Spitalfields Project

Summary

The Spitalfields Market excavations in London were one of the biggest and most exciting archaeological projects in Britain, uncovering a Roman cemetery, a medieval priory and its churchyard (including the remains of nearly 11,000 people buried there), and the remains of hundreds of houses dating to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The excavations, running from 1991 to 2002 also recovered the largest group of artefacts ever found in London. The excavations consisted of a number of different sites combined into one large project; 280 Bishopsgate and the Spitalfields Ramp (Site code: SRP98), 250 Bishopsgate (Site Code: STE95), The Spitalfields Residential development (Site code: SQU94) and 288 Bishopsgate (Site code: BGE98). The sites were excavated by Museum of London Archaeological Service (MoLAS, now Museum of London Archaeology) in advance of redevelopment by the Spitalfields Development Group, Corporation of London, London International Finance Futures and Options Exchange, ABN Amro Bank, St George PLC and Mercury Asset Management Ltd.

This project makes available the recorded faunal data from these excavations. The data ranges in date from the Roman period to the 19th century. It includes the detailed records of 9341 individual fragments of animal bone. The majority of the faunal information is recorded in the ‘Spitalfields faunal main information datasheet with contextual data’ table. This can be linked to more detailed tables where metrical, modifications (such as butchery marks) and tooth wear information is recorded. All these faunal tables can be linked using the ‘site-bone’ field. This consists of a combination of the site code and individual bone number. This field is utilised because the Spitalfields faunal assemblage consists of a number of different excavations.

The recording and analysis of the faunal remains was conducted by Kevin Rielly. The project was lead by Chris Thomas.

Cite this Record

Spitalfields Project. ( tDAR id: 5803) ; doi:10.6067/XCV81J9C69

Keywords

Culture
British • English • Historic • Roman

Material
Fauna

Site Name
Spitalfields

Site Type
Archaeological Feature • Cemetery • Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Funerary and Burial Structures or Features

Investigation Types
Archaeological Overview • Collections Research • Data Recovery / Excavation • Methodology, Theory, or Synthesis • Records Search / Inventory Checking • Site Evaluation / Testing

General
Faunal • London, animal bone, urban

Temporal Keywords
Medieval • Roman, Post-medieval • Romano-British

Spatial Coverage

min long: -0.094; min lat: 51.5 ; max long: -0.064; max lat: 51.534 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Collaborator(s): Museum of London Archaeology

Resources Inside this Project (Viewing 1-12 of 12)

Documents

  1. Summary of the Spitalfields project (2011)

Datasets

  1. Spitalfields faunal main information datasheet with contextual data (2011)
  2. Spitalfields faunal measurement data sheet
  3. Spitalfields faunal modification datasheet (2011)
  4. Spitalfields faunal tooth wear data sheet (2011)
  5. Spitalfields Project Faunal Database - Measurements Individual Bones Period 13
  6. Spitalfields Project Faunal Database - Period 13 Species by Land Use
  7. Spitalfields Project Faunal Database - Period 13 Species Elements
  8. Spitalfields Project Faunal Database - Summary Species Per Periods
  9. Spitalfields Project Faunal Database - Tooth Wear Individual Mandibles Period 13
  10. Spitalfields Project Faunal Database - Total Number of Bones Per Period

Coding Sheets

  1. Spitalfields Project Periods Coding Sheet