Tower Hill, situated northwest of the Tower of London, is one of the oldest parts of the city. Archaeolgical evidence shows that there were settlements on this Hill dating back to the Bronze Age, and later a Roman village that was burnt to the ground during the Boudicca uprising. Other related monuments in the area which are directly linked to or surround the Hill include Trajan's Column, which was raised in honour of the Roman Emperor Trajan, and the London Wall, which was a defensive wall built by the Romans to protect Londinium. Furthermore, the Tower of London, a historic fortress, which is now home to the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom and which is the oldest building still being used by the British government.
South West Maritime Archaeological Group (SWMAG) have sent us some of the first pictures of the remarkable finds recovered from the site of Britain’s oldest shipwreck – a 3,000 year old Bronze Age trading vessel that sunk off the coast of Devonshire in southwest England around 900 BC. We blogged about its discovery on Tuesday.
A 3,000 year old Bronze Age trading vessel – the oldest shipwreck ever found in British waters – has been located off the coast of Devon in southwest England.
The foundation of Roman Londinium – thought to date to around 47 AD – is the starting point of the history of London as a city. That was when an urban centre with a recorded title and a functioning economy and government first emerged into view in Roman sources and archaeological discoveries.
But it would be wrong to say that that is exactly when the story of London – or, at least, the story of what would become London – begins. There’s lots and lots of fragmentary evidence to suggest that humans lived, farmed, fought, worshipped and died on the banks of the Thames for hundreds and even thousands of years prior to the arrival of the Romans.
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“The Thames was a big force in the minds of prehistoric people who lived on its banks. Its scale and power meant that prehistoric people associated it with gods and spirits, to whom they would make ritual offerings and sacrifices by throwing objects into the water.”
A number of timbers which can be seen jutting from the base of the River Thames at Vauxhall in central London have been identified by archaeologists as the remnants of a wooden structure that stood at the site in the Bronze Age. Most likely it was some kind of large wooden platform, probably a bridge leading out to a small island in the middle of the Thames. It's age - 3,500 years - would therefore make it London's very first bridge.
The timbers have only been revealed in the last couple of decades, as the river has eroded the bank in which they're buried. Archaeologists were alerted to their possible significance when two bronze spear heads - dating from the same period as the timbers - were located driven into the bank nearby. A short archaeological investigation was conducted in 2000 as part of the Channel 4 programme Time Team.
While it was only able to remove one timber from the site - a large post - due to a narrow timeframe, enough evidence was gathered to conclude that a large structure did stand there, and that as well as representing a crossing-point, the bridge also served a ritual function. It was the spot from which Bronze Age people were able to make votive offerings to the gods of the river, by throwing precious items such as spearheads into the water.
Archaeologist, Howard Brooks, has excavated archaeological sites dating from the Bronze Age to the medieval period. One of his major works was the excavation of the Stansted Airport archaeological project between 1985-1991. Brooks is also a published author writing on archaeology and the ancient world.
He has taught evening classes for the Universities of Essex and the University of East Anglia. Brooks became aMember of the Institute of Field Archaeologists in 1984 which is the professional organisation for archaeologists in the United Kingdom.
This Bronze flesh Hook, which was originally 1.2 metres in length, was used in prehistoric times as an instrument for serving food. For years antiquarians struggled to place the exact time period of the instrument, however when more were discovered it was eventually dated to the late Bronze Age. The hook is made up of wooden shafts which are linked together by three bronze segments.
The Winterbourne Stoke Barrows is the earliest burial mound in the group of the long barrow. It was built between 4000 and 3200 BC, thus making it earlier than Stonehenge. The barrow is well preserved, including the side ditches, which can be seem clearly. The barrow was used for several burials for thousand years, and archaeological excavations have shown that a primary burial at the north eastern end of the barrow is dated to the Bronze Age.
