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Winter 2025Features
Re-Aligning Roman Roads in Southwark Recent discoveries at Harper Road and Brandon House, plus a reappraisal of the existing corpus of evidence, make a convincing case to modify the current model. Rebecca Haslam & Ireneo Grosso The Defences of Saxo-Norman and Medieval Southwark: A Reappraisal A new attempt to reconstruct the spatial extent of Southwark's Saxo-Noman and medieval defences, intended to defend the southern end of London Bridge. Bruce Watson Obituary: Ralph Peter John Jackson Plus book review, letter, commentary, news, and diary On the Cover A rare discovery from the Thames, this complete set of false teeth have been dated from 1701-50. These would have been extremely expensive and would have been made as a bespoke item for their wearer. The gum fittings were made from ivory; front teeth are human, fixed in place with gold pegs; back molars are blocks of ivory engraved with lines. Wear shows that the dentures were used quite heavily for eating. False teeth at this time were mainly worn to improve appearance: many were not that functional and it was common for them to be taken out when eating. Experiments to replace lost and damaged teeth included live transplants. However, these were only briefly viable and had limited success with high rates of infection. Other methods explored included dentures. The teeth used to make them were commonly taken from the dead, often from those fallen on battlefields. These dentures will be on display at Secrets of the Thames: mudlarking London's lost treasures from 5 April at London Museum Docklands (see preview p 176-8). Photo. © London Museum |