ULAS News

Encounters with Achilles: The Discovery of the Rutland Roman Villa

The Covid 19 Lockdown in 2020 forced many people to stay close to home for their recreational activities and also to find new interests to pursue. For Jim Irvine a walk with his family on his father’s farmland was the start of a journey that led to the astounding discovery of an extensive Roman villa…

Extraordinary Roman mosaic and villa discovered beneath Rutland farmer’s field

Archaeologists have unearthed the first Roman mosaic of its kind in the UK. Today (Thursday 25th November 2021), a rare Roman mosaic and surrounding villa complex have been protected as a Scheduled Monument by DCMS on the advice of Historic England. The decision follows archaeological work undertaken by a team from University of Leicester Archaeological…

Leicester Cathedral Revealed – the 19th-century burial ground

ULAS archaeologists have now been on site at Leicester Cathedral for a month and today is a good time to start revealing what has been found so far. Mathew Morris, the archaeology team leader for the Heritage Learning Centre excavation tells us more… For my first project update I want to focus on the 19th-century…

Leicester Cathedral Revealed – archaeological excavation begins at Leicester Cathedral

University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) are delighted to announce that we have been appointed archaeological contractors for the Leicester Cathedral Revealed project. Now that the Old Song School has been demolished we have a team of archaeologists on site monitoring ground works including the removal of old foundations and the installation of trench sheeting and the contiguous piled…

New book explores life in Roman and Medieval Leicester

The most comprehensive book ever written on the archaeology of Leicester has been published by University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS). Walking through Leicester today it is difficult to appreciate that beneath its streets lie the remains of a 2,000-year-old settlement; beginning in the late Iron Age and subsequently re-shaped by a succession of Roman,…

Buried Bouskell Self-Guided Circular Walk – UPDATED

Location: Bouskell Park, Welford Road, Blaby LE18 4FT Walk length: 0.5 miles / 0.8 km Gradient: Level and moderate, gravel path Parking: Yes, car park accessed from Welford Road Download a printable version of the walk here (pdf, 1.49mb). Welcome to Bouskell Park. I’m Mathew Morris from University of Leicester Archaeological Services and I’m the…

Thrown to the Lions? New evidence revealed for the use of lions during executions in Roman Britain

Archaeologists in Leicester have discovered an elaborately-decorated Roman bronze key handle portraying the execution of captives in the arena by throwing them to lions. The handle portrays a ‘Barbarian’ grappling with a lion, together with four naked youths cowering in terror. The key handle was discovered by University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), buried below…

Castle Hill Field School – Week 1 update

Welcome to the first blog update from the 2021 Castle Hill field school. Project director Mathew Morris reports: We have now been digging for six days, the 1st year archaeology students have finished their first week, we have welcomed 26 young archaeologists from the Leicestershire Young Archaeologists’ Club to site for a day’s digging and…

Archaeology students to explore historic monument linked with the Knights Hospitaller.

Throughout June, archaeology students from the University of Leicester will be excavating at Castle Hill Country Park in Beaumont Leys. The dig will continue the exploration of Castle Hill, a large, enigmatic monument believed to be the remains of a manorial site linked with the medieval Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John…

The Iron Age landscape of Leicester City’s new football training ground

In 2018, University of Leicester archaeologists carried out excavations at the former Park Hill Golf Club in Seagrave, near Loughborough, in advance of Leicester City’s redevelopment of the site as a new football training ground. Site director Leon Hunt reports: Little was known about the archaeology of the area prior to this work. The Historic…

The real Peggy Piggot

International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. Following the release of Netflix’s ‘The Dig’ earlier this year, it seems fitting to celebrate an archaeologist from the story of Sutton Hoo, that some have argued may have been misrepresented in the film – esteemed female…

Modern Women in Archaeology: Views from 2021

International Women’s Day has been celebrated on the 8th of March each year, since the first gathering was held in 1911. The theme for 2021 is #ChooseToChallenge. The day is used to promote equality and illuminate women’s achievements in many different fields. Last year ULAS took a look at two pioneering female archaeologists who were…