Archaeology. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when someone says this word? Digging? Trenches? Objects? Well yes, all three of those are certainly an important part of archaeology. However, they’re not the most important bits by any means. So what is more important?

Paper.

In particular the hundreds of pieces of paper that are used before, during and after an archaeological investigation. These pieces of paper could be the research that takes place before there’s even any sign of a trowel, or the sketch of the posthole that’s just been uncovered or the detailed analysis of the thousands of fragments of pottery that make up a section of the final publication. Without these pieces of paper, without these archaeological records, everything else becomes a bit redundant.

With this in mind, Archaeological Records was another fundamental aspect of our 10th Anniversary Celebrations that we definitely wanted to include in our 10th anniversary celebrations. Every Friday, you can see the original documents from 1975’s incredible excavations at Newgate Street. These include the original correspondence between the site directors and the Corporation of London; the original context sheets detailing aspects of particular features that were dug; original photographs from the site including some of the skeletal remains; x-rays showing hidden objects; the phenomenal  stratigraphic matrix which shows how each part of the site relates to each other; the finds reports written by the specialists once the site was completed; and the final publications sharing the results with the world.

There’s also one other thing that was crucial to all of the above. The site director.

Like a conductor of an orchestra, the site director makes sure things run smoothly and gathers everything together to produce the final results. And the site director for the excavation we’re working on during our 10th birthday celebrations is none other than Alan Thompson. And as we’ve got the records for the site out on display every Friday, we’d thought we’d ask him to join us too. Back as a volunteer having retired 9 years ago, you can meet Alan and the records he helped create every Friday for the next 6 weeks in Archaeology in Action from 10.00 – 16.00.

Let me start by saying I find skeletons fascinating. When I was putting together the series of events that celebrate our archaeological archive’s 10th anniversary, without a doubt I wanted to make sure human remains featured. When we ran our last Visitor Inclusion Project (LAARC VIP7 – Nov-Dec 2010) we had a table with skeletal remains from the amazing excavation at Newgate Street of St Nicholas Shambles (see here for more information about the skeletons from this site). This proved so popular, attracting almost 2000 visitors over 10 days, that it was the first of our “Archaeology Exposed” events to be confirmed this time around. 

Over the last 3 Tuesdays, our table has already attracted over 500 visitors, all of whom have been fascinated by what skeletal remains can tell you. Again I recommend you take a look at this previous blog to find out how much was discovered from the skeletons at Newgate Street (Previous Skeleton Blog)

However, what I didn’t realise until fairly recently is that we were very close to not having any of this information at all. The site at Newgate Street was amongst the first to uncover skeletons using standard archaeological recording techniques, only, before this dig, they hadn’t really ever excavated skeletons on the scale of which they had on this site. This excavation with 234 articulated bodies demanded a new technique for recording beyond the standard context sheet.

And so a simple but effective addition to the sheet was created. A splayed out image of a skeleton of which any remaining bones could be shaded in. Beneath a series of simple descriptive pointers which would provide more information about the skeleton such as the conditions of the limbs and the state of the bones themselves. Finally the relationship of the skeleton to its surrounding contexts and any plan, photo and extra associated numbers and finds were to be recorded too.

Using this type of recording, our late Senior curator of Osteology, Bill White, was able to right his report and consequently anyone who so wished was able to discover a bit more about these particular Londoners. The skeleton records sheet became a standard method of recording which is still in use today.

So to finish, if you want to see some of these incredible remains yourself, they’ll be on display in Archaeology in Action every Tuesday for the next 6 weeks. And if you want to find out about who created this concept of skeletal recording, you can meet him every Friday for the next 6 weeks as it’s the former site director Alan Thompson, who has returned to the museum to volunteer for our anniversary celebrations. But more about him tomorrow…

1) When did you join the volunteer programme and why?
I joined the VIP in Summer 2011 to gain more experience in archives and handling of archaeological material

2) What was your most memorable day whilst volunteering?
The day when we had a seminar on leather artefacts

3) What was your favourite object you discovered whilst volunteering?
One of the roman shoes we came across

4) What’s your favourite part of the museum?
London before London

5) Upper galleries of lower?
Upper galleries

6) Favourite year in London’s history?
No favourite year – I’m interested in roman, medieval and tudor periods

7) Favourite Londoner?
Too many to choose from.

8) Mortimer Wheeler or Indiana Jones
Mortimer Wheeler!

9) If you could dig anywhere in the world where would you excavate?
Egypt

10) What’s next for you after this project?
A placement with the Portable Antiquities Scheme

We’re now 3 weeks into our Visitor Inclusion Project (VIP), the series of events that celebrate our Archaeological Archive’s 10th birthday by sharing our work with visitors at the museum.

We’re having an awesome time, having chatted to over 2500 people so far. One of the best bits of the job is sharing our passion for archaeology with visitors who are often pleasantly surprised that we’re letting people handle these real bits of archaeology. It’s also cool hearing about the number of visitors who have dabbled with archaeology in the past, or found things on the foreshore, or have been to various archaeological sites across the world, or those who simply can’t get enough of Time Team!

Our Archaeology Exposed tables are proving really popular. The things that are catching peoples’ eyes seem to be a crazy example of a piece of wood and what happens if it’s not looked after on Monday’s Conservation table, an example of an medieval arthritic hip on Tuesday’s  Osteology table and possibly the world’s most complicated stratigraphic matrix on Friday’s Records table.

And then there’s the numerous amount of people that have come along to a Hands-On Archaeology workshop, many of whom are from overseas and are loving the chance to have a go at sorting London’s pottery. These two chaps from Switzerland joined us earlier this week, whilst the lady in the left picture was stopping off here from the USA before moving on to Egypt.

And we’re starting to see real results in terms of the material we’re working on whilst we interact with you. Over 100 boxes of archaeology have been repacked and in doing so we’re saving a fair amount of space within the boxes simply by this better packing.

So roll on the next 7 weeks. We’ll be keeping you updated with our progress here on the blog where we’ll also be sharing the history of our archive’s first decade, various objects that narrate London’s history and giving you an insight into the thoughts of our volunteers.

We’ve also had a number of enquiries regarding our collections, ranging from a request for information on fish bone samples from archaeological sites, to questions about plans and standing building drawings of a church in the City of London which we hold in our collection. While these are standard enquiries for a collection like LAARC, they do sometimes involve the investigation of our legacy data to find out exactly what information is available.

So, what exactly is legacy data I hear you ask? Well, in the context of digital preservation it is often used to refer to files or data stored in old or potentially obsolete formats, which as a result can be difficult to access and even harder to interpret. As a result, and in particular when dealing with enquiries relating to archaeological excavations which occurred in the 1980’s and early 1990’s (when digital records were being created, but the idea of digital preservation hadn’t really entered our consciousness), it is sometimes necessary to conduct searches across this legacy data, extrapolate the required information, and manipulate and migrate the data into a more accessible format, while ensuring that the data itself has not been altered in the process.

Part of our legacy toolkit at LAARC!

Our standards and guidance for deposition, and our work with current depositors of archaeological records, aims to ensure that we are not faced with these problems for current and future digital deposits. However, for digital records that were created before such standards were in place, we simply have to deal with the data in whatever form we have it, and work to the best of our abilities to extract the required information. Our long term goal is to process and migrate all of the legacy data we currently hold into accessible formats which we can then provide access to online, but with legacy data from over 670 sites, it will take some time!!

I was lucky enough to get an opportunity to talk about some of these issues when I was invited to give a short presentation at the Digital Preservation: What I Wish I Knew Before I Started event, organised and co-hosted by the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) and the Archives and Records Association (ARA) back in January. The event aimed to give ideas and practical advice concerning digital preservation to current archive and records management students, and hopefully inspire them to get involved in this particular area. For anyone interested, all the presentations from the day are available at the DPC event page and comments from the day can be found on Twitter by searching the hashtag #dpc_wiwik.

Finally, I can’t write a blog about my work at LAARC without mentioning that it’s our 10th anniversary this year – and we are running a number of events and hands on activities both at LAARC and the Museum of London to celebrate. I had my first experience of these when I participated in the Archaeology Up Close day on the 20th January, when we put on a display of finds and records on the theme of ‘Made in London’. Various finds were on show which provided evidence for shoe making in the Roman period, medieval glass and ceramic making, and post medieval clay tobacco pipe manufacturing. It was great to be able to share our collections, and passion for archaeology, with visitors to the museum, and for my part it was certainly nice to get away from my computer for a day! Various LAARC staff will be at the Museum every Monday, Tuesday and Friday for the next 8 weeks, talking about our archive collections and archaeology in general, so come and say hello when you are on your next visit, and follow the LAARC VIP blog for more info.

LAARC staff talking to (hopefully) interested members of the public about archaeology

Although the Archive holds a wealth of information from maps, drawings, digital data, context sheets to photographs, it is perhaps archaeology – the ‘stuff’ – filling over 200,000 archive boxes that we are all instantly drawn to. Our ‘general finds’ are the bread and butter of archaeology but for the most part it is our ‘registered finds’ that are intrinsically interesting.

For several years my colleague Adam has been blogging about these noteworthy objects that lie dormant in the Archive waiting to be researched, audited by a volunteer or even make it into a Museum of London gallery display.

Over the next year I’ll be presenting you with ten archaeological objects. Ten objects that emphasise the importance of London’s archaeology in shaping, or even reshaping, our understanding of the City’s history. I have literally over millions of artefacts to choose from, but this won’t be a display of the shiniest or most well-known. My selections may be representative of, or even unique to, an historical period. They may acknowledge the science of how these objects are discovered and how they survive London’s chthonic depths over millennia.

Like all good history we’ll start at ‘the beginning’:

Object 1

Prehistoric (Upper Palaeolithic) Leaf-point Flint Blade 

The first of our objects is a flint blade (not so interesting you may think…). Dredged from the Thames at Longreach (opposite Purfleet) in April 1905, it came to us via the late Geoffrey Gillam of Enfield. This is a classic example of a museum object that has lain dormant; its significance waiting to be unlocked, for this prehistoric flint may actually be the earliest example of an artefact crafted by a ‘Londoner’ in the Museum’s collection.

Our first Londoner in this instance would be a modern human, that is, homo sapiens sapiens. It was during the Upper Palaeolithic, about 40, 000 years ago, that modern humans developed blade technology (our predecessors, Neanderthals, perhaps being commonly associated with flake technology produced hand-axes) resulting in a huge range of stone artefacts being crafted. At the same time scholars have also argued about the inherent aestheticism of these objects – and we may even be looking at London’s earliest ‘work of art’! Lithics expert, Jon Cotton, ‘re-discovered’ this object with colleagues and they will hopefully be publishing it in the near future.

Next month object number 2 – where we’ll skip past a few millennia (and a lot more flints) to the Iron Age…

1) When did you join the volunteer programme and why?
May 2011 – to learn about the history of London and its archaeology

2) What was your most memorable day whilst volunteering?
No particular day – just enjoyed working with the finds and all the guest lectures/workshops

.

3) What was your favourite object you discovered whilst volunteering?
There was this cool tobacco pipe

4) What’s your favourite part of the museum?
Roman gallery

5) Upper galleries of lower?
Upper

6) Favourite year in London’s history?
2011

7) Favourite Londoner?
Christopher Wren

8) Mortimer Wheeler or Indiana Jones?
Mortimer Wheeler

9) If you could dig anywhere in the world where would you excavate?
Middle east

10) What’s next for you after this project?
A bit of travelling and other volunteer opportunities

Each week as part of our current project celebrating 10 Years of the Archaeological Archive, we’re posting Volunteer Profiles to let you find out a bit more about our excellent Volunteer Team. Today it’s Benji:

1) When did you join the volunteer programme and why?
In September 2011, it looked very interesting!

2) What was your most memorable day whilst volunteering?
Discovering a fine example of Elizabethan tassels

3) What was your favourite object you discovered whilst volunteering?
A fine example of Elizabethan tassels

4) What’s your favourite part of the museum?
The Newgate Prison in the Expanding City gallery

5) Upper galleries of lower?
Upper

6) Favourite year in London’s history?
1066 & 1966

7) Favourite Londoner?
Iain Sinclair (born in Cardiff but his work is mainly London focused…)

8) Mortimer Wheeler or Indiana Jones
Morty

9) If you could dig anywhere in the world where would you excavate?
My garden

10) What’s next for you after this project?
Leading tours of the Archive and then starting a degree in archaeology & ancient history

The London Archaeological Archive & Research Centre, better known as LAARC, officially opened on 7th February 2002. Based along the Regents Canal on the Hackney/Islington borders, the museum took a warehouse formerly used by a steel tubing company and made it the home of its archaeological and reserve collections.

There had been archaeological stores prior to this, and indeed in 2002 the collections had been based in this building for a few years already. However, upon opening, this was the first time that our archaeological collections had been easily accessible for research to anyone who so wished to visit.

Yet, it wasn’t all perfect. Archaeology only really turned professional in the early 1970s and even then there were a few good years of experimenting with different methods of recording and archiving. Despite storing the various archived sites in a logically accessible order upon our shelves, we still faced several storage problems such as having random box sizes, items not labeled correctly and more importantly, individual artefacts sitting loosely within their finds bags without any protection, at a potential risk of damage. The improvement of these storage issues was high on our agenda.

LAARC also had community engagement on its agenda and so a project was designed that combined both improvements to the material and opportunities to get involved. With successful funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Getty Grant Foundation, the “Minimum Standards Project”  was born.

The Minimum Standards Project (or MSP) began to involve volunteers with artefacts. These volunteers were mainly people who wanted to get involved with archaeology (or in some cases like mine, unemployed archaeologists looking to keep their finger in the archaeological pie). Certain materials were prioritised such as the bone and glass objects and volunteers would add a layer of protective jiffy foam within the object’s bag making the object more secure. They’d also write out a couple of new object labels in line with the the archive’s standards. Finally, they would check the objects off on an excel database to make sure everything was where it should be. In essence, making sure the minimum standards of collections care were met.

And this was great! Hugely successful, hundreds of volunteers were involved in the project and in 2005 it received the Conservation Award for Care of Collections.

But it wasn’t just finds work. Whenever an archaeological unit had completed their post excavation work they now had one central repository to deposit not only their finds but their records too. And this was applicable to any organisation that had dug in London. The LAARC enabled researchers to view the complete archives all in one place – artefacts and records – regardless of who had originally done the investigation.

All good work and clearly a good resource. So what did we do? We added some fun to it all. On top of LAARC being a model of good collections management and a centre for archaeological research, we held regular themed open days where we could share London’s history with members of the public. Allowing the creativity of our staff to run wild, themes ranged from “Animals in Archaeology” to “Arts & Crafts” with open days blending a mix of object handling, family activities and tours of the stores.

All these aspects helped build our reputation as leaders in both archaeological archiving and as ambassadors of archaeology, creating models of good practice which would then be developed and expanded as the years progressed.

Next month, “2005 – 2007:Expanding our engagement”

 1) When did you join the volunteer programme and why?
I first joined the VIP9 project because I was interested in learning about London archaeology    

2) What was your most memorable day whilst volunteering?
No particular day, I enjoyed them all. 

3) What was your favourite object you discovered whilst volunteering?
Part of a decorated glass fragment   

4) What’s your favourite part of the museum?
The modern galleries   

5) Upper galleries of lower?
Lower galleries   

6) Favourite year in London’s history?
1666 – London’s Great Fire  

 7) Favourite Londoner?
Munira Mirza, the Mayor’s director of arts and culture policy. I read about her at an article and I was impressed by the exciting events programme she’s planning about London’s history.  

8) Mortimer Wheeler or Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones   

9) If you could dig anywhere in the world where would you excavate?
The Ancient Agora, Athens    

10) What’s next for you after this project?
Hopefully I will find a job in an education department of a London museum

Since you woke up this morning, how many different pieces of crockery do you reckon you’ve used today? Maybe a cup for your morning coffee? Perhaps a plate for your lunch? Most of us use these items everyday without thinking about it.

I’m pretty sure the people of Roman Londinium, or those Medieval, Tudor, Georgian and Victorian Londoners didn’t think twice about all those plates, jugs, bowls, cups and bottles they used day in day out either. And I’m pretty certain they didn’t think that 100, 500 or 2000 years down the line, we’d be using their pottery to find out about their lives. But that’s exactly what we do as archaeologists. And now you too as museum visitors can do so as well.

As part of the Museum of London’s Archaeological Archive & Research Centre’s 10th anniversary celebrations we’re running special HANDS-ON ARCHAEOLOGY workshops where you can get your “hands on” some of these pieces of pot that past Londoners used.

Every Monday, Tuesday & Friday in the Museum’s Clore Learning Centre, you can join me or my colleague Glynn along with our excellent team of volunteers and help us sort out some of our pottery collections that need a bit of care and attention. So far during these hour long sessions, visitors have got to handle real Roman pottery including serving jugs (flagons), large storage vessels (amphorae) and decorated drinking vessels (highgate ware). There’s also been some lovely London “delftware” and “German stoneware“  that we’ve been going through too.

Each session starts at 3.15pm and begins with a brief history of London’s Archaeology (which is also a chance to spot how museum staff have changed over the past 250 years) before we give you a box of pottery to look at and explain how to go about sorting the pieces and improving the way they’re stored.

The workshops are open to everyone of any age and best of all, they’re completely FREE! So if you fancy coming along to learn a bit more about pots and get your hands on some, please do – it will be great to meet you! For more info visit our events page: HANDS-ON ARCHAEOLOGY

1) When did you join the volunteer programme and why?
2006 due to an interest in history and archaeology

2) What was your most memorable day whilst volunteering?
They are all great

3) What was your favourite object you discovered whilst volunteering?
So many, I can’t possibly choose just one!

4) What’s your favourite part of the museum?
LAARC

5) Upper galleries of lower?
Both but I really like both the prehistory and roman ones

6) Favourite year in London’s history?
44AD

7) Favourite Londoner?
Robert Hooke

8) Mortimer Wheeler or Indiana Jones
Mortimer Wheeler!

9) If you could dig anywhere in the world where would you excavate?
Catal Huyuk, a Neolithic site in Turkey

10) What’s next for you after this project?
Back to the archive!

Followers of Rock & Pop music will be well aware that every few years a legendary group reforms. Over the past decade Pink Floyd, Cream, Blur, The Stone Roses & Take That all made impressive comebacks. Well today my blog friends, at 10.00 GMT, the Museum of London’s Archaeological Archive & Research Centre had not one but TWO of their very own legends reunite.

Today, Alan Thompson, LAARC’s Archaeological Records Officer when it opened in 2002, worked alongside his then colleague (and current LAARC archivist) Cath Maloney for the first time since retiring 9 years ago. And their reunion was all due to the second and perhaps even cooler reunion.

Today, also at 10.00 GMT, Alan was reunited with the excavation GPO75 – 1975’s General Post Office excavations at Newgate Street – of which he was the site director. From 10am – 4pm, he and Cath were sharing their knowledge, experiences and indeed memeories of the site with museum visitors at our Archaeological Records table in Archaeology in Action. And our visitors (were you one?) loved it as they showed people the original documents that the team of archaeologists wrote on site, photos from the excavation, the various elements that go towards a publication, xrays of mysterious objects that were dug up and of course… the matrix…

And this was just one example of the awesome time we’ve been having this week as we continue to celebrate 10 years of our archaeological archive. On Tuesday, our volunteers from our Osteology section spoke to over 150 people about skeletons dug up from the site (for more follow this link – GPO75 SKELETONS ), whilst on Monday, archaeological conservators from both our museum and those studying at UCL shared their knowledge and expertise about how we preserve our archaeological material.

All three will be returning over the next 9 weeks; Conservation every Monday, Skeletons every Tuesday and the Archaeological Records every Friday – all from 10am – 4pm in Archaeology In Action. Find out more by visiting our website – EVENTS

As well as that our volunteers have been interacting with hundreds of visitors at our two other tables too. Also in Archaeology In Action, Volunteers have been working their way through boxes of pottery, animal bone and building material, improving the way they’re stored and their packaging whilst chatting to visitors. Best of all visitors can handle the material, literally coming into contact with the past.

Outside our London Before London gallery, you can also meet LAARC staff and volunteers and find out what it is that we actually do in an archaeological archive and why this needs to be done. You can handle some amazing artefacts, search for archaeology in any part of London, find out about some of our award winning projects and, should you get the urge, dress up as an archaeologist.

And the number one question that was being asked this week? How can we get involved? The answer is simple. Come along to a free Hands-On Archaeology workshop which takes place in our Clore Learning Centre each Monday, Tuesday & Friday from 3.15 – 4.15. If you’ve ever wanted to get your hands on real archaeology, this is your chance. The workshops allow you to learn about London’s archaeology by getting your hands on it and in the process you get to help us improve the way we store our collections! Check out these pictures from some of the sessions that have already taken place.

For more information about the Hands-On Archaeology sessions visit our events page – EVENTS.

We’ll be around every Monday, Tuesday & Friday for the next few weeks. Hope to see you soon!

1) When did you join the volunteer programme and why?
Joined for VIP9 because I’m interested in archaeology and future museum work

2) What was your most memorable day whilst volunteering?
I particularly remember the leather workshop – great winklepickers

3) What was your favourite object you discovered whilst volunteering?
A horse leg bone. It was massive. Noone was nearly as impressed as I was.

4) What’s your favourite part of the museum?
London before London. I find flint tools fascinating

5) Upper galleries of lower?
Upper

6) Favourite year in London’s history?
1381 – the peasant’s revolt

7) Favourite Londoner?
Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins

8) Mortimer Wheeler or Indiana Jones
Wheeler for the ‘tache

9) If you could dig anywhere in the world where would you excavate?
Marine Archaeology in the Mediterranean, I love diving

10) What’s next for you after this project?
MA in Museum Studies. Hopefully.

If you happened to visit the Museum of London today, did you spot us? The staff and volunteers at the London Archaeological Archive & Research Centre (LAARC) have begun our 10 week residency at the Museum to share our work with you! And if you weren’t at the museum today, here’s what you missed:

Outside our “London Before London” gallery, our archive manager had a selection of goodies:

• Visitors handled objects made in London almost 2000 years ago
• Visitors looked at the original records sheets that archaeologists wrote whilst they were digging up sites.
• School groups had fun trying to figure out a mystery object whose identity was revealed by an  x-ray
• Teachers admired a range of artefacts dug up by school children during our 2005 community project
• Londoners searched our online catalogue to find out what’s been dug up in their area
• One budding young archaeologist tried on a hard hat and held a trowel for the first time!

Meanwhile, a bit further on in “Archaeology In Action” all this was going on:

• Conservation students from University College London were showing people how a piece of wood deteriorates if not looked after.
• There was more guessing of mystery objects using x-rays for answers
• Visitors were handling, comparing (and sniffing) pieces of leather, all conserved in different ways.
• You could take a look at how conservators remove very fragile objects from an excavation

Alongside the conservators were LAARC volunteers:

• Packing archaeological finds, they were chatting to visitors about what they were doing.
• Visitors were able to pick up and handle real objects
• You could discover how we store artefacts at the museum and why we do so

To cap things off several visitors joined us for our afternoon workshop – Hands-On Archaeology – where they learnt a bit about London’s Archaeological history, got their “hands on” some real roman pottery, worked alongside volunteers and sorted pots into different types and helped us improve the way these pot sherds are stored.

So all in all it was a pretty awesome day. It was great to meet so many visitors and share a bit of our work with them. And if you weren’t there today, don’t worry, we’re doing it all again tomorrow and on Friday and indeed, we’ll be around for the next 10 weeks, so come along and say hi.

For more information about our various events visit our website’s events pages: events pages link

In a unassuming building along Hackney/Islington’s Regents Canal borders a team of museum archaeologists are getting quite excited. The reason being, us staff at the London Archaeological Archive & Research Centre are soon to celebrate our 10th anniversary and we’re only days away from the starting the celebrations.

Since opening in 2002 we’ve really focused on 4 main things: To make sure London’s archaeology is stored in an space efficient way that is accessible to all; to encourage and facilitate research into London’s history using the objects and information people left behind; to promote learning and enjoyment by discovering London’s heritage and finally; to be ambassadors of archaeology and leaders in our field of expertise.

That may all sound a little grandiose so put in another way, for the past 10 years we’ve been looking after things that have been dug up, sharing them with as many people as possible and generally have a lot of fun with archaeology along the way.

AND NOW WE’RE COMING TO YOU!

For the next 10 weeks from January 16th to March 23rd, every Monday, Tuesday & Friday, from 10.00 – 16.00, we’re heading to the Museum of London itself to share London’s archaeology with museum visitors. Part of the celebrations will see our Award Winning “Visitor Inclusion Project” return, only this time on a much larger scale.

Joining LAARC staff will be a team of volunteers spanning the past decade, from those who have only just completed a volunteer project, to those that were here from day 1. You can meet them at the “Archaeology Exposed” tables and find out what they’re currently working on every Mon, Tues & Friday in the Archaeology in Action Exhibition.

In addition, on Mondays you can find out about archaeological conservation and meet student conservators from University College London who’ll be sharing the techniques they use to preserve artefacts.

On Tuesdays come and meet our volunteers from the Centre of Human Bioarchaeology and find out how they use skeletal remains to understand past Londoner’s lives.

On Fridays join our archivists who will reveal the importance of recording archaeological data and the wealth of information that site archives can reveal.

And if this wasn’t enough, you can directly GET INVOLVED by coming to a “Hands-On Archaeology” workshop where you’ll have the opportunity to handle real pieces of pottery that were excavated during the 1970s, learn how the museum stores its archaeological collections and help us improve the way these important artefacts are stored.

Each session lasts just an hour (3.15 – 4.15) and are completely free of charge (though you have to get a ticket from the front desk when you arrive).

As the weeks progress, we’ll be keeping you updated with our happenings, sharing stories from the past 10 years and introducing you to some of our excellent volunteers, right here on the blog pages.

We really hope you can drop by and join us as we’re sure it’s going to be a blast. For more info about how you can get involved in the Hands-On Archaeology sessions, visit the events page by clicking here: Hands-On Archaeology event

As the end of another year approaches, we once again have to say goodbye to another Volunteer Inclusion Project. VIP9 has been a whole lot of fun, with some really excellent people having joined our volunteer team for the past 10 weeks. We’ve worked our way through some important archaeological material and now have much better organised and accessible finds archives.

So a huge thank to everyone who’s helped make this project a success; all the specialists and curators that led the workshops and of course the 38 volunteers that gave up their time to help improve the museum’s collections. It’s been a blast and here are a selection of images showing why:

New volunteers improving the collections

And having fun "reinterpreting" the objects

Checking the smell of history

Site archives effeciently reboxed and organised

Specialist Workshops

University of The 3rd Age fun

Home educated children mixing learning and enjoyment

Experts sharing their knowledge

Activities such as medieval shoe making

Right then, one more thing before we sign off VIP9, the result of the Object of the Competition. This project’s best object as voted by you is…. (click anywhere within these brackets to find out)

Was that the one you went for?

Ok then, that’s it for now, we’re off to enjoy the festive festivities. But VIP will be back come January. And trust me, you definitely don’t want to miss VIP10.

Merry Christmas from The LAARC!

Anyway, as part of my training, I’ve been let loose on the LAARC blog, possibly just to see if I can use a computer (so far so good), but also to say a little bit more about LAARC and the role of Archaeological Records (Digital) Officer.

An archaeological archive differs from a traditional archive as it includes both records (in various forms and formats: paper, photographic, digital) and finds. At the LAARC, we accept archives relating to archaeological projects undertaken in the Greater London area, and I will be responsible for managing the digital records that are received as part of these archives.

Archaeology (old stuff) and digital (new stuff) seem odd bed-fellows, but in reality modern archaeological excavations can generate huge amounts of digital data. These can include relatively common digital records such as reports, spreadsheets and digital photographs, to more specialised formats such as GIS (Geographical Information Systems), Geophysics and CAD files.

As well as managing and providing access to these records, I will also be involved in assigning site or ‘project’ codes to new archaeological projects in London, assisting in responding to external enquiries about our collection, keeping our website and collection databases up-to-date, blogging about our work, and helping with the LAARC’s outreach activities.

However, my very next task is to help decorate the traditional LAARC Christmas gingerbread house – an Archaeological Records (Digital) Officer’s work is never done!

Previous incarnation of the traditional LAARC Christmas gingerbread house

And so we come to the end of our ninth Volunteer Inclusion Project. The task this week was to make a start with the reboxing of all the animal bone from VIP9’s major site, Seal House.

The teams cracked on with organising the animal bone boxes into one long sequence based on their context numbers (the numbers relating to the layer in the ground they were found in). They also recorded the shell from the site, quantifying the material before disposing of it.

However, as with all our projects the real focus of the final week is our afternoon visits to the Museum of London itself where we wrap things up with behind the scenes visits.

This project we started with our fabulous friends in the Centre For Human Bioarchaeology.

We then were treated to a tour around our Conservation Labs.

And to top things off, Caroline McDonald, the new Senior Curator of Prehistoric & Roman collections took us on a trip around the Roman Gallery, highlighting key artefacts she would like to explore in more depth for the forthcoming 2015 gallery redesign (Mon & Tues)

whilst Inclusion officers, Lucy Fitton & Lowell Black gave us an insight into the forthcoming Our Londinium 2012 exhibition.

And if that wasn’t enough, we had even more fun on Wednesday for the last sessions with our friends from the University of the 3rd Age, who presented their final creative pieces inspired by an aspect of their 10 week experience.

And to cap this blog off, I’m going to finish with images from possibly the most fun we’ve had with any group on any VIP project – the Family Groups made authentic Roman cuisine, prepared using replica roman mortarium, then we made super wintry scented pomanders and ended with a look at everyone’s comics that they produced last week.

Our final photo of the week is our brilliant security guard Sami, checking the quality of the kid’s garlic dip:

The VIP9 project has been brilliant. From the feedback, all our volunteers, young and old, have not only enjoyed themselves, but learnt lots about archaeology too. And on top of all this the museum now has much better stored archives which are much more accessible for all. Very. Very. Satisfying.

All that leaves me to say is if you haven’t voted for your favourite object from the project, there’s still time to do so (and then you will have been a part of VIP9 as well). Click anywhere in this sentence to link to the voting page. Cheerio!

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to vote for their favourite objects during he course of this week. Each day you’ve been voting in your droves and have narrowed the original 16 objects down to just 4. Are you ready for one last vote. It’s time for

THE GRAND FINAL

On Monday you chose the Squirrel Token excavated in 1979 at Newgate Street and audited by Wednesday volunteer Alan during week 2. This copper token depicts a squirrel eating a nut surrounded by fleurs-de-lis. Such depictions have also been found on seal matrices with the legend ‘I CRAKE NOTIS’ – ‘I crack nuts’ – referring to the breaking of the seal. This token may relate to the furrier trade, squirrel pelts being in huge demand in the medieval period. The tale of Cinderella may  have involved her losing a squirrel fur-lined-slipper as opposed to a glass slipper, the pronunciation of vair (meaning fur) and verre (meaning glass) in old French being identical!

On Tuesday the winner was the medieval purse. The ‘medieval’ style of wearing a purse was for it to be hung from the waist, attaching to a belt or girdle. Later types would thread through the belt as an anti-bandit mechanism. This one was excavated from the medieval waterfront at Vintry, hence its fantastic survival condition. It was found alongside dress fittings, trade seals, metalworking waste and coins…but none were found in the actual purse! It was audited by Wednesday volunteer Hannah during week 7

Wednesday’s winner was excavated at Rectory Grove in 1980 and was audited during week 9 by Friday volunteer, Mary. This is a rare, late 17th Century ‘bird pot’ designed to be hung on the side of a building for nesting sparrows. A hole at the back of the pot, known as a ‘robbery hole’, allowed access to the sparrow eggs or indeed fledgling sparrows themselves. The LAARC holds only 61 examples and they are a London phenomenon to Britain. Their discovery in relation with wealthy households has led to an interpretation of them as supplying live sparrows for hawking – a privileged pastime. However, sparrows were also used as a dietary supplement by the poorer classes, which questions their context…sparrow pie anyone?

And the last finalist you opted for were these rare examples of Roman sandal rosettes from 1990’s Bull Wharf investigations. The Y-shaped sandal strap would be secured between the toes with a leather peg holding the functional rosette piece – hence the two slits. The additional rosette piece would have been appliquéd to the top and is purely decorative. It is interesting that such detail has been applied to such a small piece of leather. This footwear fashion was popular across the empire (especially Egypt) with examples having been found at military sites including Vindolanda (Hadrian’s Wall), Germany and Switzerland. They were audited by Monday volunteer John O C during week 7.

Only one can win and it’s up to you to help pick the best of the best. If you don’t play, you don’t get a say! For the Grand Final, voting will stay open for 6 days until noon on Wednesday 14th Dec. Plenty of time to tell your friends to take a look and see if they fancy the same one as you. And should you fancy, you can always leave a comment saying why you made your choice by clicking on the title of  this blog in the right hand navigation panel and leaving a comment a the bottom of the blog.

To cast your vote, click on the word VOTE! below:

VOTE!

Voting has now closed.

Big thanks to everyone who has taken the time to play along – we’ve hoped you’ve enjoyed it as much as we have. Huge thanks to my colleague Glynn for the photos and captions. And a massive thanks to all the VIP9 volunteers whose hard work helped us rediscover these fantastic objects!

And so we come to the last of our daily competitions to determine the best object from our ninth Volunteer Inclusion Project based at the Museum of London’s Archaeological Archive & Research Centre.

On Monday you chose the Squirrel Token as the first daily winner and then selected the Leather Purse as Tuesday’s victor. Yesterday you decided that the best object was…

THE BIRD POT!

There’s only one more space left in tomorrow’s Grand Final. Which one will you go for today?

We kick off with an object from week8. Audited by Monday volunteer John W, this is a 17^th Century copper-alloy coin weight, specifically dating to 1612 – 1632 during the reign of king James I. Coin weights were produced to check the weight and quality of coins in circulation – forgery being as great then as it is now. This square type of coin weight (as opposed to round) was introduced at the beginning of the 16^th Century with the addition of the coin value in Shillings (S) and Pence (D). This weight marks twenty-two (XXII) shillings, equivalent to the gold coin known as a unite that was minted at the Tower of London. This object however was originally discovered at Albert Embankment excavations in 1980

Next we’ve a silver Edwardian hatpin originally dug up in 1979 at Wall Garden Farm, but rediscovered during week 6 by Tuesday volunteer Jon. The long pin is actually missing, which led to the object being erroneously interpreted as a ‘mount’. The reverse of the pin has the hall mark ‘P&T’, in addition to three hall marks of an anchor, lion and the Roman numeral ‘I’. This identifies the makers as Pearce & Thompson of Birmingham. Hatpins remained a standard accessory for women throughout the Edwardian period. Unfortunately we have no additional context for this particular pin as it’s unstratified – perhaps accidentally lost by the owner one windy day.

Third up are these rare examples of Roman sandal rosettes from 1990’s Bull Wharf investigations. The Y-shaped sandal strap would be secured between the toes with a leather peg holding the functional rosette piece – hence the two slits. The additional rosette piece would have been appliquéd to the top and is purely decorative. It is interesting that such detail has been applied to such a small piece of leather. This footwear fashion was popular across the empire (especially Egypt) with examples having been found at military sites including Vindolanda (Hadrian’s Wall), Germany and Switzerland. They were audited by Monday volunteer John O C during week 7.

And the final object is the decorated glass head of a mid 18^th Century bird feeder, for caged birds. The tricorn hat may indicate the Duke of Marlborough – a well known soldier and statesman of the time. The head would have faced outward from the cage, so to quote a report on this object: “the anthropomorphism of the feeders was not for the delectation of the pet, but of the owner”! The object was found in a brick-lined pit from the Crosswall in City of London and the contents of its domestic rubbish included the bone of a linnet (song-bird) – perhaps the very bird that the feeder had fed. Friday volunteer Natasha had the pleasure of auditing this object during week 6.

Only one object can make it through to tomorrow’s Grand Final and it’s up to you to decide. Vote for your favourite by clicking on the word VOTE! right here:

VOTE!

Voting has now closed.

Voting closes tomorrow at noon when the winner will join the others in the Grand Final!

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to play along. We’ve hoped you’ve been enjoying it as much as us. Feel free to leave a comment below. See y’all tomorrow.

We’re back for Round 3 of the competition that gets YOU deciding which object has been the best of the current Volunteer Inclusion Project based at the Museum’s Archaeological Archive.

Yesterday’s competition had some really strong candidates but again one object was miles ahead of the others. The winner with the highest number of votes was…

THE LEATHER PURSE

It joins Monday’s winner, the SQUIRREL TOKEN, in Friday’s Grand Final

Here’s Round 3’s selections:

The first option was only rediscovered last week by Friday volunteer Jane. Although uncertain, it is likely that this is the end of a scissor arm – specifically from a pair of grape scissors. Grape scissors were used during the dessert course of a Victorian dinner and tend to be ornately designed, which this fragmentary object displays evidence of. Dining etiquette was an important part of the Victorian code of polite society – only after the grapes had been correctly cut was it permissible for the diner to use his or her fingers. It was originally recovered from Rectory Grove excavations in 1980.

The second artefact also comes from Rectory Grove, was also audited during week 9 and was done so by another Friday volunteer, Mary. This is a rare, late 17^th Century ‘bird pot’ designed to be hung on the side of a building for nesting sparrows. A hole at the back of the pot, known as a ‘robbery hole’, allowed access to the sparrow eggs or indeed fledgling sparrows themselves. The LAARC holds only 61 examples and they are a London phenomenon to Britain. Their discovery in relation with wealthy households has led to an interpretation of them as supplying live sparrows for hawking – a privileged pastime. However, sparrows were also used as a dietary supplement by the poorer classes, which questions their context…sparrow pie anyone?

The third choice was audited by Monday volunteer Paula during week 3 and is a late Saxon – 10^th Century – whittle tang knife blade found in 1979 at Peninsular House. The handle, now lost, may have been made from animal horn or even ivory. This particular blade is especially interesting because of the wire inlay, producing the gold coloured decoration. Copper and brass wire would have been laid side to side in paired grooves in the iron and then hammered. A similar knife has been found a very short distance away in an excavation at Poultry. Saxon London was a major centre for trade but these commonly found knives are English made.

And the final candidate today was audited by Tuesday volunteer Benji during week 4. This is a fine example of a tassel of the Elizabethan era, dating between 1580 and 1600 from its contextual pottery assemblage. It is rare for fibre to survive archaeologically but is due to the material being dumped and buried in a pond that related to the House of Sir John Fastolf (Shakespeare’s Sir John Falstaff) in Southwark (the excavation was at Unicorn Passage, Tooley Street). It is unknown as to what the tassel would have attached to…perhaps clothing, or something more functional such as curtains. We suggest that maybe it adorned a Shakespearean throw cushion!

Well we don’t make it easy for you. Will the scissors seduce you? Will you be blown away by the bird pot? Knocked out by the knife? Or will the tassel tickle your fancy? There’s only one way to decide:

VOTE!

Voting has now closed. Click any part of this sentence for today’s competition.

Voting will close at noon tomorrow when the winner will be announced and you’ll get to vote in the last of the daily rounds before Friday’s Grand Final.

Thanks to everyone for voting and supporting us!

Each day this week we’re celebrating the success of our ninth Volunteer Inclusion Project, by putting the best objects that we’ve seen over the past 10 weeks up in daily competitions to decide which is the best.

Yesterday saw some tough choices but there was one clear winner. The object you voted as your favourite was…

THE SQUIRREL TOKEN!

This now enters Friday’s Grand Final. And here’s today’s options:

First up is from week 3 and was audited by Tuesday volunteer Carl. This 16^th–17^th Century copper-alloy figurine depicts the English Patron Saint, George, defeating the legendary dragon. It has been interpreted as a dress or belt fitting although the suspension rings at each end suggest that it may have been part of a more complicated mount. If the object did not have these attachments it could be interpreted as a toy. The object is detailed with plate armour, which is a common depiction of the Saint as a Roman soldier (Georgius). An interesting item considering its discovery in 1979 was outside the Tower of London postern gate excavations – perhaps it was lost by a guard…or deliberately discarded?

Next is this late medieval or early post-medieval wooden chess piece audited by Monday volunteer Norma during week 2. Earlier chess or gaming pieces are non-figurative and usually made of bone. Chess originated in India, known as shatranj, with the gaming pieces represented military divisions. The ‘bishop’ was originally an elephant and the later design of these pieces with a split head may be representative of the elephant’s tusks. Chess became very popular across Europe in the Middle Ages, the deep groove in the piece at this time representing a bishop’s mitre. It was originally discovered in 1979 at Miles Lane.

Third up is a well preserved example of a medieval purse. The ‘medieval’ style of wearing a purse was for it to be hung from the waist, attaching to a belt or girdle. Later types would thread through the belt as an anti-bandit mechanism. This one was excavated from the medieval waterfront at Vintry, hence its fantastic survival condition. It was found alongside dress fittings, trade seals, metalworking waste and coins…but none were found in the actual purse! It was audited by Wednesday volunteer Hannah during week 7

The last object was audited by Friday volunteer Susan during week 5. This is the base of a Roman samian cup dating to 160 – 200 AD and discovered at Seal House in 1974. On the base’s interior is the stamp of the pot maker: one Saturninus of Lezoux in central Gaul (Roman France), from where a huge amount of samian was exported to the wider Roman Empire. The potter Saturninus shares his name with the Roman winter festival the Saturnalia – in honour of the god Saturn – at which Roman social norms were inverted. Considering Winter has now kicked in, this seemed an appropriate object to include as an object of the week!

And now it’s your time to choose today’s best object. Which will you go for? To vote, click on the word VOTE! below:

VOTE!

Voting has now closed but you can vote in Round 4’s competition

Voting will close at noon tomorrow, when the winner will be announced and Round 3 will open.

Thanks for playing!

Alright people! Over the past 9 weeks volunteers at the Museum of London’s Archaeological Archive & Research Centre have been working their way through loads of awesome objects, checking that they’re ordered, accessible and stored correctly. During the course of this ninth Volunteer Inclusion Project, 16 objects have stood out as the cream of the crop, the tip top treasures, the stars of the show.

However we want to know which one YOU think is the best of best. So each day this week, we’re putting four objects up against each other in daily competitions.

It’s simple to play: Look at the pictures, read the captions, decide which one you think deserves to be that day’s winner and click on the word VOTE at the end of the page.

Here are the first four contenders:

Our first object was excavated in 1979 at Newgate Street and audited by Wednesday volunteer Alan during week 2. This copper token depicts a squirrel eating a nut surrounded by fleurs-de-lis. Such depictions have also been found on seal matrices with the legend ‘I CRAKE NOTIS’ – ‘I crack nuts’ – referring to the breaking of the seal. This token may relate to the furrier trade, squirrel pelts being in huge demand in the medieval period. The tale of Cinderella may  have involved her losing a squirrel fur-lined-slipper as opposed to a glass slipper, the pronunciation of vair (meaning fur) and verre (meaning glass) in old French being identical!

The second choice was audited by Friday volunteer Richard during week 4. This anthropomorphic appendage was found in a dump outside the southern Tower of London postern gate. The ceramic foot is well crafted showing sophistication (unlike some moulded pieces) and would have been part of a statue considering its size. A hole in its base may have aided the firing process in the kiln, rather than having been part of the statue’s mounting. The fabric of the clay is a London type and was probably made between 1500 and 1680. The statue may have been disposed from the Tower of London, or perhaps from the many industrial activities that pervaded the Tower’s area in post medieval times.

The third option is a piece of medieval stained window glass. Also found at Newgate Street in 1979, it was rediscovered by Tuesday volunteer Katerina during Week 5. Rather than being mounted this piece looks as though it has been ‘grazed’, that is, chipped away round the edges, perhaps from a larger piece – an early example of glass recycling! By the 16^th Century window glass such as this would have been found more commonly in secular buildings as opposed to religious buildings. The central design is that of the Tudor Rose – a common motif of this period.

The final contender comes from Week 8 when Tuesday volunteer Sunny was working through the site archive for 1980’s Albert Embankment excavations. It’s previously been an object-of-the–month back in October 2008, where it was identified as a potter’s tool and this certainly fits with its Lambeth location where the pottery industry flourished from the late 17^th Century. The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) has logged three examples of this object (outside of London), but all are missing the wheel. However, they have been interpreted as Roman tile combs (focusing on the use of its T-shaped end) but this dating isn’t contextual. Perhaps they’re actually post-medieval pastry jiggers!

Tough decisions but which is your favourite? To cast your vote click here:

VOTE!

Voting has now closed. Click here for today’s competition: Round 4

Voting will be open until noon tomorrow when the winner will be revealed and round two’s choices will be up for the vote.

Thanks for playing along and feel free to leave a comment below.

]]> http://www.mymuseumoflondon.org.uk/blogs/blog/object-of-laarc-vip9-round-1/feed/ 1 http://www.mymuseumoflondon.org.uk/blogs/blog/laarc-vip9-week-9/ http://www.mymuseumoflondon.org.uk/blogs/blog/laarc-vip9-week-9/#comments Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:54:12 +0000 Adam Corsini http://www.mymuseumoflondon.org.uk/blogs/?p=7132 All Kinds Of Ends

As this current Volunteer Inclusion Project at the Museum of London’s Archaeological Archive draws to a close, we’ve started to see real improvements in the storage and access of our collections.

The big site we’ve been working through since week one has been Seal House, (links to online catalogue) dug in 1974. With the pottery and building material completed in previous weeks, the final boxes of animal bone were sorted and repacked this week, Tuesday’s team packing the last bag.
Friday’s team began the next challenge of sorting all the bags and boxes into one continuous run from context number 0 – the end. That means laying out all the bags and reboxing them into a tidy organised sequence.

On the other side of the project we began attacking the remaining sites from the early 80’s registered finds. This included the metal artefacts from both Crosswall (links to online catalogue) and Bevis Marks (links to online catalogue) and the non metals from Holloway Lane (links to online catalogue).

This last site produced some interesting oddities such as these stone slingshots, prehistoric spindlewhorl and this fragment of a limestone statue depicting a naked dude.

The workshop this week was all about flints and was led by flint expert, Jon Cotton. Handily, beforehand, the volunteers all got to repack some flint artefacts, namely a lot of flint flakes from Rectory Grove in Lambeth (links to online catalogue), bringing the Registered Finds project to an end.

As for our two Wednesday groups, the U3A and the Home Educated families, they continued on from last week, preparing their creative projects which we’re all going to watch next week!

NEWS FLASH!

Each week we’ve been coming across some awesome finds as we’ve been revisiting these early archives and now it’s time for the best of them to all compete in the Object of VIP9 Competition!
Starting on Monday 5th Dec, each day next week four objects will go up against each other and, you, the blog reader will get to decide which is the best. Click on the RSS feed button at the top of the page to make sure you don’t miss out.