The working life of Museum of London

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Over at the Museum of London Docklands, Lynda (Community Access Officer) and I have been working in partnership with students and staff from Newham Community Links to prepare a programme of video interviews. This project forms part of a series of community involvement projects that are currently underway.

The young people involved in this project have been commissioned to research, organise and film interviews on the theme of ‘the Children of the Windrush Generation’. This will explore the experiences of London-born adults with Caribbean parents, documenting their memories of childhood, attending school and growing up in London during the 1960s,1970s and 1980s.

The final interviews will be installed into a permanent touch-screen display in our ‘London, Sugar and Slavery’ Gallery. We currently have some great people lined up to interview, but are still looking for more interviewees. If you would like to take part, please contact us here: crossingtheseas@museumoflondon.org.uk.

So who is our project production team and what have they been up to so far?

Meet Shona, Grant, Tola, Freddie, Charley and Jason.

We have been working together since January, when Lynda and I went over the the Newham Community Links Centre to introduce ourselves and explain the project brief. We discussed the ways we would be working, what we needed to research and film, and a rough timetable of the project. It was a chance for the group to decide whether they wanted to get involved, to ask questions and to let us know if there was a particular aspect of the project they were most interested in (for example music/soundtrack production). It was also a great opportunity to catch up with Sophie, who is one of the Centre Managers, and who has been extremely patient with us whilst we got the project brief together (Hello Sophie! and thank you!) 

For the first week, the group came over to the Museum of London Docklands to get acquainted with the Museum space, and to take a look at the touch screen interactive in the LSS Gallery that their final work will go into. We had some great discussions in reaction to the Gallery, and followed this up with a look at the film ‘500 years later’ by Owen ‘Alik Shahadah – we have shown this film to previous project groups at the Museum, and find it always serves as serious food for thought.

The second week was all about getting our head round the periods of the 60s-80s, and in particular, focusing on what was happening in London. Using the timeline produced by the Roots to Reckoning team (Neil Kenlock, Armet Francis, and Charlie Phillips), each group member selected a particular event or issue from each respective decade, and used the wonder of Internet connections to research related articles and photos. The information collated made up the beginnings of idea/mood boards for each decade, which we will continue to build on over the project. From these boards we also drew up four working categories: Education, Entertainment, Career and Ambition, and Lifestyle. These will be developed into the final themes the interviews will go into on the touch-screen installation.

Last week we were joined by Rib Davis from the Oral History Society, who led an introductory workshop on recording Oral History and practical interview techniques. Rib has worked on a series of fantastic Oral History projects over at The Lightbox, and has a wealth of experience having carried out hundreds of interviews. It was great to pick his brains regarding interview etiquette, finding the right questions to get people talking, and of course, the art of laughing without making a sound (essential for audio-only interviews).

I particularly enjoyed listening to the practice interviews, when our young people took up the interviewer roles. It was a sly opportunity to earwig into the teenage lives of Lynda, Shona, Jason and Rib – I heard snippets of disgruntled trumpet practice, football matches vs. live music, and the inevitability of growing old and relying on Lucozade, it was pretty fascinating!

And so, the project continues on this week, which I hope to update you with in the not-too-distant future. Major kudos must be given to our group (both staff and students), who have kindly volunteered to come in during their half-term break (which Lynda and I are really very happy about, otherwise I will eat all the biscuits). I am also hoping that we will actually get some of our young people on here to update the project blog, and I do believe we have a mix-tape in the works……..  

 Dental disease and other afflictions of the teeth were suffered by many in the nineteenth century. The analysis of skeletons from St Mary and St Michael, Whitechapel, London revealed over 80% of adults with carious lesions (cavities) and 90% with mineralized plaque deposits (calculus) stuck to the surfaces of their teeth. This suggested a starchy diet that was high in carbohydrates and containing sugars, as well as poor oral hygiene. Almost 80% of individuals had also lost at least some of their teeth during life, most likely through decay and disease.

 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.

Paget ’s disease

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

   By Dr James Morris 

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/

Each month we offer an insight into a fascinating object from our vast collection, this month we feature a Christmas card from 1890.

The tradition of sending Christmas cards to friends and family became fashionable during the reign of Queen Victoria and has survived the intranet age to remain a popular way of staying in contact over this festive time.

This card from our collection represents the look and design of some of the earliest cards ever to be sent.

Here, a clown holding a large Christmas pudding pops up when the Christmas card is opened.

 Victorians felt that clown’s added fun, surprise and mischief to many a Christmas scene as they were leading performers in the popular Christmas pantomimes in theatres at the time.

Although clowns are not now seen as necessarily embodying the spirit of Christmas, in the Victorian period, they symbolised the festive spirit of both Christmas and the New Year to both young and old.

Inside the card, a seasonal poem is printed to accompany the sender’s personal messages:

“Hurrah! Hurrah! For Christmas Day, and the pudding so big and jolly, may you my dear be just as gay when all’s gone, save the holly”.

The sending of Christmas cards and many of the other traditions of Christmas such as “dressing the tree” that developed in Victorian times and gained popularity through the works of authors such as  Charles Dickens are explored in a series of events at both museums during the holiday period.

A fall in numbers this week, but still whole sites completed and the second round of specialist workshops

Monday’s team were all present and divided themselves into two teams to tackle the registered finds from the Ludgate Hill site excavated in 1974 (LH74). An abundance of stone hones were found on the site and prior to Monday had all been assigned individual registered finds numbers but had been bundled altogether in large bags making it extremely time consuming to find any particular one. So the volunteers very patiently separated them out and ordered them, before repacking them into more managable, accessible bags, with the hones laid out in order. In addition ceramic, bone and glass finds were checked off, included paw print tiles, glass vessels and even some hair and food samples!

Tuesday’s volunteers made a triumphant return after illnesses reduced numbers last week. In contrast to Monday, the whole team worked on general finds, mainly animal bone and pottery  from Harp Lane (HL74) All the animal bone from the site was processed and relabeled and several boxes of pottery were tackled also.

No action on Wednesday as the U3A/Mossbourne Academy team of 13 stopped for half term break. Adam and Glynn took the opportunity to rebox and update the digital records for the sites worked on so far during VIP4. The “Wednesday’s” return next week to start the general finds from Shoreditch Park (NNR05)

Only 1 volunteer this week from Thursday’s team and he worked on a registered finds from Baynards House (MM74) in the morning, continuing with general finds from Harp Lane (HL74) after lunch.

The three workshops this week started with Jackie Keily’s Leather talk on Monday, followed by Geoff Egan’s metal finds handling session on Tuesday and were completed by Jacqui Pearce’s Clay Tobacco Pipe workshop on Thursday.

 So far so good as we’re on track to complete our targets as we reach next week’s half way point! To view other photos from week 4 and previous weeks visit our Flickr site

Each month we offer an insight into a fascinating object from our vast collection.

16^th century shoe as worn on the stage of the Rose Theatre 

This shoe was recovered from the Rose Theatre site on the Bankside of the Thames in the late 1980’s by Museum of London Archaeology and is believed to have been worn during performances undertaken on this famous 16^th century theatrical stage. The Rose was one of two key playhouses of Tudor London, the other being The Globe. The Rose was built in 1587, predating the building of its rival by 12 years.  The timbers used to construct The Globe were themselves taken from The Theatre, in Shoreditch, where Shakespeare’s first plays were performed.  The foundations of The Theatre were recently uncovered by Museum of London archaeologists.

The Rose Theatre has long been associated with the works of Christopher Marlowe, with the first performances of plays such as the Massacre at Paris believed to have been undertaken there, but Shakespeare’s also used the theatre. Performances of Henry VI and Titus Andronicus are believed to have graced the Rose’s stage in the early 1590’s.

The shoe is one of many remarkable finds that have allowed Museum of London archaeologists to piece together the story of London’s Elizabethan playhouses. The shoe has a high ‘vamp’ or upper and the pink zig-zagged patterning can still be seen. The throat of the shoe is stitched with delicately holed and decorated scallops. The pressures on actors at the time are highlighted by the hole at the toe end – which was most likely to have been deliberately cut to accommodate a painful bunion.  

This shoe, along with three others from the Museum’s collections worn by later prominent Shakespearean actors, will be on display in the foyer of Museum of London Docklands from late November. The shoes will be surrounded by hazelnut shells found at the Elizabethan sites – an historical equivalent of cinema popcorn today. Dress pins, probably dropped during costume changes will also be on show.The display accompaniesMuseum of London Archaeology’s publication of The Rose and The Globe: Playhouses of Shakespeare’s Bankside, Southwark, the definitive book on the archaeology of these famous Elizabethan playhouses.

Dave Sankey, Senior Archaeologist for the Museum of London Archaeology, writes:

I’ve recently returned from Ireland, where I’ve been doing some delivering professional development training to Irish Professional Institutions in Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC). In my “day job” I work as an archaeologist excavating sites before development – and monitoring developments as they take place – but over the 20-odd (very odd?) years with the Museum that has got more and more to do with planning. HLC is concerned with tracing the historic origin of the everyday landscape we all see, all of the time, rather than archaeological sites.

See some photos of Clare and Galway and where it was taken: www.panoramio.com/user/2865482 (click on each thumbnail and you should get a map and some notes too).

I got involved in this from collaborating with Irish specialists in the Clare Landscape Character Assessment.

Updated on 6 October with some example images:

More images avaiable at: www.panoramio.com/user/2865482

Work on the refurbishment of the 1550s-1660s gallery is forging ahead. In December 2009 we will be opening our newly refurbished gallery dealing with the turbulent period from the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558 until the Great Fire of 1666. It will be called ‘1550s-1660s: War, Plague and Fire’ and will cover a variety of fascinating subjects including the English Civil War, the Great Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire.

As assistant curator for the gallery, I’ve been gathering together the images for the displays, a few of which are displayed below. These will be sent to the 2D designer very shortly so that she can create the graphic panel and caption designs. So far I’ve got all the Great Fire images sorted as I was previously the curator of the London’s Burning exhibition (see www.museumoflondon.org.uk/londonsburning for more information on the Great Fire).

My next job is to get images for the plague section ready. Watch this space for more on the gallery as it progresses.

Meriel Jeater, curator
Department of Archaeological Collections and Archive

Click on each image to see a larger picture.

We’re back! Back on the Museum of London’s Blog pages and back in terms of our forth Volunteer Inclusion Project.
The VIP project has evolved from previous LAARC volunteer projects (Minimum Standards Project – 2002-2005; Archive Volunteer Learning Project – 2006-2007) and has four main remits: 1) to improve access to LAARC collections (2) to create more space for the collections (3) to offer inclusive volunteering (4) to create sustainable volunteering opportunities

During VIP1 – VIP3, our achievements include the repacking, reordering by context and closing up the gaps in the shelf space for all general finds from 37 archives dug from 1972 – 1974; the separation of general and registered metal finds from 353 sites and the relocation of these finds in sitecode order onto new shelving; the auditing of 5215 registered finds from sites spanning 1972 – 1974.

A total of 72 VIP volunteers have worked on the project, from a range of sources including Action for Employment, Connections at St Martins, UCL, University of the 3rd Age & Hackney Volunteer Agency. So what’s the plan for VIP4?Well, work shall continue in both sections of the archive; Glynn will tackle the next batch of sites from 1974, including huge excavations such as New Fresh Wharf (NFW74). Adam on the other hand will keep on going with the Registered finds from 1974, first tackling 199 Borough High Street (199BHS74) but hopefully getting all the way to Trig Lane (TL74), if not beyond…

Instead of the usual 5 volunteers a day, Mon-Thursday, we’ve upped it to 6 per day, exc. Wednesday, where we shall be joined by 10 volunteers from the University of the 3rd Age alongside three 6th formers from Mossbourne Academy. These lucky 13 will be working on the material from Shoreditch Park, as part of a Shared Learning Project

There will once again be 4 museum specialists running 4 workshops each fortnight, which are open for all volunteers within the museum (though to keep it a surprise, I won’t tell you what they are just yet). And finally… we’ve actually already set a date for our Christmas Party, which, to those in the know, is undoubtedly the best one around!

Each week Adam & Glynn will be posting blogs telling you what we’ve been up to that week, updating you on our progress and putting up photos of finds and people at work