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…
Tag: Archaeology
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…
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…
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…
Secrets from the Soil – new book launched!
Our new book celebrates our 25th Anniversary and presents the best archaeological discoveries in Leicestershire and Rutland from the last quarter century.
Roman and medieval discoveries: Waterside, Leicester
A major excavation in north-west Leicester features in the Leicester Mercury, with a video and interviews with some of the team working on the site. The Waterside Project has revealed fresh discoveries into the city’s Roman and medieval past on land to the west of the city centre bordering the River Soar.
Digging for Britain
A University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) excavation, will feature on BBC4’s Digging for Britain on Wednesday 19 December at 9.00pm. Over the winter of 2013 and 2014, ULAS excavated an archaeological site at Glenfield Park, Leicester. As well as being an important site locally and nationally, the discovery of a large amount of metalwork, including 11…
2018 in 12 Images: Year in Review
We’ve excavated on a wide range of projects in 2018. Here we showcase 12 images taken throughout the year, highlighting our main discoveries, click on the images to read more from each project.
Summer Roundup: Leicester Excavations
This summer (2018) ULAS has been extremely busy on many archaeological projects, here’s a roundup of our key discoveries from three large excavations in Leicester, producing some significant new Roman and medieval discoveries. The Waterside project A major redevelopment of north-west Leicester is the Waterside project. In advance of redevelopment a series of archaeological evaluations…
Prehistoric elephants, Roman belts and medieval villages: 2017 in review
Urban Adventures As the year draws to an end, we have time to reflect on a very busy 2017, and some of the discoveries made across the Midlands by the archaeologists at ULAS. Work in the first half of the year was dominated by large urban excavations in Leicester – at Highcross Street and over…
Largest archaeological excavation in Leicester in over a decade to open to public
University of Leicester Archaeological Services are currently excavating the site of the former Stibbe factory, between Great Central Street and Highcross Street in central Leicester. The land is owned by Charles Street Buildings group, which has made the site available and financially supported the archaeological excavation ahead of a major planned development of the site….
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