RELICS OF ROMANS

Southland Times, Issue 20662, 18 April 1929, Page 8

RELICS OF ROMANS

EXCAVATIONS IN LONDON

LIPSTICKS AND JEWELLERY’

London, January 5,

Excavations on an unprecedented scale now being made in the City of London for new buildings are leading to remarkable discoveries of Roman and medieval remains.

A'pair of antlers just found in an excellent state of preservation indicate that the Romans used to have good hunting near the city, and, with other objects found, throw a vivid light on the London of 2000 years ago.

The principal finds recently have been on the site of the old Bank of England, the Midland Bank on the old Walbrook stream, and at Apothecaries’ Hall, Blackfriars, where there have been discovered traces of the monastic buildings of the Black Friars, Among the objects discovered are toilet articles such as the Roman equivalent of the lipstick, various pottery, shoes and jewellery. YVorkmen digging on the site of some new building at the back of the Guildhall have just found some shoes with long points, of the Dick Whittington period. It was in his time that the foundations of the present Guildhall were laid. One shoe with a turned up toe is of the time of Edward 111. Another discovery on this site was the lower side of a pair of bellows, which was probably used by .Londoners about the year 1400.

In the past, in London, as buildings decayed or were burned down, the new ones which took their places were built on the top of the debris of the old ones. In course of time the level of the surface has risen, until it is now about 15 to 20 feet higher than that of the virgin soil on which the first inhabitants built, and it is from the study of the various objects revealed in digging that archaeologists reconstruct the past. ,