Today New Romney sits a couple of miles inland from the sea but, in common with many towns along this stretch of coast, was once a thriving seaport. Archaeological excavations here by Pre-Construct Archaeology identified evidence for medieval occupation, fishing and seafaring on the foreshore at the northeastern end of the town. This strand area was ravaged by storms, particularly during the 13th century and this is clearly demonstrated in the archaeological record. This publication presents the findings of these excavations but also provides a much broader historical background to the town and an exploration of its role as a Cinque Port, and its relationship with the strand area investigated, through contemporary sources and standing building evidence.

Wulfstan’s account covers a voyage from the root of Jutland to the Vistula Delta – connecting the trading centres of Hedeby and Truso – and provides a rare and vivid view of the south-eastern Baltic Sea region in the early Viking Age, including aspects of inland navigation and local culture. In this book, a panel of scholars presents the original source and debate its geographical, cultural, nautical and economic context in the light of recent investigations.

Regeneration in the 1980s-90s on the south bank of the Thames resulted in archaeological and historical investigations at Platform Wharf, Rotherhithe, and next to London Bridge, in Southwark. The development of both sites from the 14th century is of major interest. The Rotherhithe property was acquired c 1349 by Edward III and the existing house rebuilt by him in 1353-61 with two courts, including a riverside range of apartments. Royal interest ceased after Edward's reign, and the house passed to Bermondsey Priory in 1399. The fragmentation of the site into smaller properties, including ones with industrial uses, is charted. The Southwark site contained three notable residences during the medieval period and tidal mills on the waterfront. The 14th-century moated house of the Dunley family and a pleasure-house built by Edward II, the Rosary, were both acquired by Sir John Fastolf for his own grand London residence in the 1440s. In the later 16th century there was massive immigration into this part of Southwark and by the mid 17th century the former moats and gardens were built over with small properties and alleys. The moat infills produced exceptionally rich assemblages of domestic artefacts and ceramics, the waterside location preserved a wide variety of plants, timber structures and woodworking evidence.

Archaeological investigations at seven sites within the Finsbury Square area have revealed important evidence for the medieval and post-medieval development of this former marshy area north of the city walls. At 127-139 Finsbury Pavement, quarry pits may relate to the development of the 12th- to early 13th-century Finsbury manor house, documented from 1272. Features identified within the manor include a gravel courtyard and the fragmentary remains of a building with masonry foundations. A moat existed to the east of the manor house by the 14th/15th centuries, but was backfilled by the end of the 17th century and then built over. Beyond the manor, widespread quarrying and brick manufacturing occurred during the later 15th century. At 27-30 Finsbury Square, large quantities of leather waste may have been dumped in the 15th and 16th centuries from nearby workshops. Quarrying continued on several sites into the late 16th century. A gravel surface and a boundary wall at the Honourable Artillery Company site represent the enclosure of the area to the north of the manor as the New Artillery Ground in the 1640s. A brick flue and a saw pit at 25-32 Chiswell Street reflect the increasingly industrial nature of the area to the west of the New Artillery Ground during the 18th and 19th centuries which is indicated on contempoary maps.

Accompanying an exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery, this catalogue explores one of the most important and historically neglected art forms of Renaissance Florence: cassoni – pairs of chests that were lavishly decorated with precious metals and elaborate paintings and were often the most expensive of a whole suite of decorative objects commissioned to celebrate marriage alliances between powerful families.

This is the first study of a newly recognised pottery type, Ely ware. The first part of the report details excavations in Potters Lane Ely. The second widens the net, identifying Ely ware from other excavations in Ely and the surrounding area. The pottery dates from the 12th to the 15th centuries with three recognisable periods within this emerging. The report provides petrological and macroscopic description of Ely ware fabrics, and a well illustrated catalogue of different vessel forms and styles.

Excavations at Mount Farm revealed a long sequence of activity running from the early Neolithic to the early Saxon period. The most significant finds include early Neolithic pit deposits, a middle Neolithic oval barrow associated with a primary burial and a secondary Beaker burial, a timber post-ring, an earlier Bronze Age round barrow associated with Deverel-Rimbury secondary burials, a later Bronze Age waterhole and burnt mound, extensive remains of an Iron Age settlement and a well-preserved Anglo-Saxon well. This is an innovative report which approaches the site from a thematic perspective which highlights social, economic and environmental change over the long period during which the site was occupied.

The excavations in the centre of Birmingham uncovered evidence of habitation from prehistoric and Roman times, but the 12th to 19th centuries presented by far the most evidence, from artefacts, environmental samples and structural remains. The medieval industrial past was of particular interest, with tanning and the manufacture of hemp and linen all playing a large role in the city's prosperity. Metal working reached its peak in the seventeenth century, with brass founding becoming important from the eighteenth century onwards. Most of the artefactual evidence attests to Birmingham's industrial past, indeed the evidence for domestic life is comparatively scant, with an anomalous burial of two people at Park Street presenting something of a mystery. This volume presents insights into the early industrial past of this important city and is an invaluable record covering eight hundred years of occupation.

Substantial Roman remains were recognised in the area of Queen Victoria Street as early as 1841, by the antiquarian Charles Roach Smith who recorded 'a wall of extraordinary strength', incorporating fragments of sculpted and moulded stone and marble. A watching brief carried out in the 1960s and a series of excavations on adjacent sites had revealed two major phases of Roman monumental masonry, the latter forming part of a vast building complex extending for over 150m along the river frontage, linked to the construction of the 3rd-century riverside wall. The area remained peripheral to the Roman City until late in the 1st century, and subsequent development was influenced by its challenging topographic location; the ground sloped steeply to the edge of the Thames and spring lines made for frequently-flooded terrain, traversed by natural channels, a situation which was repeatedly to affect attempts to develop the area. Recent development of the Salvation Army Headquarters building provided an opportunity for Pre-Construct Archaeology to carry out a series of excavations, augmenting previous investigations in the area. These have significantly advanced our understanding of the dating and form of the earlier complex. Much-modified over time, the river frontage was flanked by substantial apses with ambulatories between and further buildings extending to the north, terraced into the hillside. Vast foundations, piling and terracing associated with the later complex testify to continued attempts to control the steeply sloping and unstable ground, whilst the sheer size of the culverts incorporated into the masonry demonstrates the need for serious drainage. The new buildings included at least two temples of classical form; but these may never have been finished. The redevelopment also provided a rare opportunity to examine a sequence of medieval road surfaces and buildings at the junction of Thames Street and Lambeth Hill, including evidence for the Great Fire of 1666, which scorched the road surface and destroyed buildings north of Thames Street.

The Thomson Collection contains examples of the highest quality of most types of medieval ivory carving, both secular and religious. These include large statuettes of the Virgin and Child intended to stand on altars in chapels, small versions for private use in the home, and folding tablets or diptychs with scenes from the life of Christ carved in relief.

Until now the evidence for London's Early and Middle Saxon rural settlement and economy has received scant attention. This monograph provides a long-awaited overview of the subject, drawing on the results of six decades of archaeological fieldwork since the war, in addition to historical and place-name evidence. Some of the material has been published before and will be familiar to the reader, but much of it has only been available as site archives or unpublished reports, and at best briefly summarised as notes in excavation round-ups. This synthesis therefore forms an indispensible guide to researchers. The first part focuses on twenty-six sites and six fish traps across the region, followed by thematic sections on a range of topics, and then a final section on the pottery finds.

St Marylebone parish grew from humble beginnings on the city's margins to become, in the 18th and 19th centuries, one of the wealthiest in London, home to the elite and fashionable. The small parish church on Marylebone High Street, built in brick in 1742 on the site of the medieval church, was inadequate for such a congregation and was superceded in 1817 by today's far grander edifice on Marylebone Road. Archaeological investigations in 1992 showed that the graveyard - levelled in the 1930s for a playground for St Marylebone Church of England School for Girls - lay substantially undisturbed beneath the playground. In 2004 plans to build an underground sports hall allowed excavation of a sample of the burial ground and part of the church itself. Most of the 350+ burials recorded were from the graveyard; some were in family vaults and others inside the church crypt. The archaeological results and detailed osteological analysis of 301 individuals are combined with documentary research into the parish and its population, including the woman who preferred parrots to men, the artist who died of lockjaw and the Reverend headmaster and his 'most wicked and abandoned wife'. This volume is one of the largest and most comprehensive studies of a post-medieval London cemetery.

Romney Marsh is the largest coastal lowland on the south coast of England. Since 1991 excavations in advance of gravel extraction around Lydd on Romney Marsh, have uncovered large areas of medieval landscape, one of the largest to be exposed in southern England. Features uncovered include 12th-13th century drainage ditches, ditched field systems and sea defences. Also of particular significance is the identification of a series of occupation sites and their enclosures. The excavation of dispersed settlements is particularly difficult, because of the scale of work required to produce meaningful results. In this case it has been possible to work on sufficiently large areas to allow significant conclusions to be drawn. The excavations at Lydd Quarry have shown how dispersed settlement existed alongside the nucleated market settlements on Romney Marsh. This extensive report details the archaeological investigations of the field systems and occupation sites, finds and environmental material. There is also a section by Sheila Sweetinburgh on the documentary evidence. Two final chapters set out broader conclusions from the evidence for the field systems, settlements, and economy, and set the area in its wider context. The research has provided an unprecedented opportunity to study reclamation, occupation and economy of a large tract of marginal landscape through a considerable period of time.

Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History is an annual series concerned with the archaeology and history of England and its neighbours during the Anglo-Saxon period. ASSAH offers researchers an opportunity to publish new work in an interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary forum which allows for a diversity of approaches and subject matter. Contributions focus not just on Anglo-Saxon England but also its international context.

Early Celtic art' - typified by the iconic shields, swords, torcs and chariot gear we can see in places such as the British Museum - has been studied in isolation from the rest of the evidence from the Iron Age. This book reintegrates the art with the archaeology, placing the finds in the context of our latest ideas about Iron Age and Romano-British society. The contributions move beyond the traditional concerns with artistic styles and continental links, to consider the material nature of objects, their social effects and their role in practices such as exchange and burial. The aesthetic impact of decorated metalwork, metal composition and manufacturing, dating and regional differences within Britain all receive coverage. The book gives us a new understanding of some of the most ornate and complex objects ever found in Britain, artefacts that condense and embody many histories.

This second volume on the excavations of the Norwegian Viking town Kaupang 2000-2003 presents find types used in economic transactions - coins, hacksilver, ingots, weights and balances. Changes in type and volume of economic transactions at Kaupang and in Scandinavia are discussed, and the economic mentality of Viking crafts- and tradesmen is explored. In the early ninth century, silver and goods seem to have come to Kaupang mainly from the Carolinigian world. After the mid-ninth century this early system was altered. The increased availability of silver and the introduction in most of Scandinavia in the 860s-870s of standardized weights, paved the way for an increased use of silver as payment. The combined study of the find types and the sophisticated chronology of settlements' finds from sites like Kaupang give completely new insight into economy and exchange. The book demonstrates how sites like Kaupang led the way in economic development in Scandinavia and promoted an economic mentality that eventually led to the fundamental transformation of Scandinavian culture and society and culminated in the region's integration in High Middle Ages Christian Europe.