The royal palace, abbey and town of Westminster on Thorney Island: archaeological excavations (1991–8) for the London Underground Limited Jubilee Line Extension Project The unusual quantity of skulls

The unusual quantity of skulls found in the sediments of the Roman Walbrook stream in London has been attributed to a range of causes

from the disposal of massacre victims to the continuity of a largely imagined pre-Roman ‘cult of the head’

Excavation findings include evidence for the origins of settlement on Thorney Island over 7000 years ago

The defensive ditch was redug in the Late Saxon period and the Roman wall repaired

Investigation and analysis were an integral part of this conservation work in the former Benedictine abbey church of Peterborough

The royal palace, abbey and town of Westminster on Thorney Island: archaeological excavations (1991–8) for the London Underground Limited Jubilee Line Extension Project The unusual quantity of skulls2006 Christopher Thomas, Robert Cowie, Jane Sidell The palace and abbey of Westminster has been the pre eminent royal, religious and governmental centre in England since the 11th century home of English monarchs until the reign of Henry VIII and then of the House of Commons. The abbey was a royal church, site of the coronations of all English monarchs since Edward the Confessor and mausoleum for many of Englands royal families. Excavation findings