tdp newsletter summer 2013

8/22/2019 TDP Newsletter Summer 2013

1/61

THAMES DISCOVERY

PROGRAMME

Summer 2013

THE TDP NEWSLETTER

Here comes the sunWelcome to the Summer edition of the TDP Newsletter. After a long, hard winter were now donning archaeologisttan lines as we complete our third eldwork week. The FROGs are also hard at work, and if you read on youll ndtheir reports from the eld, get brought up to speed with our upcoming events, and nd out what weve been upto in the last few months. Enjoy! From the TDP Team: Gustav, Nathalie, Eliott and Courtney

Fieldwork at Bermondsey: We look happier in the sun, dont we?

Archaeology Training Forum winnersWe are honoured to have received the ArchaeologyTraining Forums (ATF) Training Award, whichrecognises excellence in the elds of learning, trainingand professional development. Eliott and Courtneyaccepted the award at the Institute for Archaeologistsannual conference in April. The ATF panel felt thatthe TDP was clearly a good partnership between theprofessional and volunteer sectors, helped individualskick-start their careers, was responsive to the trainingneeds of volunteers, and provided a practical solutionto a real archaeological problem. For more informationsee the ATF webpage at: http://www.archaeologyuk.org/training/atf.html.

Eliott and Courtney accept the ATF Training Award with very largegrins. Photo: Martin Newman

Fieldwork at Bermondsey in June. Just look at all those FROGs withtheir noses to the grindstone (or gridiron, rather).

In the upcoming Autumn issue: Read about our eldwork at theTower of London; ongoing as we write this newsletter.
http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/http://www.archaeologyuk.org/training/atf.htmlhttp://www.archaeologyuk.org/training/atf.htmlhttp://www.archaeologyuk.org/training/atf.htmlhttp://www.archaeologyuk.org/training/atf.htmlhttp://www.archaeologyuk.org/training/atf.htmlhttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/


2/62Summer 2013

UPCOMING EVENTS

6:30-7:30 pm at Mortimer Wheeler House on Thursday 8August and your ticket includes a glass of wine or juice.For more information or to book a place, see the TDPswebsite at: http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/events/maritime-bermondsey-rotherhithe

Waterloo guided walk

12 AugustJoin the TDP and the Coin Street Community Buildersfor a walk along the South Bank to explore the foreshorenear the Oxo Tower and Gabriels Wharf. This walk ispart of the Waterloo Sights and Sounds Project. Thewalk will begin at 10:30 am and the cost per personis 3.00. To book a place or for further details, pleasecontact Laura Reynolds via the Coin Street website at:http://www.coinstreet.org/whatson/heritage-project/thames-discovery-walk.html

Fulham PalaceSeptemberIf youre a fully edged FROG then you can look forwardto our September week of eldwork at Fulham Palace.Fulham Palace foreshore has long been an interestingsource of foreshore archaeology dating from theNeolithic to the present day. Alongside the FROGeldwork there will be a guided walk of the site, whichwill be open to the public. The date will be conrmedsoon, so keep an eye on the TDPs website for moreinformation.

Foreshore Forum: Save the date5-6 October 2013Well be celebrating our 5th Anniversary with a specialtwo day conference on the 5th and 6th of October atUniversity College London. The programme is alreadylooking fantastic, with a range of speakers includingDr Rick Schulting (Oxford), Prof Martin Bell (Reading),Garry Momber (Hampshire and Wight Trust for MaritimeArchaeology) and, of course, our volunteers. Bookingwill open soon, so keep an eye on our events page. Wehope to see you in October 2013!

Call for papers and postersAs part of this years Foreshore Forum we will havea space dedicated to displays and posters. If you areinterested in taking part, please contact Courtney [email protected] for more information.

Get involved. Get muddy. Have fun.The TDPs summer eldwork season consists of six weeksof eldwork over six months from April to September.All of this eldwork is free of charge for the FROG, andis only one of the experiences that TDP offers to boththeir volunteers and to the general public. Alongsideour workshops we run a series of Riverpedia lectures inthe evening and guided walks on the foreshore, whichare open to all. None of this would be possible without

your support. Feeling generous? You can easily donateon our webpage: www.thamesdiscovery.org.

Just look for this button:

8 AugustThe TDP are very pleased toannounce our next Riverpedialecture by Stephen Humphrey.Mr Humphrey is widely recognised asan expert on historical Bermondseyand Rotherhithe, and has publishedextensively on this area of London.He will be presenting a wide-rangingillustrated talk on the areas links with

ships and the seaa great additionto our archaeological knowledgeof these key sites on the Thamesforeshore. The lecture will run from

Riverpedia lecture: Stephen Humphrey

FROGs take shelter from the rainstorm during eldwork at TrigLane/ Cannon Street. The archaeology was worth it.
http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/events/maritime-bermondsey-rotherhithehttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/events/maritime-bermondsey-rotherhithehttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/events/maritime-bermondsey-rotherhithehttp://www.coinstreet.org/index.phphttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/waterloo-sights-and-soundshttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/waterloo-sights-and-soundshttp://www.coinstreet.org/whatson/heritage-project/thames-discovery-walk.htmlhttp://www.coinstreet.org/whatson/heritage-project/thames-discovery-walk.htmlhttp://www.coinstreet.org/whatson/heritage-project/thames-discovery-walk.htmlhttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/http://www.coinstreet.org/whatson/heritage-project/thames-discovery-walk.htmlhttp://www.coinstreet.org/whatson/heritage-project/thames-discovery-walk.htmlhttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/waterloo-sights-and-soundshttp://www.coinstreet.org/index.phphttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/events/maritime-bermondsey-rotherhithehttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/events/maritime-bermondsey-rotherhithe


3/63Summer 2013

Bermondsey and Rotherhithe FROGWeve heard rumours about the prehistoric archaeologyon the Bermondsey foreshore, and done our research,which tells us that Neolithic handaxes and BronzeAge peat deposits have been found on our site. Tothink that prehistoric humans once stood where wenow stand in front of Chambers Wharf is exciting, tosay the least. Because there is so much erosion on thisstretch of foreshore, were now seeing the prehistoricarchaeology of Bermondsey, and are planning on doingsome geoarchaeology on site in the coming months toanalyse and hopefully date the peat and worked intthat is appearing [see picture of worked int below].

Never fear, we havent become so obsessed with thereally old stuff that weve forgotten our amazingnautical remains. We were lucky enough to have an armyof FROGs and the TDP staff on site for a week in June.We managed to record more of the gridiron, and usedour new GPS (thanks Council for British Archaeology)to mark the locations of new and existing features. Weare also going to be recording what we think are theremains of an old causeway in August and September.

At the Foreshore Forum well be able to present ourmost recent recording projects and the results of thegeoarchaeological analysis of prehistoric Bermondsey.

Greenwich FROGHelen Johnston

Quite a lot of attention has been paid to the foreshoreat Greenwich Palace in the last few months. When we doour monthly monitoring visits its very easy to get usedto seeing the changes to the site, but the rate of erosionwas really brought home to me during Aprils eldworktalking to FROGs who hadnt visited the site in a year

or so. Posts and timbers are so much more visible, theartefact deposits have changed, we have new featuresand old familiar features have changed completely.It could be easy to be downhearted about this, butin Greenwich we FROGs try to nd the positives! Theerosion has meant that the site gets noticed, not onlywithin the TDP, but by the wider public as well, and theerosion has allowed us to learn so much more about thesite in the last three years. We dont have all the answersyet, but we are determined to nd them!

Earlier this year, a section of the foreshore was designatedas a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Whilst it is nice thatthe importance of the site has been recognised in thisway, and hopefully it will mean that the organisationsresponsible for the foreshore take more notice of thearchaeology, only a small portion of the archaeologicalfeatures are included in the scheduled area. And

drawing some lines on a map and issuing a few bits ofpaper wont stop the erosion. So its more importantthan ever that we continue to visit regularly and recordthe changes as they happen.

The eldwork in April was brilliant. We had great weatherand loads of people out on the foreshore. We uncoveredseveral new features, including a stone platform aroundthe Naval College steps and an unusual mooring featurein amongst the Tudor jetty, although probably from amuch later date. We had time and enough people to look

at some of the other features that can get overlooked,including the 19th century mooring features in front ofthe Trafalgar Tavern. Interestingly, we appear to haveanchors placed at the low water mark to designate theproperty boundaries. I dont know if anyone has comeacross anything similar anywhere else on the foreshore?

FROG NEWS

Post medieval ivory knife handle found by FROG Celia Bailey atGreenwich eldwork in April.


4/64Summer 2013

that we would have a go at writing a regular blog,with updates from our monitoring visits and any otherfeatures and information to ag up about the site.

So, ladies and gentlemen, may I present the inauguralissue of the new Vauxhall FROG Blog: Fawkes Hall onThames: www.fawkeshallonthames.wordpress.com/

Welcome to our new FROGsIn April we had our ofcial FROG training on site atGreenwich. It was a crazy week, and we broke therecord for number of people on the foreshore: on oneday nearly 100! Look at them descending on Eliotts pileof kit [above]. Check out the photos on our ickr pagehere: http://www.ickr.com/photos/thamesdiscovery/sets/72157633365810890/

FROG Blogs/ Riverpedia Workshops/ LecturesOur most recent Riverpedia workshop was Pottery onthe Foreshore [below]. You can read FROG JeanneLewis brilliant blog about it here:www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/pottery-workshop-review as well as seephotos on our ickr page. If you want to read more aboutthe FROG/ TDPs recent activities read the FROG Blogsat http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog-archive .

FROG NEWS

We were also able to get a better look at some ofthe features that have been revealed in the last year,including the brick feature. After a lot of cleaning,this appears to be a brick platform, built on a timberplatform, with a line of timber beams lying behind it.The beams could be reused, and have mortise holes thatare similar to ones found in timber-framed buildings. Itsa very strange construction, and dating it is going to bevery difcult. It seems much of it was reused, but mostlikely is the remains of a previous river wall. Maps of thePalace site prior to the construction of the Naval Collegesuggest that the river wall did follow a similar alignment.This is all very intriguing and something we will denitelybe watching closely over the next few months.

The site is still changing, even in the few months sincethe eldwork. Unfortunately, the timber baseplates onthe medieval jetty have started to move. During ourJune monitoring visit, we ipped them over to recordtheir undersides before putting them back in situ. We willbe keeping a close eye on them, but I suspect they willdisappear quite quickly now that theyve started to move.

I dont want to end on a sad note! The group is goingfrom strength to strength, and we are in the process ofapplying for Scheduled Monument Consent so that wecan monitor and record in the scheduled area. This isa big step, and its given us the chance to think aboutwhat we do in the group and what we want to do next.Weve got some exciting plans, so watch this space!

Vauxhall FROG: Three days at Vauxhall-Solange LaRose

Anyone who has visited the

key site at Vauxhall will knowthat in order to see someof the structures on site,we have to take advantageof the lowest tides. Junepresented us with somegood low tides, so VauxhallFROG scheduled a three daymonitoring and recordingsession. This proved a very fruitful decision in a numberof ways. Not only were we able to take time to focus

on individual features and actually see features thatare usually quite elusive, it also gave us time todiscuss what we wanted to do as a FROG and whatour next steps should be. One thing we discussedwas how to make information about the site and ouractivities available to a wider audience. We decided
http://fawkeshallonthames.wordpress.com/http://fawkeshallonthames.wordpress.com/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thamesdiscovery/sets/72157633365810890/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thamesdiscovery/sets/72157633365810890/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thamesdiscovery/sets/72157633365810890/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thamesdiscovery%20http://www.flickr.com/photos/thamesdiscovery/sets/72157633365810890/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thamesdiscovery/sets/72157633365810890/http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/pottery-workshop-reviewhttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/pottery-workshop-reviewhttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/pottery-workshop-reviewhttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog-archivehttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog-archivehttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/pottery-workshop-reviewhttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/pottery-workshop-reviewhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/thamesdiscovery%20http://www.flickr.com/photos/thamesdiscovery/sets/72157633365810890/http://www.flickr.com/photos/thamesdiscovery/sets/72157633365810890/http://fawkeshallonthames.wordpress.com/


5/65Summer 2013

FEATURE

Keen participants gather around the skeletons at the workshopDeath on the Thames.

Riverpedia workshop review:Death on the Thames

Solange LaRoseI wont say that its common to nd human remains in, orassociated with, the Thames, but its not exactly unheardof either. As a FROG, one of the things that I have toaccept is that the next nd on my monitoring site couldbe human, although, thankfully, these are most likely tobe skeletal and (hopefully) not too recent. As part of theFestival of Archaeology, the TDP held a workshop onhuman remains found in the river and on the foreshore.

First, MOLAs Head of Osteology, Natasha Powers gaveus an overview of human remains found on the foreshore.These were often collected by antiquarians and wereoften found as the result of dredging, the constructionof embankments and sewers and as chance nds on theforeshore. An interesting observation was that manyof the early, prehistoric, remains that have been foundwere from the west London stretches of the Thames:Battersea, Kew, Strand on the Green, Richmond,although other early examples have been found farthereast. Roman period examples cluster around the City,and along the Walbrook in particular, and the prevalenceof skulls found has lead to theories about ritual practicesinvolving a head cult. However, Natasha observed thatMOLA excavations at a Roman cemetery site nearLiverpool Street station threw new light on the afterlifeof buried remains. This site was situated within a marshyarea, which was subject to ooding, and Natashadescribed a scene in which human remains may havebeen oating around in oodwaters, bodies breakingup and individual parts being redistributed accordingto size and shape; long bones from the arms and legs

settling along the bottom of river and stream channels,and skulls, with their more rounded shape, oating androlling much farther away from the original burial site.

After this delightful scene Natasha moved on to describea range of later remains; a group found in the Fleet Valleyin the early 1990s, attributed to a post-Battle-of-Hastingbattle, and remains that may have found their way into theRiver as the result of executions, suicides, accidents andmurders, and, who knows, perhaps even natural deaths.

For the second part of the session, we got to have alook at, and to handle, some of the remains found inLondon. We split into two groups and rst I got to lookat the effects that some truly hideous diseases canhave on the bones of sufferers; syphilis, tuberculosis,arthritis, and others. Ironically in several cases, the fact

that these people survived for long enough for theirillnesses to cause changes to their bones demonstratestheir generally robust health. Many sufferers wouldhave died long before the changes to the skeletonwould have occurred. The two groups then swappedover and I got to have a look at one of the most well-known foreshore burials, the young person found on theforeshore at the Isle of Dogs [read more at: http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/discoveries-on-the-isle-of-dogs]. Osteoarchaeologist Don Walker had laid outthe skeleton and we discussed how we know what weknow about this individual. Ways to age the skeleton,what we may be able to tell about the childs life fromhis/her remains. We also had an opportunity to look atthe two buttons that were found with the remains.

All of this led to a very interesting discussion aboutwhat this kind of foreshore burial might mean about thepeople living in this area in the past. The fact that therewas a detectable grave cut proved that this was a properburial, rather than a dumped body. The area was quiteremote and cut off in the 18th century, so the peopleliving there may have had quite different customs and

habits than people living in larger communities and in thecity itself. This burial might be evidence of the peoplesrelationship with the river, or of their remoteness fromparish churches, or of economic stresses. Yvonne haswritten an interesting prcis of this discussion on theFROG Ning network. At this workshop, we are lucky tohave access to examples from the Museum of Londonscollection, including remains either found or recoveredby members of TDP and the Society for ThamesMudlarks. Many of the events are run by specialists, sowere getting all the inside information.
http://www.archaeologyfestival.org.uk/http://www.archaeologyfestival.org.uk/http://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/discoveries-on-the-isle-of-dogshttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/discoveries-on-the-isle-of-dogshttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/discoveries-on-the-isle-of-dogshttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/discoveries-on-the-isle-of-dogshttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/discoveries-on-the-isle-of-dogshttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/discoveries-on-the-isle-of-dogshttp://www.thamesdiscovery.org/frog-blog/discoveries-on-the-isle-of-dogshttp://www.archaeologyfestival.org.uk/


6/66Summer 2013

IN OTHER NEWS

Tel. 0207 410 2207TDP, Mortimer Wheeler House46 Eagle Wharf Road, London N1 7ED

Eliott: [email protected]: [email protected]: [email protected]

Joining forces on the foreshoreJuly saw the rst Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS)eldschool held in conjunction with the ThamesDiscovery Programme (TDP) working together for thegreater good of nautical archaeology.

The Rotherhithe eldschool was the practical element tothe NAS eLearning Introduction and Part 1 Certicate inForeshore and Underwater Archaeology.

For avid NAS member and eldschool attendee, GerardJedrzejak, it was a great opportunity to get to grips withthe basic skills of archaeology including data collection,measurement, analysis and presentation of results. Itsmuch easier on the foreshore than it is underwater. Youhave the benet of communication, no currents, nomurky water and no dive time limit.

Aside from this there was the opportunity to meetinteresting and like minded people and take an interestin archaeology to the next level.

Ian Cundy, regional coordinator, NAS, said: The recent

NAS eldschool at Rotherhithe was a thoroughlyenjoyable way to spend a weekend. The weatherwas fantastic and it was a pleasure to be working onthe foreshore with a group of people who all have asimilar interest in maritime archaeology. He said thatthe major advantage for NAS working with the TDP isthat real sites can be used for the course. And for theTDP it was an opportunity to get some new recruits andalso to further add to the data collected on foreshorearchaeology in Greater London.

Become a NAS eLearnerWant to know more about becoming a NAS eLearner?NAS is a UK charity set up to allow everyone to benetfrom the unique and fascinating resource that is theworlds maritime heritage.

The NAS eLearning programme is made up of the NASIntroduction and Part I theory courses which you canstudy at your own pace. Here you can learn the theoryaspects from these two courses from the comfort ofyour own home and then have fun learning the practicalelements on a eldschool weekend or day of your choice.The courses look at the practical applications ofarchaeology on the foreshore and underwater,specically why we do it, how we date it, why we shouldprotect it and how we record it. More information fromwww.nauticalarchaeologysociety.org/content/online-courses or email Rachel Quick, NAS Training Ofcer:[email protected]

The ThamesDiscovery Programme

is hosted byMuseum of London

Archaeology

Thanks again to the Councilfor British Archaeology forfunding two of our recentworkshops. Read about theother great work they do at:

http://new.archaeologyuk.org/

To conclude this issue of the TDP newsletter, here are two of ourfavourite comical foreshore nds from July!

@thamesdiscovery Thames Discovery Programme
http://www.nauticalarchaeologysociety.org/content/online-courseshttp://www.nauticalarchaeologysociety.org/content/online-courseshttp://www.nauticalarchaeologysociety.org/content/online-courseshttp://new.archaeologyuk.org/http://new.archaeologyuk.org/http://mola.org.uk/http://www.nauticalarchaeologysociety.org/content/online-courseshttp://www.nauticalarchaeologysociety.org/content/online-courses

tdp newsletter summer 2013

Documents