Excavating Collection

Sutton Hoo treasure
A double-page spread relating to the Anglo-Saxon ship burial ground discovered at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk. it was filled with many priceless treasures, a few of which are shown here

Sinanthropus, perhaps the lowest man known to science: excavating Choukoutien Cave where Peking Man dwelt 100, 000 years ago, and moulding his image. Date: 1939

Henry III granting licence to dig coal in 1234. Different historical moments when coal was first noted to be used. The King is seen here giving permission to men in Newcastle to dig coal

Rotherhithe Road Tunnel - Burrowing Under the River Thames
Men working in dark conditions, topless due to the temperature in the eighties. Excavating the clay soil at the rate of about five feet per day

Clarence Wilson and Mr R. G Duff, members of the Captain Parkers Excavating Party at Jerusalem. Montagu Brownlow Parker, 5th Earl of Morley led the Parker Expedition

Page from Britannia & Eve by Katharine Woolley reporting on the great excavations carried by her and her husband Leonard at Ur in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). Date: 1929

The ship-grave of an Anglo-Saxon king found at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk. The traces of the ribs of the boat left in the earth can be clearly seen. Date: 1939

Excavation at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, 1939. The cavity occupied by the ship, which was 82 ft in length and 16 ft in beam. Date: 1939

Unearthing the ship-grave of an Anglo-Saxon warrior king at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk. The excavations reveal the outlines of a 6th century sea-going craft

Construction of underground railway King William Street 1888
Driving the tunnels of the London and Southwark sub-railway passing under the River Thames. 1888

Three divisions of the shield of the Thames Tunnel 1825
Section of the three divisions of the shield of the Thames Tunnel in 1825, using Marc Isambard Brunels and Thomas Cochranes newly invented tunnelling shield technology. Date: 1825

Longitudinal section of Thames Tunnel 1825
First of the construction took part in 1825, hundred and fifty feet under the River Thames. Date: 1825

Excavating tube railway 1903
Under construction, workers in the shield, Great Northern and City Railway. 1903

Construction of Barlows Tower Tunnel under the Thames 1869
Construction of Barlows Tower Tunnel under the Thames, advance shield. Date: 1869

Boring machine used in the Hoosac tunnel 1869
Workers using a primitive boring machine to make the tunnel, lying between Switzerland and Italy, being thirty-six miles long and about twenty-five feet broad

London Underground, excavating

The Gentle Art of Excavating - a specially designed skimmer
The beginning of a garden suburb. Excavating a new road with a specially designed skimmer, a typically rickety contraption from the inventive mind of gadget king, William Heath Robinson. Date: c.1938

The Gentle Art of Excavating - Removing top soil
A new type of shovel removing the top soil from a bluff in the Cotswold Hills. A typically elaborate contraption by the gadget king

Excavating machine for digging trenches, France, WW1
An excavating machine used for digging trenches, at Mericourt in the Somme area of northern France, during the First World War. Date: 26 August 1916

Cofferdam work to raise USS Maine, Havana harbour, Cuba
Cofferdam work exposing the wreck of USS Maine, Havana harbour, Cuba. The ship exploded and sank in 1898. Date: 1911

The Pines - Petrified Forest - Santa Rosa, California - Queen of the Forest with a new live oak growing out of the petrified trunk! Date: circa 1930s

Archaeological work at a villa in Pompeii, Italy. circa 1895

Excavating Nonsuch 1959
Excavation work at Nonsuch Palace, Surrey. In 1959 no visible trace of the building existed. Excavations revealed foundations and many relics of Henry VIIIs fantastic palace. Date: 1959

Temple of Mithras, Walbrook
A view from above of the site of the Roman Mithraic Temple uncovered in Walbrook, a street in the City of London, during excavations before the construction of a new office building

The Holiday Monighan Dragline by Heath Robinson
A dragline machine usually used in excavation, converted into a pleasant holiday home with room for a swing, a washing line and a diving board

The Corner Grab Crane by Heath Robinson
The Corner Grab Crane for working round corners - a valuable suggestion by Mr W. Heath Robinson now under consideration by Ruston-Bucyrus Ltd

The Gentle Art of Excavating - Early Walking Draglilne`
An early form of the walking dragline stripping rocky overburden preparatory to erecting a new tea shop in the Allegheny Mountains

The Gentle Art of Excavating - Latest Type of Grab Crane
The latest type of grab crane clearing out a small pond on Hampstead Heath. A typically rickety and convoluted crane goes through the ridiculous process of clearing out a tiny pond on Hampstead

The Gentle Art of Excavating - A New Multi-Movement Drag Sho
A new multi-movement drag shovel excavating for the foundations of a new cinema. A typically convoluted digger, made from recycled bits of houses

The Gentle Art of Excavating - Clearing bottom of the Thames
An improved dragline clearing out the bottom of the upper reaches of the River Thames. A typically rickety and overly complicated piece of machinery by the gadget king, William Heath Robinson

Building the Aswan Dam
Excavation at the Western Channel of the Aswan Dam on the River Nile in Egypt. Date: 1902

Excavating a Mosasaur skull
Title page picture from Histoire Naturelle de la Montagne de St Pierre de Maestricht by Faujas de Saint Fond, 1799. Mosasaur was a carnivorous marine reptile from the Cretaceous period

Excavating at Charmouth
A team of palaeontologists from the Natural History Museum excavating an Ichthyosaur at Charmouth beach. December 2004

Excavating neanderthal remains
Excavation work which featured in a press conference at the Natural History Museum, London, December 1997

Greetings card from Egypt

Excavating in the bombed Cripplegate area
Mr W. F. Grimes, Keeper of the London Museum (Museum of London) assisted by a volunteer, archaeological worker, Miss Adrienne Farrell, in the excavations at Monkwell Street in the City of London

Workmen digging in the cellar of Borley Rectory
Undated photograph of workmen digging in the cellar of Borley Rectory. HPG/1/3/7 (vii)

Trench digging 1916
Excavating machine for digging trenches near Grivillers, Somme on the French front during World War I in June 1916

Construction / Hoover Dam
A Caterpillar engaged in excavating the approach cut to one of the diversion tunnels on the Hoover Dam, which was completed in 1935

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