Description
In this issue:
– LONDON’S POMPEII?: The rise and fall of a Roman waterfront
– TIME’S TIDES IN SWORDLE BAY: Life and death on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula
– WORK UNFINISHED: Brading Villa on the Isle of Wight
– CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD: Discovering Medieval Oxford beneath the quads
Plus: News, Reviews, Comment, Sherds, Odd Socs, and more!
From the Editor:
Comparisons with Pompeii or Tutankhamen’s tomb are easily overused when attempting to convey the excitement of a new archaeological discovery. Recent media reports labelling an excavation at the new Bloomberg Place in the heart of London the ‘Pompeii of the North’ could risk dooming the results, however exciting, to disappointing comparisons with the Bay of Naples site. On this occasion, however, the wealth of waterlogged finds mirrors the range of objects preserved by Vesuvius. With Bloomberg yielding 10,000 small finds, 350 pieces of writing tablets, 700 boxes of pottery, thousands of fragments of industrial waste, and the well preserved timbers of successive Roman buildings. We take a first look at a site that will rewrite life in Roman London.
Another discovery that provoked international media interest was a Viking boat burial on Scotland’s Ardnamurchan peninsula. Excavating this richly furnished grave was only one strand to a project tackling the full span on human activity in the area. The results are teasing out how the Viking interlude slots into the wider story of Swordle Bay.
Barry Cunliffe’s interest in Brading dates back to the 1950s when it became the first Roman villa he ever visited. Even as a school boy he was struck by the site’s untapped potential. It was, Barry felt, a work unfinished. Half a century later he returned to the site with an excavation team and revealed that there is far more to this villa than its sumptuous mosaics.
Christ Church, Oxford famously stood in for Hogwarts school in some Harry Potter films. Recent work in this unique college and cathedral hybrid has revealed how the Medieval city tapped into the burgeoning European knowledge economy. It has also unearthed some unusual artefacts, some of which may have been familiar to a certain boy wizard.
Finally, a new Mary Rose museum has just opened at Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard. Do not miss our review.
Cover Date: Jul-2013, Volume 24 Issue 4