species with a bias towards oyster and, to a lesser extent, rough cockle and the other commonly exploited snails and bivalves. Sources would have included gathering from the shore and fishing from coastal waters. The evidence corresponds to a diverse and high-quality meat diet including exploitation of local ‘wild’ resources.

FOUNDATION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENT AD1196-1300

Mainly cattle, sheep/goat and pig with emphasis on areas of good meat-quality. Infant calf tibia may indicate stock-rearing, dairying and consumption of veal. Consumption of fish and game is indicated by cod and red deer suggesting some degree of status and affluence. A single winkle shell provides the only evidence for consumption of ‘shellfish’.

AD1300-1400

This small group indicates consumption of beef and mutton, although recovery of thornback ray and gurnard suggests consumption of locally available fish.Molluscs included limpet, winkle, cockle, oyster and whelk. Fragments of foetal or neonate rat probably indicate black rat Rattus rattus in view of the known presence of this species in England from Roman times (Yalden 1999, 125) and the absence of the now-prevalent brown rat R. norvegicus until the early 18th century AD (Yalden 1999, 183).

DISSOLUTION AD1539-1543

Fragments of ‘ox-sized’ rib and sheep/goat tibia.

17th CENTURY AD1600-1700

There are qualitative differences between this and earlier groups; this group is mainly cattle and sheep/goat, with a significant component of poultry; chicken, goose and mallard/domestic duck and recovery of game; wild duck, pheasant, rabbit and brown hare. Species-diversity, together with the quality of the beef and mutton, suggests consumer status and affluence.

The molluscs were mainly oyster with whelk, razor shell, great scallop and common cuttlefish and two shells of common periwinkle. Razor shell and common cuttlefish are the only examples of these species from the whole assemblage. Cuttlefish occur around all British coasts, they are edible with an internal shell useful as a dietary supplement for cage birds, a ‘once-only’ mould medium for casting small metal objects and, when finely-powdered, as ‘pounce’ in the preparation of documents (Pipe 2006, 63)

18th CENTURY AD1700-1800

This group derives mainly from cattle, sheep/goat and pig; with considerable species-diversity of migratory and marine fish (salmon and cod), poultry and game; thrush, wild duck, including teal, partridge, rabbit and fallow deer. Recovery of infant chicken, infant calf and foetal/neonate piglet may suggest local husbandry. Again, species-diversity and carcase-part recovery suggests consumer status and affluence.The molluscs mainly included oyster, with limpet, scallop, rough cockle, common cockle and mussel.

19th CENTURY AD1800-1900

This small group included areas of good and poor meat-bearing quality; ‘ox-sized’ rib, ox tarsal and sheep/goat metacarpal suggesting disposal of waste from consumption, butchery and primary processing. Invertebrates included single shells of oyster and rough cockle with fragments of edible crab.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Pipe, A, 2006 Animal remains In: Whipp, D, 2006 The medieval postern gate by the Tower of London MoLAS Monograph 29, 63-65

Yalden, D W, 1999 The history of British mammals London. T & A D Poyser Ltd.

Create a costume

In Create a costume children have the opportunity to design and colour costumes based on items in the Museum’s collections by dragging on shapes and patterns and then colouring them in with a paintbrush and some paints.  The costumes that the designs are based on are:

• a pearly king’s jacket
• the Fanshawe dress
• a pair of Georgian shoes

Move and Make

In Move and Make they can make a historical vehicle or building by dragging on the different elements. At the end, they can invent their own! In both games the children have the chance to see real objects/vehicles/buildings and find out a little bit more about them.

Adult guidelines to both games give accompanying adults some helpful hints on how to get the most out of the games as a family and provide a bit more in-depth information about each object/vehicle/building to talk to their children about.  We’ve also indicated whether and where you can see the objects for real. The games will be available not only online but also in our Clore Learning Centre and can be used as well as part of our Under-5s programme.

Working on the project

I’d never really worked on a project like this before, I’d project managed other web projects but never a game. Parts of it were great fun and the whole thing was a brilliant learning experience but it wasn’t without its challenges.

Developing something for such a young audience was a particular challenge. We knew, for instance, that we could not assume that children between 3 and 5 could read. For this reason all of the instructions are read out as well as written.  Obviously all text also needed to be very simple and it’s a real discipline sometimes, particularly where you’re trying to convey information about a really interesting historical object.

Why we did it how we did!

There isn’t space here to go into the ins and outs of every decision – let’s just say our first meeting to discuss concepts lasted 5 hours! But I thought it might be interesting to give a little bit of an insight into what we aimed to achieve.

By having two games, we aimed  to provide two different experiences for children – one where they could be creative and do some colouring – Create a Costume, and one where there was more of a ‘right answer’ – Move and Make.

We were careful, however, with Move and Make not to make too much of this ‘right answer’. These are, after all, aimed at very small children and we wanted to stress that it’s just as important to use your imagination and be creative as to get things exactly right. This is also why, at the end of the game, you get to use all of the different elements from across the historical periods to make your own fantastical vehicle or building.

We wanted to use a range of historical periods from across the stories that the Museum of London and the Museum of London Docklands tell.  We also wanted to include links to the galleries that are currently available, but also to items that will be in our new Galleries of Modern London due to open next year.

Enjoy!

We hope you and your children enjoy playing the games! Let us know which bits you like best!