In 2009 , the city of London enter on a massive infrastructure project : a73 - mileunderground railway system connection called the Elizabeth Line that will ultimately boost urban train capacity by 10 percent . Slated to be up and running by 2018 , the undertaking allowed archaeologists to take an unprecedented peek at wrapping of subterranean London , and yielded plenty of cool historical gem from various period . Here ’s a small sample of the uncovering .
1. A GRAVEYARD CONTAINING VICTIMS OF THE BLACK DEATH
While turn up London ’s Charterhouse Square in 2013 , archaeologistsuneartheddozens of skeletons . Scientists analyse the corpse and bring out that some of them belong to victims of the Black Death — a.k.a . bubonic pest — who succumbed to pandemic that embroil 14th- and fifteenth - hundred England .
tooth contained suggestion of desoxyribonucleic acid from the infestation bacteriumYersinia pestis , and radio - carbon geological dating indicated that the burial ground had been used during two outbreaks of infestation , one from 1348 to 1350 and another during the 1430s . The skeletons also show signs of poor diet and hard lifestyles , which might have been contributing factors for why Londoner were so susceptible to the plague .
But the so - call pestilence orchestra pit did n’t just contain those who ’d succumbed to disease . Not only were some bodies plague - free , " what they find was , not bodies tumbled together as they ’d expected , but rather orderly burials with people put down in dustup with their physical structure orient in one direction , " historian Gillian TindalltoldThe Guardian . This suggest not all of them died due to pestis but from other , more everyday campaign .
2. AN 8000-YEAR-OLD STONE TOOL
While poke at North Woolrich , in southeastern London , archaeologistsdiscovereda Mesolithic - geological era internet site along the Thames where former humans are think to have craft tools around 8500 to 6000 years ago . The encampment had tracing of campfire and flint scatters , and experts recover 150 pieces of flint , includingan 8000 - year - oldstone tool .
" This is a unparalleled and exciting find that reveal grounds of humans returning to England and in special the Thames Valley after a foresighted respite during the Ice Age , " Crossrail jumper cable archaeologist Jay Carversaidin a news release . " It is one of a handful of archeology sites uncovered that confirm humans lived in the Thames Valley at this time . The engrossment of flint piece show that this was an exceptionally important localization for source material to make tools that were used by early Londoners who be and hunted on Thames Estuary islands . "
3. A VULGAR VICTORIAN CHAMBER POT
While excavating the Stepney Green station in East London , archaeologistscame acrossa 19th - century cesspit date to sometime after 1850 . The waste hole was filled with tobacco pipage and fragment of great deal , including a raunchy Victorian chamber mickle . It was once likely kept under a bottom , and provide for its owner to do their business sector in secret during the eve hour .
The green goddess ’s bottomcontainsa cartoon of a grimacing gentleman’s gentleman , encircle by the set phrase " Oh what I see / I will not tell . " Witty cursive lines once overlay the exterior of the broken watercraft . Archaeologists were able to decipher one personal credit line , which read " … when you in it want to atomic number 15 - s/ Remember they who gave you this . "
4. A TUDOR ERA BOWLING BALL (OR SKITTLES BALL)
In addition to the aforesaid cesspit , excavation at Stepney Green alsorevealeda fifteenth - hundred Tudor manor house , complete with fosse . Originally home to a productive family named Fenne , it was once call King John ’s Court or Palace , and later became known as the Worcester House after its proprietor the Marquis of Worcester .
In 2013 , archeologist excavated the home ’s foundations , moat , and boundary wall . Inside the fosse they name a wooden ball made from willow tree , which was likely either used for bowling or skittle , a European lawn game . Other recovered itemsincludedfine glassware , tableware , and cooking and storage vessels , all of which were immerse when the moat was either destroyed or fill in .
5. A 55-MILLION-YEAR-OLD PIECE OF AMBER
Slated to open up in previous 2018 , London ’s newCanary Wharfbusiness district station is located deeply below a mixed - purpose development call Crossrail Place . While tunnel at Canary Wharf was too mysterious to disturb any buried souvenir , engineers were still able to recover a piece of55 - million - yr - old amberfrom well-nigh 50 ft below the land site ’s dock bottom before construction begin . It ’s the old gold to have ever been detect in London , and is also notable believe that amber is n’t often found in the UK to start with .
Amber , or fossilized tree resin , carry millions of years and proper burial conditions to form . These preserve souvenir often contain prehistoric plants and creatures , suspend in the clear material . Experts said they plan to analyze the Canary Wharf gold to larn more about prehistoric environmental conditions and botany . The fogey also contained bubble of trapped gun , which scientist said might give novel scientific insights about global warming .
6. A RARE ROMAN MEDALLION
archaeologist excavating Crossrail ’s Liverpool Street situation discovered more than 100 mostly - copperRoman coin , along with a smattering of silver currency . They ranged in appointment from 43 CE , during the reign ofEmperor Claudius , to 348 CE .
One of the most exciting discoveries among these coin was a rare bronze medallion that was issued to mark the New Year in 245 CE . Presented by Emperor Phillip I ( also calledPhilip the Arab ) to a high - ranking government official , it ’s only the second deterrent example of its kind that ’s ever been found , accordingtoThe Guardian .
" You wonder how it get there , who fetch it with them , and then how did they miss it — were they heartbroken ? " contemplate Jackie Keily , a curator at the Museum of London who prepare an exhibition of 500 Crossrail artefact in 2017 .
7. A CLUSTER OF ROMAN SKULLS
In 2013 , Crossrail workers discover Romanic pottery and around20 Roman skullswhile work on the Liverpool Street station site . Other Roman Catholic skulls had been found in the arena , along the historic River Walbrook , and some speculated that they belong to insurrectionist guide by the Iceni warrior - faggot Boudicca , who revolted against the Roman Empire during the 1st hundred CE . But since the newly unearthed skulls were found in deposit that had accumulated in a plication of the river , archaeologists conceive that they in all probability wash out of an erode Roman Catholic cemetery long ago . Moreover , the skulls appear to particular date toafterthe uprising .
8. HEADSTONES OF VICTIMS OF THE GREAT PLAGUE
On September 2 , 1665 , a young woman key Mary Godfree succumbed to the plague — one of 95 multitude from the same church service parish who exit from the disease that day . She was remembered solely by a line in a burial cash register untilOctober 2015 , when archaeologists key out herlimestone burial stonewhile turn up the new Liverpool Street Crossrail station website .
The area was originally home to the historical New Churchyard interment ground , also call the Bedlam interment priming . There , archeologist discovereda mass grave , along with the end of 10 Isidor Feinstein Stone markers . Godfree ’s headstone did n’t score the presence of her real tomb , as the gravestone had been removed sometime during the 18th 100 and reused in the foundation ofa paries . Still , it give away newfangled insights into how and where the rediscovered Londoner was buried , and what burial condition were like during the Great Plague .
