14,000 Ancient Roman Artifacts Were Donated To The London Museum, Along With Around $26 Million Dollars To Help Transform The Exhibition Space
In the past, there were few protocols for the proper excavation and preservation of artifacts in London, a city rich with historical sites.
But times have changed, and the value of archaeological sites is finally being recognized by companies that once saw them as barriers to their construction plans.
Bloomberg, a financial media firm, commissioned archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) to excavate beneath its new headquarters site in London between 2012 and 2014. The archaeologists came across tens of thousands of well-preserved ancient Roman artifacts.
Now, 14,000 of those finds are being donated to the London Museum, as well as a monetary donation of roughly $26 million. Many of them will be publicly displayed for the first time ever.
The money is meant to help the London Museum transform a Victorian meat market into a new exhibition space, which is set to open in 2026. The collection of Roman artifacts is the largest archaeological donation the museum has ever received.
The artifacts were found at the site of a temple from the 3rd century C.E. in central London. The temple was dedicated to Mithras, a deity of a mysterious religion in the Roman Empire. It was first unearthed in the 1950s and caught the attention of the public. Onlookers lined up for blocks to see it.
But back then, archaeological methods were not as streamlined. Workers would just take artifacts out of the ground, brush off some of the dirt, and hand them over to their supervisors without much regard for preservation.
The site was left partially excavated for decades because there was concern that further digging would disturb a nearby church built by the famous architect Christopher Wren.
It was lucky that the site was near the waterlogged course of the Walbrook, an underground river. The muddy conditions helped protect organic materials that were still buried.
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In the 2010s, Bloomberg took over the site and archaeologists got the chance to dig into untouched layers with modern excavation techniques.
Among the finds that will be going to the London Museum are pottery, ceramics, jewelry, animal bones, leather goods, and about 750 pairs of shoes from the 1st century C.E.
The collection also features 400 writing tablets, which consist of wooden frames surrounding black wax. They contained notes, messages, and business transactions.
The tablets date between 50 and 80 C.E. They are some of the oldest examples of Roman cursive in Britain. One tablet that was dated to 57 C.E. was a financial document, while others carried information about the citizens of Roman London, such as their names and social gossip.
About 70,000 pieces of Roman pottery were recovered, hinting at the importance of London as a business hub. Animal bones provided new insights into the agricultural and culinary practices of ancient London.
You can view more information about the artifacts here.
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