The working life of Museum of London

Today we spent the morning digging on site then visited the LAARC (London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre) in the afternoon.

We had a whistle-stop tour of the archive where thousands of finds are stored in labelled bags, which are packed into carefully labelled boxes and stored on metal roller shelf units. In the metals store, metal finds are mostly stored in plastic containers with packing and silica gel to prevent dampness. Many of the metal finds recovered from archaeological sites are in a poor state, and so they are x-rayed to show up the features unseen by the human eye. Some metal finds are also treated by archaeological conservators.  All the storage areas in the LAARC are temperature and humidity controlled environments in order to protect the finds and records.

After our tour of the archive, we received an explanation of how artefacts are cleaned, and then we had the chance to work hands-on with Roman ceramics, repacking them to the LAARC’s high quality standard.  Finds repacking is being undertaken at the LAARC as part of the Volunteer Inclusion Programme, and also by the LAARC’s long-term volunteers.

Doug

Note: this is the last blog from the first week of the training dig – more blogs will follow for the second week, when a new group of students starts digging!

The morning of Day 3 was spent in trench 2 completing the context recording sheets, using the deposit that we had identified.  We learnt to provide factual information about the context, but also to discuss our own interpretation of the deposit.  We also completed a masonry recording sheet, in which we described the coal cellar in Trench 1.

After lunch one of our supervisors, Jamie, gave us a talk on environmental archaeology, where we had the opportunity to look at some bones and seeds found through sampling on various archaeological sites.

We then were taught the importance of levelling, and were given a demonstration of the equipment used (dumpy level and levelling staff).  We split into smaller groups and were shown how to use the equipment under instruction from Tom, another of our supervisors.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side during the afternoon, but this did not diminish our enthusiasm.

By Keara and Sam

Half way through – New sites galore!

Fresh from our break last week, where volunteers got a chance to dig at our Burgess Park community project, it was back to the archive for more packing and auditing.

Monday’s team started with some roman coins from the 1976 London Dock’s (LD76) site completing the lot. These coins went from being loose in plastic bags to nicely protected in small coin boxes. In the afternoon, they moved over to General finds and completed the pottery from the large St. Thomas Street site (1STS74), moving on the building material.

Friday’s group were back to registered finds in the morning and were on fire! They got through over 60 boxes completing 7  brand new sites; St Swithin’s Lane (SL75) St Magnus, New Fresh Wharf (SM75), Westminster Abbey (WAM75), 175 Borough High Street (175BHS76), Christ Church Greyfriars (CHR76), Fenchurch Street (FSE76) & London Docks (LD76) getting through ceramic, bone, stone, wood and glass artefacts. In the afternoon they moved on to completing all the big heavy boxes of building material from St Thomas Street (1STS74).

Wednesday’s groups started work on general finds for the first time, tackling boxes of pottery from the Triangle of Billingsgate Buildings (TR74) before recording their experience with photographs. Their session ended with a visit to our ceramic and glass store to compare their sherds with the complete vessels within the museum’s collections.

Our YAC group spent their time solely in the ceramic & glass store, looking at complete examples first, then moving on to complete all three boxes of pottery from the 1974 excavation at Union Street (8US74). By being in a room full of these complete goodies we were able to once again match our sherds to complete examples, but, as all of these pots had been published, we also matched the sherds to the illustrations in the publication.

The workshop this week was focused on pottery, in particular, tin glazed earthenwares. We were fortunate to have our Head of Department (who started off his Museum of London career as a pottery specialist) lead this session.

An additional bonus this week was the visit from the team of trainee archaeologists currently working on the Burgess Park Training Excavation in Southwark. The group visited the archive on Thursday and as well as looking around our stores, visited Museum of London Archaeology’s finds processing areas and offices. They finished by spending some time in the ceramic and glass store, where they became VIP volunteers for 30mins, packing some more finds from the pottery archive of The Triangle site (TR74)

For more photos visit our flick site by clicking here: FLICKR

And you can follow links for more info about any of the sites we’re working on, or any other information, by clicking on the highlighted sitecodes in the text.

During the last 6 months and while the museum was getting ready for the big launch of the new Galleries of Modern London, a small team of us has been working on another exhibition project aiming to highlight the importance of archaeology in the capital. The exhibition called ‘Archaeology in Action’ will open to the public on Friday 16 July 2010 and will run until spring 2012. Within this time one of the elements of the exhibition, the recent finds display, will be changing regularly to showcase new objects soon after they come out of the ground in the various excavations that are taking place around London.

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

Today’s blog entry was compiled by Jill and Marianne, two of our trainee archaeologists:

“Trench 2 has been cleared to a fairly level surface making it easier to identify the different areas of soil and debris. Following on from a talk on planning, we divided the trench into sections and split into groups to have a stab at plotting by grid these different areas.

In Trench 1 we have had a first taste of using a mattock, or pick axe, to break up large lumps of debris (mainly bricks)…

…We found several metal curves which we guessed could have been drawer handles and parts of a chimney pot.

Also today, Roy Stephenson, Head of the Department of Archaeological Collections and Archive at the Museum of London, came to speak to us about pottery and ways of dating finds.

He was able to identify, from our finds, pottery from Roman and Tudor times and Midlands Purpleware, Tudor Greenware and a small piece of black basalt ware made by Wedgewood.

The training excavation in Burgess Park has started.

This is a five day course for adults to learn the basics techniques of field archaeology in an urban environment.

We are continuing on the site following on from our community excavation work with schools and other groups.

Two of our new recruits, Becky and Katie,  took time out from excavating to share their initial thoughts and discoveries:

” Today is our first ever day as trainee archaeologists. About 14 of us are here from different backgrounds – old and young, supple and not so supple!  we are excavating footprints of Victorian terraced houses, many of which were bombed irreparably during the war and subsequently flattened and cleared before becoming a park.

First off we learnt trowelling to clear debris in order to reveal soil/brick features, discovering small finds as we go.

It is thrilling  to identify an intricate design on a piece of pottery, tile or clay pipe, but less attractive items must also be collected such as random metal pieces and glass.

There is an enormous variety of material…

…brick, plaster from architectural features, coal, slate, flint (all discarded unless unusual) and then clay pipes, pottery , glass etc…oh, and losts of dust!

Will be learning this afternoon how to record the finds on context sheets and seeing what everyone elsehas found and what we can learn.”

There’s many a slip twixt cup and lip…

This beautiful item was found in a trench placed just outside of The Theatre, and once again, our pottery expert Jacqui Pearce has been able to throw some light upon it:

The goblet is more properly called a beaker (the more ordinary connotations of this term are better suited to it as well). It is made in Surrey-Hampshire border ware, probably in the mid 16th century (could go into later 16th, but not much beyond). It could well have been made at Farnborough, the late 16th century hub of the industry. The form was often used alongside small drinking jugs and loads have been found at the Inns of Court, where they were bought in bulk. It marks the large scale transition from drinking from wooden bowls to using ceramic vessels, which took place in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The beaker would have been used to drink wine or sack, which is a Tudor type of sherry, a fortified wine and it is not inconceivable to speculate that it may have a close association with The Theatre. 

So why do archaeologists love pottery so much?

Pottery is one of the most useful things an archaeologist can find.  Pottery designs, styles, types of material, developments in ceramic and kiln technologies change with time.  Also, specific types and styles of pottery can be associated with specific groups of people and activities.  Perhaps most importantly, even if it is not complete, pottery sherds are almost indestructible and therefore can survive for long periods of time, buried in the earth to be discovered by archaeologists and shed light onto the past. 

An archaeologist called Flinders Petrie (most famous for his digs in Egypt and the near east and often regarded as the father of modern systematic archaeology) was the first to developed ceramic typologiesin the nineteenth century.  For these typologies, he grouped his excavated pottery by style and type and produced a sort of evolutionary chart showing how the pottery had developed through time (for more information on Petrie, follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flinders_Petrie).  He was then able to use these typologies to create a relative chronology for the pottery and therefore his sites to help to date them in the absence of any historical information and modern absolute dating techniques (methods like Radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology that you may be familiar with from Time Team).

Today, we have the benefit of a great deal of historical and other research which, when combined with absolute dating techniques, has produced very good dating frameworks for understanding a site from its pottery.  Experienced pottery specialists, like Jacqui Pearce can often tell at a glance what a piece of pot may have been used for and what period it dates from.

So what does the beaker tell us?  On its own, a single item of evidence usually cannot tell us much.  We have to look at all the finds as a whole (we call that whole an assemblage), to truly get the best information.  However, this particular beaker does, tantalisingly, offer us some information.  It is a relatively high status item which appears to put it a little out of place for this location.  Shoreditch has traditionally been known as a poor area as suggested in the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons, where the bells of Shoreditch say when I am rich, more in hope than expectation.

The presence of such a high status item in this location, which nay date from the time of The Theatre poses a number of interesting if speculative questions:

• Was this the beaker of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Burbage or one of their friends or associates?  Perhaps it was used to toast a successful production?  “I am known to be… one that loves a cup of hot wine…” (Coriolanus. II. i [52])
• Was it discarded by a rich theatre goer?  “We’ll teach you to drink deep ere you depart” (Hamlet. I. ii [175])
• Was it a prop used in one or more the plays?

The answer may never be known to us, but this artefact has the potential to link us directly to Shakespeare and his contemporaries through the simple act of taking a drink and it has been waiting, patiently in the ground, waiting for us for over 400 years.

This beaker will now be examined more closely, restored and eventually put on display.

Archaeology in action:

We have some exciting news from the Museum of London: from the end of the week (17th July), a new exhibition area will be opening entitled Archaeology in Action.  These displays will showcase excavations in London as they are happening and items and information from this site will be among the first to be shown.  Entrance to the Museum of London is free and for details of how to get there, follow this link: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/VisitUs/.

Building the new theatre:

Our evaluation work and the revelation of actual remains of the Shakespearian theatre on this site was greeted with enthusiasm by the Tower Theatre Company, but the discovery also presented them with a design challenge.  How could they build their new theatre without damaging the old?

The project architect and engineers had to produce a layout that both avoided and incorporated The Theatre (for more information on the planned new theatre, follow this link: http://www.thetheatre.org.uk/theatre.htm).  The supporting foundations, pile, drains and cabling have to be placed safely away from The Theatre and their proposed locations have to be thoroughly excavated to ensure no archaeological information is lost. 

(copyright Bland, Brown and Cole)

This plan shows where The Theatre remains are in relation to the new stage.

Can you dig it?  Yes we can….

This last week’s work has been excavating the approved trenches where the piles and other foundations will go and with these trenches, we open little windows onto the past.

We are hoping to find more of the structure of The Theatre, in particular, more of the outer wall.  So far we have discovered a brick pad that may be the remains of one of the external wall, foundation piers that would have supported one of the oak upright posts that formed this outer wall.

Finding more of the outer wall will enable us to more accurately determine the full size of The Theatre which we currently estimate to be about 22 metres across.

To give an idea of what The Theatre may have looked like, you can visit the famous reconstruction of The Globeon the Southbank of the Thames, which is a little larger than The Theatre, or you could try building one yourself.  Follow this link and print off a paper do-it-yourself model of The Globe http://papertoys.com/images/globe-color.pdf, we have one in pride of place in our site hut.

One for the record – professional photography on site:

Last Thursday another important member of our team visited the site, our professional photographer Maggie Cox.  Maggie’s job is to take the high quality publication and archive photographs needed for our reports and for the archive.  These photographs together with our written and drawn paperwork help to build a complete picture of our work on the site, ensuring that no detail is overlooked.  We call this preservation by record. 

Maggie Cox recording archaeological features

To prepare for Maggie, we had to thoroughly clean the areas she was to photograph.  We used a rather unusual piece of equipment for an archaeological site – a vacuum cleaner! 

The dry and dusty nature of conditions on site at the moment means that vacuuming is the best way to reveal the detail needed for the photographs. 

In the original Shakespearean:

The actor and Shakespearian writer, Ben Crystal visited the site last Thursday.  One of his aims is to de-mystify Shakespeare and his works to make them more accessible and enjoyable.  Together with his father he has also researched what Shakespeare may have actually sounded like: the accent of Shakespeare and to demonstrate he recited Sonnet 116: 

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle’s compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Ben Crystal reciting Shakespeare's Sonnet 116

It was certainly very different to the received pronunciation of much modern acting and we hope to be able to post a recording of this performance soon.  This was Ben’s second visit to The Theatre and hopefully not the last (follow this link to Ben’s website to find out more: http://www.shakespeareontoast.com/). 

The power of the pen and the power of place

For writers of the time of Shakespeare and Marlowe, the tool of choice was the quill pen, and with their words they oft laid bare the frailties of the human condition.  The power of their words has left an indelible imprint on our language and in our culture.  Their stories still resonate today and have infiltrated many layers of our society.

Our slightly battered 1980 edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations has 39 pages for the Bible, but a staggering 75 pages for Shakespeare, eight for Hamlet alone!  Poor Kit Marlowe gets but two pages, but more of him anon. 

Within The Theatre, these words were enacted and brought to life for the entertainment of the masses.  Because we can now stand in the very place where this first happened this archaeological site is an evocative place and still holds some of the power of those words.

As archaeologists, our tool of choice is the 41/2” pointing trowel.  Our work here will continue to contribute to the sum of our understanding of this place and of the bard, his contemporaries, his times and all the others who have passed through this place; with each scrape of the trowel we come nearer to them and through them, to ourselves.

When the new theatre is opened it is hoped that the remains of the old will be on display, and as the modern actors cross the stage, they will walk with the shades of their predecessors, time travelling from the present to the 16th century and back, “It is an honest ghost, let me tell you” (Hamlet. I. v [138]).

Coming up soon:

• Legal disputes (‘twas it ever thus): battles with brooms, stick and bills, of pistols and hemp seed
• Exciting developments at the Museum of London – “Archaeology in action”
• Exciting event on The stage: press launch and thespians
• Get thee to a nunnery: a little more of the Priory
• Of beer and pies – the brew house bake house – the eternal importance of beer and pies
• Shakespeare beyond this world
• Of earthquakes, clowns and star crossed lovers

Links:

Tower Theatre Company: http://www.towertheatre.org.uk/

Tower Theatre Company’s new theatre and The Theatre: http://www.thetheatre.org.uk/index.htm

Footage of the 2009 evaluation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=savcpQFVu8w

MOTCO UK directory and image database, antique maps, prints and books:

http://www.motco.com/default-Markou.asp

Museum of London: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/english

Museum of London Archaeology: http://www.museumoflondonarchaeology.org.uk/English/

Ben Crystal: http://www.shakespeareontoast.com/

As a very amateur archaeologist who volunteers on National Trust Working Archaeology Holidays, imagine how excited I was when I found out the Museum of London was having a community dig in my neighbourhood, only a 10 minute walk from my home! I hastened to ask if they wouldn’t mind having a volunteer from Museum staff join the dig. Jackie, Kate and Meriel were very sweet and agreed I could come along and get my hands dirty. “I’ll bring my own trowel and gloves” I promised, hoping to ingratiate myself.

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

If you are aged 14 – 24 (or know anyone who is) and have a way with words, we’ve got the perfect competition for you. In addition there are some great prizes including a digital e-book reader and vouchers to get you motivated.

More about the competition and how to enter…

If you have read any of our previous posts about the Stories of the World project you’ll know we are doing lots of creative work with young people to explore the theme of place. We are focussing on the legacy and influence of the Romans. One of these projects, Speak to Me, looks specifically at language – from exploring how Latin contributed to the development of Roman London, to Latin’s influence on language today.

The poetry brief is: ‘Latin isn’t dead. Prove it by writing a poem inspired by a Latin word or phrase.’

All entries must be original and unpublished. Please send your poem to my colleague Lucy Sawyer, Youth Programme Assistant, lsawyer@museumoflondon.org.uk. Please include your name, age and full contact details with your entry. One poem per entrant, maximum 400 words.

The closing date is 25 August. Entry is free.

Junction, our youth panel, is hosting a Gladiatorial poetry slam Tuesday 28 September 6.30 – 8.30pm here at the Museum. Winners of this poetry competition will be announced at this event (although they will be contacted in advance), and read out either by the entrant or our compere, Jacob Sam La Rose. In addition the evening will include performances by up and coming young London slam poets. The event is free and open to all.

‘Is this supposed to make us like archaeology?’ One girl from the Harrow Young Archaeologists Club evidently had her doubts, as she began trowelling away demolition rubble during the baking heat of Saturday afternoon. Yet half an hour later she was had become so absorbed in her task that the leaders had the utmost difficulty prising her out of the trench!

Everyone feels that the dig is reaching a critical phase. Whereas the front wall and coal cellar of the house on Trafalgar Avenue are clear to see, the back half of the site stubbornly refuses to reveal its secrets. Was the bomb damage much greater here than previously believed? Was the building totally destroyed, right down to its foundations? For the moment at least, we are just trowelling through layers of rubble.

With temperatures in the 30s, Saturday was a day for finds’ washing. Neither the Harrow diggers nor the Camden Young Archaeologists, who worked on site in the morning, minded swapping their trowels for a washing-up bowl of muddy water. And all the time we continue to find evidence for what the house looked like before it was destroyed by that V2 rocket. A fine red marble moulding, perhaps from a fireplace, came to light today. And we know that the cornice, the ceiling and perhaps the door frames were finished with highly decorated plasterwork in ‘Wedgwood’ blue.

Francis Grew, London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre Manager