text: Also discovered on the site are two Roman corpses. Only one of these had a proper burial, his hands folded across his chest. The other has been stuffed between the walls of two buildings. “When the Romans were here, Southwark was
  a series of islands,” says Derek Seeley, a senior contract manager with MoLAS, who is in charge of the project. “The low bridging point for this gravel island [to Londinium] was where Southwark Cathedral is now and it extended all the way to the current London Bridge station.”
  This habitable hump in the marshes and mudflats of a messier, broader Thames pretty much corresponded with present-day Borough. So while the finds are significant, they were expected. To avoid costly surprises, developers have got used to commissioning surveys before they buy land or plan a development. But it’s not always easy to predict the extent of an archaeological find.
  For example, the Igloo Regeneration Partnership knew the remains of Bermondsey Abbey were beneath its Bermondsey Square development, which was completed in 2008. In fact, the ancient remains were the reason no one had taken on the project before. Nonetheless, the sheer extent of what was uncovered, including the early 11th-century building’s south tower and nearby buildings, including foundations of a nearby Tudor mansion, was costly and caused delays. Robert Knight, the Igloo national construction director, says archaeology held up the development by two years and cost around £2m – before the price of delays. Almost as a trophy, the remains of the tower are preserved behind glass in a branch of the deli chain Del’Aziz, which is now on the site.
  Whether a developer knows what’s in store or not, it will – normally aided by an archaeological services firm like MoLAS – contact the county archaeologist early in the planning process with a desk-based assessment of what is likely to be beneath the ground. This will reveal what is known about the area through historical records, nearby excavation and old maps. In London Bridge Place, work on the Jubilee Line until 1999 provided a major hint of what was to come. Reason to suspect a site is of interest will trigger an onsite evaluation, an attempt to ascertain what lies below ground. This will usually involve some element of excavation such as digging trenches, but could also include field-walking or a geophysical survey. Two pits at London Bridge Place immediately struck Roman masonry.
  If, as here, the onsite evaluation turns up “positive,” the developer is in it for the long haul and will have to fund a potentially long and involved excavation, recording and analysis process. Still, the cost of the archaeology can pale in comparison with a significant delay.