Conferences

There’s a great lineup at the LAF this autumn – with presentations on topics ranging from the Ice Age to the Georgian period. And the winner of the prestigious London Archaeological Prize – the ‘publication prize’ – for works published in 2022/2023 will also be announced.

When: Monday, November 18 from 6-7:30pm GMT

Where: UCL Institute of Archaeology, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY

Booking is free and anyone with an interest in London’s archaeology is very welcome. Register for your place before 1pm on 18th November.

Here are the contributors and their topics:

• Matt Pope, Associate Professor at the Institute of Archaeology, will discuss London’s Ice Age archaeology and environments. He will explore the rich record of Greater London’s Ice Age past through key sites and the history of their discovery, from first recorded Palaeolithic tool to be found through to recent professional commercial excavations. He’ll also consider evidence for how London’s landscape was shaped by ice and water, and how early human populations adapted, or not, to the dramatic cycles of climate change evidenced in the gravels and clays of the city’s deep past.
• Alistair Douglas, Senior Archaeologist and Health and Safety Manager at Pre-Construct Archaeology, will report on PCA’s recent archaeological Investigations on and around Bermondsey Square in Southwark. He’ll focus on the period before the foundation of Bermondsey Priory (later abbey) including tantalizing evidence of Iron Age, Roman and Saxon settlement of Bermondsey.
• John Schofield, who has worked at former Museum of London and as Consultant Archaeologist to St Paul’s, has written extensively about the archaeology of the City, most recently London’s Waterfront 1666 to 1800 and its World. He will describe waterfront excavations of 1974-84 that revealed post-Great Fire buildings and intriguing aspects of London’s crucial involvement in slavery: cowrie shells, found in the floor levels of warehouses near Billingsgate of around 1700.
• Alison Telfer of MOLA is on the committee of London Archaeologist and coordinates the administration of the London Archaeological Prize, awarded biennially for the best publication of the preceding two years. She will be announcing the winner and awarding the prize at the LAF.

Click here for further details

Evidence for a possible Saxon minster in section during excavations at Bermondsey Square.

PCA Monograph 26 – Bermondsey Square: Prehistoric and Roman Settlement, Medieval Abbey and Post-Medieval Mansion; Excavations 1998–2018 Volume I by Alistair Douglas is now available here

Mark Hinman will be presenting alongside Charlotte Lockwood at the upcoming CAS Autumn Conference in Cambridge. They will discuss their recent excavations of an extraordinary early Saxon settlement at Great Chesterford. The site offers invaluable insights into early medieval life, and Mark and Charlotte look forward to sharing their findings.

The conference will take place on Saturday 9th November at Cripps Court Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Click here for further details.

The Spring London Archaeological Forum will take place in person and online at UCL Institute of Archaeology’s lecture theatre in Gordon Square on Monday 22^nd May 2023 following the CBA London Annual General Meeting.

If you plan to come along in person, registration is required via Eventbrite here:

or contact Becky Wallower (becky.wallower@dial.pipex.com) by 12 noon on the 22^nd May.

You can also sign up to attend online via Zoom on the Eventbrite site.

There will be an excellent line-up of presenters with interesting topics:

Kathy Davidson, supervisor at PCA, will discuss recent excavations at Newgate Street, an important Roman to post-medieval site largely excavated during the 1970s by the Department of Urban Archaeology that has been subject of further recent excavations. How has our understanding and analysis developed?

Ian Hogg is a Senior Archaeologist at Archaeology South-East within UCL. In his talk ‘Waste and Wasters: Industrial and domestic deposition at the Priory of St John, Clerkenwell’  he will discuss the findings from Benjamin Street which once lay within the outer precinct of the Hospitaller Priory. The high level of preservation allows a glimpse of both daily life at the Priory and industries taking place around it.

Roy Stephenson, well known in senior roles at Museum of London, will be talking on Netflix’s ‘The Dig’ and Rebecca Stott’s novel ‘Dark Earth’. His overview will concentrate on advice he’s provided to film producers and an author about archaeology and artefacts, and he’ll consider insights into how film companies operate that might be useful to museums.

It’s all free, of course, and we hope to see you at 6pm on the 22^nd May – if you come along, you’ll be able to catch up with others when we adjourn to the pub afterwards.

This year’s conference takes place on Saturday, 25th March 2022 from 11am to 5pm, via zoom.

The morning sessions are, as usual, dedicated to a series of papers covering recent major excavations, including two PCA sites:

Fine dining, quarrying, and manufacturing. Medieval and later landuse beyond Aldgate‘

by Dougie Killock

Roman London West of the Walbrook: Preliminary interpretations on recent excavations between Coleman Street and Moorgate.

by Ireneo Grosso

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Click here for further details and a programme of the day’s talks.