Anglo-Saxon London may date back to AD500
In recent years substantial excavations in the City of Westminster have identified the middle Saxon town of Lundenwic. It was a busy industrial and trading centre, on the north bank of the Thames between what is now Trafalgar Square and Aldwych. In AD871 a Viking army moved in, and people seem to have returned to the old Roman town (now the City of London) for easier defence against raids.
Lundenwic was thought to have been founded around AD650, but the latest discoveries by AOC Archaeology Group suggest it may date back to AD500. A large excavation in Covent Garden, at the London Transport Museum, has discovered Lundenwic’s first early Saxon cemetery, in use by at least AD550–600. New dates may take the town’s origins into the earlier sixth century.
Ten cremation burials, most of them in urns, were excavated by AOC Archaeology Group in 2005 when the museum extended its basement for new shop and gallery space. Burnt human bone has now been radiocarbon dated, in one case to AD410–550. The second date of AD430–640 comes from the remains of one of three adults buried together. The ashes of two of these had been gathered into pots, one with glass beads (suggesting a female); the remains of the third, which might have been in a bag, were accompanied by tweezers (suggesting a male) – this could be a family group. Completed study of the artefacts indicates that they are consistent with a date before 550.
Two people were laid in graves after the cremations, one of whom was an adult woman wearing a necklace of 19 amber beads and a glass bead, and almost certainly (her grave had been disturbed) a silver disc brooch set with cut garnets. These objects suggest she died between 575 and 600.
By the early to mid seventh century, the cemetery had been abandoned as Lundenwic expanded northwards. Insubstantial structures, pits, wells, middens and gravel surfaces were recorded in the excavation, with artefacts demonstrating a range of craft practices, including the production of textiles, metals and glass. Excavation of deep basements in the 17th and 18th centuries had left little else to find.
AOC Post-Excavation Manager: Melissa Melikian
Client: London Transport Museum
