A number of themes, including both research subjects and methodologies, have been prominent throughout the formal process of assessing London’s archaeological resource for the production of AGL. These are areas which most urgently need to be addressed to be able to answer the question ‘what is London and who were its people?’ at different times in the past. These themes cut across chronological periods and specialisms; in many cases they positively require the attentions of multiple disciplines. The themes have been embraced to a large extent in a wide range of current research projects and, importantly, in a number of major ongoing research programmes, which are outlined below. To be clear, these particular themes are not being promoted as a complete or inclusive list, but in order to provide and enhance an interpretive focus in future research programmes.
The thematic approach to analysing data from London has been promoted, inter alia, in Capital archaeology (English Heritage 1998a), wherein nine major themes were identified: river and estuary; city, hinterland and region; urban status and royal power; personal and communal space; ritual and religion; migration and community; agriculture and subsistence; industry and industrialisation and London, Britain and the world. The overlap with the themes promoted for a new research framework for London is not coincidental; however, the headings and nuances are slightly different, reflecting the shifts in thinking even very recently. It should go without saying that we can expect these themes, too, to evolve and change, as discovery and research answers old questions and poses new ones.
In this document, five themes have recurred consistently throughout the period assessment: topography and landscapes, people and society, development and economy, and continuity and change. Unsurprisingly, these are themes which are in many cases being addressed through current and proposed research projects. Inevitably, there is some overlap between the themes. In this section, thematic objectives are given for each theme; examples and references to specific periods are generally avoided, as these appear in the preceding, period-based chapters. It is hoped that, in addition to the many current and proposed projects on researching aspects of London’s archaeology, the focus on these themes, in the context of a research framework, will prompt their development and evolution and even their replacement with other themes as new priorities emerge. Initiatives such as the proposed ‘Research matters’ series, described below in Chapter 9, will enable researchers to actively take part in and shape the debate. The potential for collaboration and partnership between different individuals and institutions is clear, and might also lead to complementary research strategies involving different agencies.
Topography and landscapes
Fig 36 A 1st-century Roman brooch in the form of three men in a boat, with the prow in the style of a bird, probably imported from the Continent
An enormous diversity of different landscapes and environments has existed across the Greater London region at different times. For each of these, the questions of how geomorphology and ecology has influenced human activity, what opportunities or hindrances topography and environment have posed and how and why people manipulated those features, are persistent questions that cut across all period boundaries.
It is proposed that future research should focus on reconstructing geomorphology and ecology, hydrology and river systems, ecosystems and climate. The fundamental questions ‘what did London look like?’ and ‘what did that mean to its people?’ need to be posed for all stages, in all periods of its evolution.
Ecology and geomorphology
TL1 Framework objectives
Fig 37 Medieval waterfronts and the Boss Alley inlet, discovered during excavations for the northern abutment of the Millennium Bridge
TL1.01: Conducting baseline surveys, and use these to develop models for understanding the significance of geomorphology, ecology, ecosystems and climate, hydrology, and vegetational and faunal development, on human lives
TL1.02: Synthesising evidence of ancient woodland from recent fieldwork (especially that carried out since Rackham’s work in 1976), moving towards characterising the countryside of the Greater London region and understanding the economic, ecological and symbolic relationship between trees and people
TL1.03: As a means of managing data across the London region, and overcoming the fact that today’s political and territorial boundaries may have had little or no meaning in the past, a series of – landscape study areas – are proposed. The topography of Greater London, lying at the centre of the London Basin, is largely determined by the underlying geological structures and the hydrology of the Thames and its tributaries
In this context, the following landscape study areas, based on the drift geology of Greater London are proposed: the inner Thames estuary (Tower Bridge to Teddington Lock) the outer Thames estuary (Tower Bridge to Purfleet), the tributary valleys (Lea, Wandle, Colne, Crane, Roding, Ravensbourne, Fleet, Walbrook, Tyburn), the wetlands, the gravels (and brickearths), the high-level terraces (pre-OIS 12), the claylands, and the chalk.
Hydrology – river systems as barriers, links and resources
TL2 Framework objectives
TL2.01: Understanding London’s hydrology and river systems and tributaries and, in particular, understanding the role of the River Thames (as boundary, communication route, resource, ritual focus, barrier, link, etc) in shaping London’s history, and the relationships between rivers and floodplains
TL2.02: Understanding the relationship between landscape, river and settlement, and the influences of the Thames in particular on communications and social interaction
TL2.03: Understanding the origins of the prehistoric metalwork sequence from the Thames, and examining the links between the metalwork hoards deposited at the headwaters of river tributaries and other activities
TL2.04: Understanding the evolving character of development in central London between Westminster and the City, and Southwark, in comparison to other riverine settlements beyond London
TL3.01: Considering the roles that landscape features may have played in human activity and settlement, looking beyond the opportunities or hindrances presented by topography and environment to what the landscape, whether natural or artificial, meant to London’s inhabitants and visitors
TL4.01: Characterising changing climatic conditions, and air and water quality and pollution, throughout the archaeological record, towards understanding its implications for how people behaved
TL4.02: Using the understanding that comes from reconstructing London’s past to contribute to wider environmental studies about contemporary concerns such as: climate change; sea level fluctuations; flood defence initiatives; links between pollution, health and quality of life
There are many facets of London’s rise as a world city, and its intricate and varyingly balanced relationship with its region. These require an understanding of urbanism, set against rural settlement, and exploring the notion of core and periphery.
Settlement patterns and hierarchies
TD1 Framework objectives
Settlement plans need to be prepared using baseline survey data (see above) and exploiting geographic information systems.
TD1.01: Taking in large enough areas to identify where settlement ends and other features such as fields begin and developing predictive models for settlement location
TD1.03: Investigating how urban centres commanded surplus from the surrounding countryside or what impact the urban imposition had on the pre-existing patterns of economic and social relationships (Perring in prep; AGL 2000).
Differential access to resources will be represented in many aspects of the finds assemblages (most evidently in the animal bone and pottery) and there are fascinating comparisons to be made between the economies of roadside settlements, suburbs, villas, farmsteads and so on
TD1.06: Understanding the relationships between the different urban foci within the London region (such as two urban foci of Saxon Lundenwic and Lundenburh)
TD1.09: Understanding issues of nucleation and desertion, especially in connection with major events that are traceable in the archaeological record, such as the Black Death, and construction of the London docklands
London in its hinterland – core/periphery models and regionality
TD2 Framework objectives
TD2.01: Examining the concept of core/periphery for different periods in London’s past, as a means of understanding how evolving settlement patterns reflect the need for sustainable, beneficial relationships between a settlement and its environs, a city and its hinterland
TD2.02: Understanding how the proximity of London – in its various definitions at different times, but frequently a large settlement or conurbation – affected the lives of people living and working in the immediate surrounding area and how in turn they would have been perceived by those in the centre, and those in other regions
TD2.03: Contributing to our understanding of the creation of the London suburbs with direct contribution to today’s aspirations for an urban regeneration
TD3.01: Looking at how, at various stages, power has been represented and replicated, and how that in turn might have been imposed, adopted, adapted or rejected by provincial society
TD3.03: Establishing through the archaeological record (as a balance to documentary interpretations) how sustainable and determined (or not) were public and civic efforts to put in place, and then maintain, different aspects of London’s infrastructure
TD3.05: Considering the tension between private and civic enterprise, and the use and influence of power – by monarchs, governments and military authority – in urbanism and infrastructure
TD3.06: Considering how the high number of royal palaces in the London area in the post-medieval period affected life in the capital and its environs, in comparison with other cities
TD3.07: Examining the proposal that there was an ideological polarity between town and anti-town systems: Roman towns did not so much fail as were discarded
TD4.01: Understanding the relationship between the Bronze Age wooden trackways and the settlements to which they presumably led, and what the trackways represent in terms of woodcraft and woodland management
TD4.02: Understanding the reasons for evolution of the road systems, street layouts, river crossings and ferries, and their importance as engines of development and change
TD5.01: Refining our understanding of the chronology and function of the landward and riverside defences and extramural evidence of defensive or military structures in the Roman period
TD5.02: Understanding the cultural and symbolic roles played by London’s defences through the ages as reflections of power and political security or imposition and dominance
TD6.01: Completing baseline surveys of buildings and synthesising data to establish patterns of building renewal and replacement and to understand the life cycle of buildings of different types and function, at different periods
The economy of the region can be elucidated by studying the application of power in politics and understanding the role of individuals, government and the militia. It can be further elucidated by understanding the relationships within and between core and periphery on production, distribution and consumption. This theme overlaps extensively with questions about development.
Production
TE1 Framework objectives
TE1.01: Clarifying the mechanisms that prompted agricultural intensification in prehistory and, specifically, the links between production and consumption of prestige goods, as against staple commodities
TE1.07: Examining breeding programmes and wildlife management, and marine and riverine exploitation, to understand the strategies used, their success or otherwise, and their consequences
TE1.08: Charting how and why different parts of London developed as specialist producers, and understanding the implications of this for London as a world city
TE2.02: Considering whether there was a ‘London region effect’ in economic terms, or whether there are differences, distinguishable in the archaeological record, in the north, south, east and west of the region
TE2.03: Investigating evidence for the operation in the Roman period of economic and market mechanisms, and the relationship between personal wealth and social hierarchy
TE3.01: Examining distinctions between production in the periphery for consumption by the core and production in the periphery for consumption throughout the region, with regard to contemporary models for urban regeneration and sustainable development
TE3.02: Establishing whether, during the Saxon period, the social organisation of the kingdoms of Wessex, Kent, Essex and Mercia were most influential as a consumer elite or a stimulant to a distinct social fabric
TE3.03: Understanding how London attained and kept its position as the centre of fashion in England for many things, and how material remains can be interpreted as evidence of conspicuous consumption
TE4.02: Characterising the economies of different parts of the region during different periods – establishing type assemblages and models that enable inter- and intra-regional comparison
TE4.04: Carrying out petrological analysis of prehistoric ceramic fabrics, to characterise production, sourcing, styles and influences across the region
People and society can be studied through an understanding of what London’s past environments meant to different groups and individuals, in terms of their identity, their social status, their ideology and religions, their health and their way of death.
TS1 Framework objectives
TS1.01: Understanding what London’s past environments meant to different groups and individuals
TS1.02: Considering cultural interaction between immigrants, invaders and indigenes, between, for example Britons and Romans, in terms of diversity and marginality, or issues of social inclusion or exclusion
TS2.02: Considering regional variations in health, especially from the medieval period onwards, drawing parallels with modern societies in terms of urban regeneration aims
TS3.02: Examining how Londinium – one of the most cosmopolitan communities of Roman Britain – played a significant role in the genesis of new cultural and social identities; how was material culture exploited in the definition and transformation of identity; where did the first Londoners come from (Millett 1996); how were separate identities defined in successive periods and to what extent can we describe trajectories of convergence and /or divergence?
TS5.01: Estimating population sizes, character and composition, and changes in these over time, including evidence for settlement and transient populations
TS5.04: Considering the relationship between cemeteries and major or minor roads, in terms of symbolism, status, privacy and convenience – both in London and at roadside settlements around the region
TS5.06: Using environmental reconstructions (see topography and landscapes, above) to characterise the effects on peoples’ bodies of living in Greater London
TS5.07: Using documentary information to create and test models for understanding cemetery populations, which might be applied to sites for which no documentation exists
TS6.05: Examining the London mendicant houses in the light of the many excavations that have taken place in their precincts; especially whether those in the City of London were different from those in much smaller cities and towns elsewhere
TS6.07: Identifying the extent to which religious minorities and non-conformists had a distinct material culture in London, and developing archaeological models for future analysis
TS7.05: Understanding how leisure activities became accepted as a worthwhile type of land use, and how their physical expression, such as in theatres and pleasure gardens, fitten with other pressures on space
TS8.02: Characterising assemblages for use in analytic models, where the archaeological record helps to define the nature and extent of different neighbourhoods – in social, economic, ethnic and religious terms
TS8.03: Compiling a synthesis of small finds, to trace domestic life, personal ornament, literacy, etc – using artefactual analysis to characterise domestic space
TS8.04: Developing the evidence for assemblage ‘signatures’ for different groups of Londoners, including the 19th century, in recognition that many London communities may well have gone unrecorded and to that extent be ‘without history’
A prerequisite is to understand the social and economic drivers behind continuity and change, and their potential importance in modern living.
Chronologies
TC1 Framework objectives
It is necessary to establish firm chronologies in order to provide a coherent framework within which to understand the nature and causes of social and economic change, and the rate of such change.
TC1.01: Absolute dating should be routine on all prehistoric sites
TC1.02: Dating techniques should be tested where possible (for example, to establish why TL dating on Ipswichian deposits in London has such problems; and to correlate biostratigraphic dating and radiometric techniques)
An understanding of the processes at work during so-called transition periods is particularly important in the following areas:
TC2.01: An understanding of the processes at work during so-called transition period in the Mesolithic to Neolithic transition: understanding the significance of horticultural experimentation at this time, and the transition from hunter-gatherers into farmers
TC2.03: An understanding of the processes at work during so-called transition period: The evolution from a landscape of communal monuments into one of settlements and field systems
TC2.04: An understanding of the processes at work during so-called transition period – the relationship, if any, between ringforts of the later Bronze Age and the few early Iron Age sites of hillfort type, such as Caesar’s Camp, Wimbledon, or Warren Farm, Upminster
TC2.05: An understanding of the processes at work during so-called transition period: the earlier to later Iron Age: comparing the cause and consequences of settlement expansion in Greater London with different regions of Britain after c 300 BC, and explaining the abundance of finds on later Iron Age sites and the contemporary changes in the organisation, intensity and scale of agriculture and craft production, through local investigation and inter- regional comparison (Haselgrove et al 2001)
TC2.06: An understanding of the processes at work during so-called transition period : Briton into Roman: re-evaluating the model wherein south-eastern England changed (adopting coinage, elite burials, shrines, the emergence of oppida, continental imports, etc) as a result of contact with Rome and because there was no strong late Iron Age presence in the area – and looking instead for evidence of continuity in the landscape
TC2.07: An understanding of the processes at work during so-called transition period : The end of the Roman occupation: developing explanatory models to explain socio-political change and considering the influence of surviving Roman structures on Saxon development
TC2.08: An understanding of the processes at work during so-called transition period: Establishing how daily work and life in London reflected and contributed to the rise of London as the commercial centre of the British Empire, and to its continuous eminence as a world city thereafter
TC2.09: An understanding of the processes at work during so-called transition period: Having regard to how London will continue to grow, change, develop and renew in the future
Fig 39 The floor of a Victorian flour mill which occupied the site of medieval Winchester Palace after the fire of 1814
Catastrophe and upheaval
TC3 Framework objectives
TC3.01: Examining the role played by catastrophe in the development of London and the character of its people – whether fire, war, pestilence, famine, flood or climatic change
TC4.01: Publishing key site assemblages, to facilitate inter- and intra-site comparisons, focusing on issues of cultural and environmental change, seasonality, subsistence strategies, economic manufacture and distribution, and use and consumption
TC4.03: Refining and dating the local ceramic sequence for the middle Bronze Age and Iron Age, finding dates for the inception and development of Deverel-Rimbury ceramics and extending the sequence known mainly through cemetery assemblages
TC4.04: Examining the use in any one period of materials from an earlier period (eg Saxon use of surviving Roman fabric) and the influence on craftsmanship, manufacture and building techniques
Part of the Research Frameworks Network