Han Li
I’m Han Li, MOLA’s Senior Building Material specialist. I am currently reassembling and assessing the fragmented Roman painted wall-plaster from The Liberty.
Last year we revealed the discovery of a totally unexpected Roman tomb, called a mausoleum, during excavations for The Liberty in Southwark. This site had already hit the headlines in 2022 with some of the best-preserved Roman mosaics found in London in the last fifty years.
Our dig on site has finished, but that was only the start of our work. We’ve now moved on to the post-excavation phase of the project. Post-excavation (often called “post-ex”) is when our archaeological specialists analyse and study everything we have found on site. We’re really excited to see what more there is to discover, and you can find out what they’ve been up to so far later in this blog.
Join us over the next year as we dig into Roman Southwark’s story.
Uncovering The Liberty
Cities like London contain overlapping traces of the lives of the millions of people who once lived and worked in them. When we dig, we have a chance to peel back all these layers of time, uncovering some of the lives and histories that have been hidden from us for hundreds, and even thousands, of years.
Our first detailed maps of the area around The Liberty site are only about 500 years old. For anything before this we only have a few written historical records – and now, thanks to our excavations, a wealth of incredible archaeology. It tells the story over more than 2000 years of a site that had it all, lost it, and is now starting a new chapter.
From a wealthy Roman suburb to a cemetery, medieval fields to Georgian houses, warehouses, and industrial buildings to modern re-development, The Liberty represents the everchanging face of London.
The work continues.
Since we finished on site last year, our post-excavation team have been really busy! Our finds and environmental specialists have been recording and analysing everything, working out what might need further work or research. Our conservation team look after any delicate objects which need stabilising. Our specialists include experts on pottery, human remains, building materials, seeds, animal bone, metalwork, coins, glass, leather and clay tobacco pipes.
During the dig, our field team recorded a massive 2,959 layers and features at The Liberty. These all fit together like a giant 3D jigsaw, and it’s our post-ex teams’ job to put this complicated puzzle back together. They aim to understand what happened on the site over time, working out where and when all the findings fit into the story.
All finds from the site have now been cleaned, bagged and boxed. So far, they have recorded 1,928 special finds, 6,698 pieces of animal bone, and 15,349 fragments of pottery.
Let’s meet some of the post-excavation specialists working on The Liberty
Liz Goodman
I’m Liz Goodman, Conservation Team Leader. In this photo I’m working on one of the Roman mosaics. As conservators we are involved in all aspects of the excavation from helping lift complicated objects to conserving small objects to enable the finds team to understand and identify them.
Don Walker
I’m Don Walker and I work as an osteologist for MOLA. My job is to advise and assist in the excavation of burial grounds. I study the remains of excavated individuals to learn about the lives of past communities. My department works with academic institutions in scientific analysis of bone with resulting insights into origins, migration, health and lifestyles.
Archaeological investigations at The Liberty are being carried out by MOLA on behalf of Landsec, Transport for London (TfL), and Southwark Council.
