In 20 Digs

The archaeology of Merseyside is extremely rich and varied. Humans have been modifying the landscape for over 10,000 years. The river and coast have always been significant to Merseyside. From early village settlements to industrial and port activity in its towns, connected communities have used the natural resources of Merseyside, making this place their home. Teams of archaeologists have been investigating this history since the nineteenth century. 'Above all else archaeology is a social endeavour. We work collectively in the field and labour in the lab to generate new information about the past. The legacy of excavation is not only the knowledge generated, intriguing finds on display in the museum, or the experience of doing it, but the friendships and working relationships established, which endure.' Andy Towle, archaeologist Twenty sites have been selected to explore the stories of Merseyside's past from mesolithic to modern, reflecting on lifestyles, settlements, communities, beliefs, and food. The Archaeology of Merseyside in 20 Digs explores the archaeology of the region through the lens of these excavations.

From the remains of a tenth/eleventh-century massacre at St John's College through to the biggest exposure of medieval buildings yet seen in Oxford at the Westgate Shopping Centre, excavations in Oxford have continued to uncover exciting new information about the city's past. The Archaeology of Oxford in 20 Digs takes the reader on a journey through a selection of the most ground-breaking or unusual archaeological discoveries made in the city over the last 150 years and includes updates on recent discoveries. This unique study celebrates Oxford's archaeological heritage in a new and accessible way and is illustrated with an extensive selection of photographs and illustrations. The journey starts with the Victorian pioneers and concludes with discoveries that are still, in archaeological terms, fresh out of the ground and that are helping us to reshape our understanding of this world-famous city.

Manchester has always had the ability to reinvent itself. Evolving from a Roman fort to an Elizabethan linen market town and a Georgian market centre, it became the world's largest cotton spinning town in the early nineteenth century. In the Victorian period it was a commercial, engineering and port city. After industry declined in the mid-twentieth century Manchester re-emerged as an education, music and sports destination. The urban regeneration needed to revive Manchester was an archaeological opportunity to explore the city's deep roots and its more recent radical past. Over fifty digs have been undertaken since 2000, changing our understanding of the city's origins, which are prehistoric, Roman, and international.Archaeological remains from bricks and cobbles to pots and glass bottles have helped to bring to life the world's first industrial city, with its pioneering canals and railways, filth and poverty. Even the city's newer history of live music has been rediscovered through modern archaeology.

Worcester is one of England's great historic cities, with a history of occupation that goes back to the Iron Age. It was a Roman ironworking and industrial centre, though some houses were decorated with mosaics or painted wall plaster. From AD 680, Worcester was the ecclesiastical centre of the Hwicce and later a defended Mercian burh. The medieval city had many parish churches and monasteries, a castle and city walls, and a stone bridge across the River Severn. It was refortified in the Civil War, and the first and last battles of the war were fought here. More recently, the city has been an important centre for the production of porcelain. The Archaeology of Worcester in 20 Digs takes the reader on a journey through a selection of the most ground-breaking and unusual archaeological discoveries made in the city.

The Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire is one of the cradles of industrialisation. At its heart is the Iron Bridge spanning the River Severn, one of the world's first iron bridges and an iconic image of the Industrial Revolution. The area's role in helping to transform Britain into the world's first industrial society earned it UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1986. Industrialisation in and around the gorge was shaped and constrained by the landscape and this is reflected in the range of extractive, manufacturing, and transport sites in the area. These include Abraham Darby's coke-fired iron furnace of 1709, the first steel furnace in England at the Upper Forge, brick and tile works, canals, tramways, and workers' housing. The Archaeology of Ironbridge Gorge in 20 Digs explores a range of sites and material evidence excavated from the 1970s to the 2010s. It combines archaeological excavation with the analysis of the industrial and domestic buildings that helped to create the Ironbridge industrial community, and which continue to form an integral part of this internationally important twenty-first-century landscape.