P

E
E
D

Karen Stewart MOLA

G
s
N
n
i
I
a
g
n
m
G
o
e
l
lr
G
sa

DI

a
t
y
n
e
n
o
l
i
e
l
t
a
a
m
v
v
n
a
k
o
c
o
r
i
x
o
v
e
r
t
b
l
en
n
a
e
c
W
e
s
r
'
n
m
o
o
d
r
f
n
o
L
n
a
m
Ro
Wooden structures and artefacts

The site

The site of Bloomberg Place, formerly

Bucklersbury House, was originally excavated in
the 1950s. It was during these works that the famous Temple of
Mithras, dated to the fourth century, was discovered. Because of
these works, it was initially thought that little archaeology might
survive on the site. However in some areas, over 7 metres of Roman
stratigraphy had survived,
mostly in the valley of the river
Walbrook. The Walbrook is one
of Londons buried rivers, which
ran north to south, flowing into
the Thames just west of what is
now London Bridge.

Peter Froste/Musuem of London

Most of the structural timbers were constructed of oak (Quercus sp)

though some of ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and beech (Fagus sylvatica)
timbers were also identified.
832 registered finds were made of wood.
410 of these were writing tablets; all but one were wax writing tablets,
with just one ink tablet identified. Around half of these have been
identified, with most made of softwood types, generally silver fir (Abies
alba). Only two of the wax tablets were made using hardwood taxa
one each of maple (Acer sp) and beech (Fagus sylvatica), though the ink
tablet was a piece of cleft alder wood (Alnus glutinosa). Barrel bungs and
staves were also identified predominately as silver fir. Some softwood
woodworking waste has been identified perhaps from the conversion
of barrels staves to writing tablets.

Most of the deposits excavated

during this recent phase of work
date to the first and second
centuries, with the earliest
Roman material dated to before
the Boudiccan fire of 60/61 AD.
Some fourth century material
did survive on the site, but
whether or not this is associated
with the Mithraeum activity has
yet to be determined.

Spindles were also common,

with 42 wooden examples
recovered. These were produced
with a variety of wood types, though
elder (Sambucus nigra) was the most common. Many
wood bobbins have also been recorded 22 wooden
combs have been recorded all were made from box
wood (Buxus sempervirens).
Four baskets have been
identified from the site,
each constructed using
differing styles and
wood types. <4258> is a
coiled type constructed
of pine (Pinus sp) and
clematis (Clematis sp),
probably used for transporting a glass bottle. Another
example of coiled basketry has been identified as
yew (Taxus baccata) , one of split oak (Quercus sp)
construction and one stake and strand example
constructed of willow/poplar (Salix sp/Populus sp).
Some well-preserved fragments of furniture have also
survived, including doors, table legs, bench tops and
two supports carved in the shape of lion paws.

Dumping or land-raising?

Preservation

The location
of the site
along the western bank of the Walbrook
valley created an anoxic depositional
environment across much of the site,
leading to exceptional preservation of
organic materials and metal finds.

Sampling

685 environmental samples including

66 monolith tins were taken during
excavation. This also included 517 bulk environmental
samples over 16,400 litres of archaeological deposit
have been processed so far. 2451 litres of flots have been
assessed to date. The bulk samples also produced 13 boxes
of Roman pottery.

Deeply stratified layers of organic

material were excavated along the river
valley. Straw and cereal bran were the most common organic remains recorded in these
deposits. Associated plant taxa included self-heal (Prunella vulgaris), meadowsweet
(Filipendula ulmaria), spike rush (Eleocharis spp), viola (Viola spp) and celery-leaved
buttercup (Ranunculus sceleratus). Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) was equally abundant in
these samples. Insect remains were also abundant (see poster by Emily Goddard). This
material has tentatively been identified as stabling waste. The volume of the deposits, as
well as the uniformity of the assemblages, may suggest that an organised scheme of waste
disposal was undertaken. Further work, integrating the botanical, geoarchaeological and
insect evidence, will hopefully shed light on whether this was done in order to land raise
along the river valley, or if the valley was simply a convenient dumping spot and land-raising
was incidental.

534 boxes of animal bone were collected from the site,

made up of c 80,000 fragments weighing 1470 kg.

Roman plants

Many of the plants that are thought to

be Roman introductions to the British
Isles are present at the site. The most common of these is coriander
(Coriandrum sativum), which is so ubiquitous throughout the deposits
that it is likely to have been growing wild. Likely imports were
represented by seeds of grape (Vitis vinifera),
fig (Ficus carica), mulberry (Morus nigra) and
olive (Olea europaea). Also recorded were
walnut (Juglans regia) and pine nut (Pinus
pinea) shells. A number of Pinus pinea cones
were also found at the site. Two grains of
pepper (Piper nigrum) were also noted in
the assemblage this was traded from the
Malabar coast of India and would have
been a very high status import.

Further work

Deeply stratified layers of organic material were

excavated along the river valley. Straw and cereal
bran were the most common organic remains recorded in these deposits.
Associated plant taxa included self-heal (Prunella vulgaris), meadowsweet
(Filipendula ulmaria), spike rush (Eleocharis spp), viola (Viola spp) and celeryleaved buttercup (Ranunculus sceleratus). Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) was
equally abundant in these samples. Insect remains were also abundant (see
poster by Emily Goddard). This material has tentatively been identified as
stabling waste. The volume of the deposits, as well as the uniformity of the
assemblages, may suggest that an organised scheme of waste disposal was
undertaken. Further work, integrating the botanical, geoarchaeological and
insect evidence, will hopefully shed light on whether this was done in order
to land raise along the river valley, or if the valley was simply a convenient
dumping spot and land-raising was incidental.

REFERENCES
Hill, J, and Rowsome, P, 2011 Roman London and the Walbrook stream crossing:
excavations at 1 Poultry and vicinity (2 vols) MOLA Monograph no. 37, London

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Bloomberg LP (developer, funder) | Stanhope PLC (project management and
planning) | Sir Robert McAlpine (contract management, site management) |
Kathryn Stubbs, Assistant Director Historic Environment at the City of
London | Sylvia Warman, English Heritage Science Advisor for London | Foster
& Partners | AKTII | DP9 | McGee | All of the excavators and processors
whove worked on the project.