London 2012 blog

Last week I ventured to East Marsh with Celia, Head of Legal, to be involved in the ODA’s archaeology programme ‘discover’. I have been to East Marsh a number of times this year as we created homes for moths, worms, snails and beetles to live as part of the Olympic Park construction programme. The ecology has certainly come to life since my last visit.

Celia and I looking for creatures within a log wall at East Marsh:

While there I met Year 5 students from George Tomlinson Primary School who were first given an excellent talk by the Museum of London Archaeology Service (MoLAS) about the history of East Marsh, the Olympic Park and the surrounding area. I was really impressed with the students' knowledge of the area. Their favourite activity seemed to be washing real artefacts from sites around London, just like an archaeologist would. They also had the opportunity to handle finds from the Second World War, old terracotta pots dating back to the Roman’s and flint from prehistoric times (450,000 BC – AD 43). 

Students looking for artefacts during a 'blanket dig' at East Marsh:



A lot of effort goes into making an event like this happen, but from what I saw, it was well worth it.

It was a great setting and, thankfully, fantastic weather, which set the scene for an enjoyable day. I look forward to more!