Archaeology Archive of Museum of London

The London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC) is part of the Museum of London and opened in 2002. In 2012 it was formally recognised by the Guinness World Records as the largest Archaeological Archive in the world and holds information relating to over 8500 excavations in the Greater London area.

The LAARC is the primary source of evidence for early London and a resource of international significance. It is a particularly precious resource because archaeology is a destructive process. Unearthing one deposit usually involves removing another, so whereas a scientific experiment can be repeated, an archaeological site can never be ‘re-excavated’. Be it a Roman house, a medieval wharf or a Victorian cellar, once it has been excavated, it survives only in the archive.

The guided tour by a Museum of London curator will include the Social and Working History Collection (nineteenth/twentieth century objects from telephones to cannons), the Ceramic and Glass Collection (25,000 Roman, Saxon, medieval and post-medieval objects), the Finds Processing area (experience how the quantity of material is  processed and catalogued) and of course the kilometres of material in the archive itself. You will have an opportunity to handle material from City of London excavations and ask about the work of the archaeologists.

*Directions:

Victoria line to Highbury & Islington

Bus 271 (towards Moorgate) to Baring Street (six stops)

Then three minute walk to Mortimer Wheeler House, 46 Eagle Wharf Road, London N1 7ED