Introduction
As one of the UK’s largest archaeological organisations, MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) places our research expertise at the heart of everything we do. As a charity, we seek to stimulate enquiry and promote active discovery through partnership and participation, and in doing so, widen access to and appreciation of the value of archaeology and the historic environment.
Our highly-respected team of in-house specialists is one of the largest in Europe and covers a variety of fields including: built heritage, conservation, environmental archaeology, forensic archaeology, material culture, geoarchaeology, geophysics, osteoarchaeology and spatial data.
Our mission is to bring together elements of archaeological practice, research, public engagement and professional training. In doing so we place collaboration firmly at the centre of our approach and we regularly work with several sectors, including the arts, universities, cultural heritage, as well as major development and construction partners and local authorities.
Our approach to research is also firmly focused on the dissemination of our findings; we not only do this through sharing information with wider communities, both on and offline, but also via our award-winning publication programme which numbers well over one hundred titles, ranging from academic monographs to popular books. Our research also appears frequently in peer-reviewed journals, blogs and across the media, and all of our archaeological reports are publicly available via our online resource library.
With over 40 years of experience, our experts effectively prioritise this archaeological material for research. Our current research strategy focuses on the following thematic areas:
Our Discoveries – new knowledge created through our archaeological work largely undertaken with UK development and construction schemes
Citizen Science – data, research and participation opportunities offered through our citizen science projects and those in the wider sector
Archaeology and the Contemporary – exploring the effectiveness and value of an archaeological approach to the contemporary world
RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS
There are many ways in which we contribute to projects and collaborate with organisations, including:
Access to archaeological material: with thousands of artefacts, human remains, environmental and zooarchaeological material in our care, we works with research organisations to provide access to this material and expertise; our osteoarchaeologists played a central role in the Digitised Diseases project.
Citizen science: bringing together volunteers, heritage organisations and local groups, we lead several research projects that are built on public participation. Data collected by communities through projects including the Thames Discovery Programme and CITiZAN (Coastal and Intertidal Zone Archaeological Network) forms a lasting archaeological record for the basis of research projects today and in the future.
Contributing to great places: modern, sustainable development emphasises the need to create great places with which local communities can identify; we use our research with planners and developers to understand and build a sense of place, including the Temple of Mithras Oral History project.
Pathways to impact: we have strong links to business and industry through our commercial operations, as well as partnerships with charities and cultural institutions; our community engagement additionally provides routes to demonstrate and capture research impact and legacy.
Partnerships with higher education: we work with academics institutions to develop our understanding of specialisms within the sector, such as our ‘Bottles concealed and revealed’ project with the University of Hertfordshire and the Arts & Humanities Research Council. It aims to bring together research-based insights that will benefit not just historians and archaeologists, but engage and inform those outside of academia for whom the subject of witchcraft resonates.
Quality of research: we are innovators and leaders in archaeological practice, undertaking pioneering and award-winning research with a sizeable publications record.
Research environment: we have bespoke facilities and research spaces in our offices, including processing areas, labs, a library, GIS and database resources.
Sharing archaeological data: we have been excavating, recording and studying archaeology across the UK for over 40 years, and have an extensive database of archaeological data covering all periods of history and types of material, from monuments to artefacts, which we integrate with our research projects.
Sharing expertise: with one of the largest in-house teams of archaeological specialists in Europe actively undertaking research on a day to day basis, our team’s expertise underpins many collaborative projects.