25-27th January 2012: Mudlarking on the River Thames

I had three mornings of mudlarking on the River Thames at Vauxhall and Bermondsey. On the 25th I came across some of the FROGs that I had trained with in 2011.

To see a slideshow photos from the three mornings (on Flickr) >> click here

The colour coding reflects where the photo was taken from or the artefact was found:

• A view from the foreshore towards Tower Bridge >>Bermondsey1
• Appears to be a wooden structure made of upright planks at an angle. My interpretation was that it is a barrel, iron concretions around the edge may be the hoops >> Bermondsey2 >>Bermondsey3
• Within the peat layer along with other organic remains (bones and wood) may be thatch? Or evidence of wattle? >>Bermondsey4 >>Bermondsey5 >>Bermondsey6
• Timber post spotted on my first visit just after going under Vauxhall bridge towards the causeway >> Vauxhall1
• Picture of the FROGs working on the causeway >> Vauxhall2
• Taken on my second visit to Vauxhall (Friday) of the causeway >> Vauxhall3
• Myself standing/crouching next to the causeway posts >> Vauxhall4 >> Vauxhall5
• Closer picture of one of the posts: Vauxhall6
• Showing a piece of wood poking out of the peat at an angle, this is located closer to Vauxhall Bridge than the causeway (8&9 give a reference point) >>Vauxhall7 >>Vauxhall8 >>Vauxhall9 >>Vauxhall10
• The top of a long bone, again embedded in the peat, the dark staining suggests it comes from the peat >>Vauxhall11
• Another piece of wood lying flat on the shore, in appears fragmented probably due to the level of exposure to surface area >>Vauxhall12
• Another piece of long bone in the peat near to the area of photo: Vauxhall12 >>Vauxhall13 >>Vauxhall14
• Possibly one of the Mesolithic posts about to disappear (it was on the Mesolithic side of the bridge) >> Vauxhall15 >>Vauxhall16
• Another ‘possible’ Mesolithic post, slight further up the shore than the one in Vauxhall15&16 >> Vauxhall17 >> Vauxhall18
• What I would interpret as bronze age debitage due to the quality of flaking, these were found in the area of peat close to the bridge >>Vauxhall Finds1 >>Vauxhall Finds2 >>Vauxhall Finds3 >>Vauxhall Finds4 >>Vauxhall Finds5
• Heat damaged quartzite pebbles, possibly pot boilers. Along with two smalls blades, again from the area of peat >>Vauxhall Finds 6 >>Vauxhall Finds 7
• Blade core and damaged scarper found on the bed of peat just to the right of the causeway (when facing the water) >>Vauxhall Finds 8
• Closer view of the broken scraper >>Vauxhall Finds 9 >>Vauxhall Finds 10
• Two complete scrapers found on the peat exposure at site >>Vauxhall Finds 11 >>Vauxhall Finds12 >>Vauxhall Finds13 >>Vauxhall Finds 14
• Piece of scapula and sheep? Jaw found on the peat exposure >>Vauxhall Finds 15 >>Vauxhall Finds 16
• Very thin prepared-core blades found on peat exposure from the one on the right (in both photos) which was from the peat exposure near to the causeway >>Vauxhall Finds 17 >>Vauxhall Finds 18
• Horse teeth found at peat exposure >> Vauxhall Finds 19
• Closer views of the scrapers (photos 11-14) to show the retouched edges >> Vauxhall Finds 20 >>Vauxhall Finds 21 >>Vauxhall Finds 22

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