From Londinium to Lundenwic: Museum of London exhibition

Salon IFA reports:

Behind the hoarding to the north of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaeology Service have been busy excavating since 2005, and some of the finds from that excavation have just gone on display at the Museum of London in a special exhibition called ‘the Missing Link’. This looks at the way that the maps of Roman and Saxon London are being redrawn by finds dating from AD 410 to 650, which offer clues to a previously hidden period in London's history.

The discovery of a kiln for making roof tiles, and of a stone sarcophagus containing the skeleton of a middle-aged man – both finds dating from AD 400–50 – suggest that Roman civilisation continued in settlements outside the city walls for at least a generation after Londinium itself had been abandoned, while a hand-made ceramic jar datable to around AD 500 in a style that was introduced by Saxon immigrants from the Continent demonstrates the presence of Saxons on the site well over a hundred years earlier than Lundenwic is generally supposed to have been founded. Later, probably after AD 650, people of high status were being buried at St Martin-in-the-Fields with fine jewellery, glass and metal vessels. The burials suggest a sacred significance was attached to the site throughout the 200 years separating Roman Londinium from Saxon Lundenwic, even if no evidence has yet been found for a church on the site.

The exhibition continues until 8 August 2007.

Museum of London - Missing Link