Current Archaeology 351

This month marks 40 years since Wessex Archaeology was founded. Milestone birthdays are often a time of reflection as well as celebration, and in this issue we are exploring four of Wessex Archaeology’s recent projects to shed light on widely contrasting aspects of commercial archaeology.
/nAt New Covent Garden Market, Battersea, detailed osteological analysis of human remains recovered from a Victorian graveyard is shedding vivid light on a community faced with rapid urbanisation and grinding poverty.
/nA rather earlier population is under the spotlight at Datchet, near Windsor, where investigations in a gravel quarry have yielded not only the monumental remains of a 5,500-year-old causewayed enclosure, but a wealth of evidence for early Neolithic feasting and funerary practices.
/nFrom rural Berkshire to the bustling heart of Sheffield, we next visit the location of a long-demolished medieval castle – when redevelopment of the site offered the rare chance to excavate, what traces would be brought to light once more?
/nLeaving the land altogether, we plunge into the world of marine archaeology to learn more about how a Second World War ship’s bell was recovered from the bottom of the North Sea and carefully conserved for public display.
/nFinally, this month’s ‘In Focus’ complements this smorgasbord of commercial digs, highlighting a fascinating research project by intrepid University of Newcastle archaeologists who are descending on ropes to record a 3rd-century quarry wall, documenting eroding Roman inscriptions linked to the maintenance of Hadrian’s Wall.