PCA, in conjunction with MOLA, will be holding a free exhibition at The Mill community centre on Coppermill Lane on Saturday 25th September, from 10am-4pm.
The exhibition will present the results of recent PCA excavations at Holy Family Catholic School and Sixth Form in Walthamstow Village, next to the Church of St Mary. The work was undertaken ahead of the construction of a new sports hall adjacent to Vinegar Alley, a medieval footpath linking the church to Shernhall Street.
The earliest phase of activity revealed by our excavations was a late Bronze Age roundhouse with associated pit groups, probably a farmstead. In the late Roman period a group of four timber framed buildings occupied the site. These have been interpreted as farm buildings, possibly attached to a larger villa complex nearby. A medieval field system was represented by a series of ditches and pits.
A range of fascinating finds from the excavations will be on display, bringing 3000 years of Walthamstow’s past to life.
Visitors will also have the opportunity to see how the River Lea has influenced life in Walthamstow since its earliest prehistory, and to learn more about the techniques archaeologists use to investigate the past.
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This late Roman coin, a clipped silver siliqua is a remarkable find. The coin is a ‘mule’, a hybrid produced by two dies not intended to be used together: the reverse die was designed for the late siliquae of Julian (360-3), while the obverse die was designed for the early siliquae of his successor, Jovian (363-4). This rare combination suggests that the coin was produced immediately after Jovian’s accession in June 363, an unexpected event occasioned by Julian’s death while on campaign in Mesopotamia. Comparable muled siliquae bridging the reigns of Julian and Jovian are known from hoards and collections and, in conjunction with this example, raise questions about the impact of Jovian’s accession on the operations of the late Roman state. Perhaps a sudden demand for fresh coin, born of a need to buy the loyalty of troops and administrators following humiliating military defeats in the east, compelled mints to redeploy the superseded dies of Jovian’s predecessor. Alternatively, mint workshops may have sought to economise on production early in the new reign, employing old dies until it became industrially or politically necessary to order replacements.
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