Boneyard along the Thames reveals ancient burials in London

The banks of the Thames have hosted human settlements for thousands of years, from Neolithic sheds to rising skyscrapers in London. Evidence of a bygone civilization is steadily depositing at the muddy bottoms of the river for modern archaeologists to mine me.

Now, London researchers have worked with dozens of bones drowned from the river, creating a comprehensive database that dispels long-standing theories about why the river serves as a final resting place for so many people. I did. The findings were published in the Ancient Journal.

“The truth is, it's really great in many ways,” said Thomas Booth, an ancient genomics expert at the Francis Crick Institute in London, who was not involved in the project. Dr. Booth said it was a “more comprehensive effort” to date a human body found on the Thames.

The river mud that is free from oxygen is a sealant that helps preserve the ruins. (Bones break down much faster when oxygen is present.) And because there is so much activity on the Thames, its mud always produces historic treasures. In 2018, workers building new sewer tunnels along Riverbank discovered an undamaged 500-year-old skeleton with leather boots still under their feet.

In a new study, researchers dated bones by measuring the amount of each carbon isotope. This method, known as radiocarbon dating, has previously been used to determine the age of 19 samples. Now, the researchers tested samples of 28 rivers (all from the skulls) that had not been previously dated. They also tested two skulls from a survey several decades ago to see if the results were still up (they did).

The researchers also included several samples discovered by “Mudrak”, an amateur archaeologist who is represented by London officials to wash the Thames. (It's a popular hobby. Approximately 10,000 people are on Mudlark's waiting list).

Overall, the researchers have compiled samples of 61 dates in their database. They said about 200 other samples from the river had not yet been dated.

“It is the largest collection of its nature in the UK,” said Nicola Arthur, the author of the study and archaeologist at the Museum of Natural History in London, who contributed to 28 new samples.

The Romans significantly settled London (then known as the Londinium) shortly after their conquest of England in 43 AD. This still has traces of Roman settlements, like a cathedral just discovered under the city's financial district.

But humans lived along the river long before that.

“There were people who settled here nearly four,000 years ago,” said Heather Bonney, another archaeologist at the Museum of Natural History and author of the new paper.

Half of the new samples came from the Bronze Age or Iron Age, which ranged from 2300 BC to the arrival of the Romans. A prominent cluster appeared during the transition of two periods. This concludes that the bodies were deliberately placed in the river, contrary to previous theory that they claimed to have been driven by a powerful tide.

The study also points to a lack of evidence regarding funeral practices in many ancient societies, shedding light on the “missing dead” conundrums of archaeology. If water burials are prevalent as Thames' findings suggest, then rivers in Europe could be double-service, like prehistoric cemeteries.

“Part of the reason why we can't see deaths during this period is because many of them are deposited in rivers and other watery areas,” Dr. Booth said.

As far as other watery places are concerned, swamps are particularly rich sources for archaeologists, as acidic water allows for amazing, mummy-like levels of preservation. The most famous swamp body in Britain is a gentian man, discovered in 1984 and is believed to have been the victim of a violent death upon the arrival of the Romans. None of the Thames' bones have achieved his fame.