Jay CARVER
(MIFA, Crossrail, London, United Kingdom)
Abstract: Abstract: Crossrail is a brand new 118km urban railway being constructed across central London, UK. It comprises 56km of new and refurbished line, 37 stations, with six major new central London underground stations.
The new railway passes underground through the heart of the West End of London and along the north edge of the Roman and Medieval city where deep excavation for the construction of several key central stations has required the careful assessment and evaluation of the archaeological sequence. The surviving archaeology is anticipated to extend to up to 6m in depth below the modern surface and provide an urban archaeological record from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD Roman city (Londinium) right through the post Roman and medieval periods to the recent past.
This paper looks at how a wide variety of desk study sources, reconnaissance exercises, ground deposit modeling and actual site testing methods has allowed the development of a tested project design to be put forward for further excavation, recording and presentation of results and finds at Liverpool Street, one of the key central London Crossrail station sites.
The paper shall look at how the available data has been assimilated, how the scope and timing of the site surveys and interdisciplinary liaison with other professional teams has allowed archaeologists to build a comprehensive understanding of the actual research potential at this site. Outcomes from site investigations shall be reviewed and commentary provided on how effective or not each stage was, with a view to discussing where useful lessons have been learnt.
Keywords: Project Design; Multidisciplinary; Desk Study; Site evaluation; data integration