'Tunnel: the Archaeology of Crossrail' at the Museum of London Docklands
Artefacts revealing 8,000 years of human history in London are going on show on Friday after being unearthed during the city's giant underground railway project.
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A mass grave was uncovered containing 42 individuals was dug up on Liverpool Street. Five of the individuals have tested positive for the plague pathogen [Credit: Crossrail/MOLA] |
Now some 500 objects from the tens of thousands excavated since 2009 in building the line, also known as Crossrail, are being revealed to the public.
"We've managed to take a slice down through London but also across London," said Jackie Keily, the curator of "Tunnel: the Archaeology of Crossrail" at the Museum of London Docklands.
The skeletons of plague victims, humorous Victorian chamber pots, Roman horseshoes, mediaeval bone ice skates and even 1940s railway company teacups are among the relics on display.
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Humans remains discovered at Charterhouse Square. They date back to the Black Death in the 14th and 15th century [Credit: Crossrail/MOLA] |
The train tunnels were bored up to 40 metres (131 feet) underground, but the construction of new surface stations also gave archeologists the chance to explore shallower layers where human activity has left its mark.
While the central section of the Elizabeth Line runs through the Roman heart of the city, the suburban sections reveal shards of flint from tool-making 8,000 years ago.
Crossrail excavations also turned up 68,000-year-old reindeer antlers and bison bones, plus a fragment of a woolly mammoth jaw.
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Three skeletons will be on display, including one of those found in the mass grave at the Bedlam burial ground [Credit: Crossrail/MOLA] |
It contains a statue of Saint Barbara, the patron saint of miners, which was placed at tunnel entrances.
As per tradition, the eight tunnel boring machines were given women's names, in this case Ada, Elizabeth, Ellie, Jessica, Mary, Phyllis, Sophia and Victoria.
Crossrail will link London's centre to suburbs to the east and west, plus Heathrow Airport, along 118 kilometres (73.3 miles) of track.
The project is costing £14.7 billion ($18.4 billion, 17.2 billion euros) and employing up to 10,000 people at a time.
It should carry 200 million passengers per year, providing an extra 10 percent of capacity on London's creaking transport network.
The museum exhibition is situated in the Canary Wharf financial district in east London's former Docklands.
Some 28 metres below the murky Thames water, engineers are putting the finishing touches the Canary Wharf Crossrail station.
Covered in scaffolding and boarding, the platforms, 240 metres long and 30 metres wide, are in place, and works trains are already rumbling through the tunnels.
"Crossrail is about 80 percent complete," Camilla Barrow, the deputy project manager for rail systems, told AFP in the westbound tunnel.
The central London tunnel section opens in May 2019 before the full Elizabeth Line service starts in December that year.
Author: Robin Millard | Source: AFP [February 18, 2017]
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