From our early beginnings in the 1970s, as teams of archaeologists working for the Museum of London, we have grown to become one of the UK's leading archaeology and built heritage practices. Today, we have over 400 archaeological professionals working across the country.
After being a department of the Museum of London for many years, we became an independent organisation with registered charity status in 2011. We are known for our excellence in research, granted Independent Research Organisation (IRO) status in 2014. In the same year, we were joined by Northamptonshire Archaeology. More recently, in 2022, we acquired L – P : Archaeology, adding 3 new offices and over 90 new staff to our teams.
Key Milestones
- 1973: The Department of Urban Archaeology (DUA) is formed to protect archaeological remains in the City of London.
- 1983: The Department of Greater London Archaeology (DGLA) is formed to protect archaeological remains across Greater London.
- 1991: DUA and DGLA merge to form Museum of London Archaeology Service (MoLAS, later rebranded as MOLA)
- 2011: MOLA becomes an independent charitable company.
- 2014: Northamptonshire Archaeology joins MOLA. MOLA becomes one of only a handful of non-academic institutions to hold Independent Research Organisation (IRO) Status.
- 2017: MOLA opens a new office in Basingstoke.
- 2022: MOLA acquires L – P: Archaeology.
