Was the Thames ever pomt out in history so they could see what's on the bottem? And if so what was anything found of any value?
2006-09-25 02:55:39 · 15 answers · asked by Chantal D. 6 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
I think it would not a bad idea to do this in parts of the Thames for archological interest.
And for the ones who like to be funny, this is a serious question!
2006-09-25 03:16:33 · update #1
Take a look at the Port Of London Authority website, there are Tide Tables for the Thames. Every so often the tide will go right down really low, and it's then possible to see things in the silt that are normally hidden. When they build new bridges and other structures, they'll pump the water out of a small, sectioned-off area, but as EZ said, the Thames is a river and impossible to drain. If you go down to the waters' edge at low tide, you can usually find plenty of interesting things. Check out the Museum of London too.
2006-09-25 03:09:44 · answer #1 · answered by Kango Man 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
As earlier answerers have pointed out, the River Thames could never be pumped out, not least because there are several tributaries including the River Fleet feeding into it. The river has been a rich source of archaeological finds including the remains of a Roman landing pier recently, and as there has been some form of civilisation in the area pre-Roman times there are more opportunities to find artifacts as the river is also tidal and hence the river-bed is in a constant state of change. As for value, it depends upon your definition, a few wooden stumps may not excite some but are beyond the worth of gold to others. It is possible that jewelry and other goods would have been lost as up until the 18th century a lot of people relied on crossing the river by boat as there was only one bridge - with all the risks of losing things overboard.
It should be remembered too, that the river was much wider before the modifications in the Victorian era and that the building of bridges around the same time will have changed the river course and currents. All of which has had some impact on the
2006-09-26 01:43:34 · answer #2 · answered by MM 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They do dredge the River Thames constantly to stop it from silting up. But I doubt whether they have ever been able to drain it as the Thames is made up from many tributaries and these would be impossible to control..
However I seem to remember that the Time Team uncovered some interesting artifact when they were trying to find a medievel causeway that ran from one side of the river to the other.
2006-09-25 03:03:44 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
the Thames, in London, is tidal, all the way up to Teddington lock.
At low tide, it is possible to go onto the mud and have a dig around...as one of the previous answers said, the documentaryTV program 'Time team' did this and found an early causeway and supports for an early bridge.
It is possible, even now, to find stuff - from the middle ages up to Victorian time. My Brother found a complete clay pipe in the mud down by shadwell, in east london
2006-09-25 03:20:20 · answer #4 · answered by Vinni and beer 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you go along the Thames at low tide you will often see the bottom. Especially if you're in West London. I don't know of anything particularly valuable ever reported, but many shopping trolleys, and the ocasional Tudor artifact, bits of pottery etc.
2006-09-25 03:12:06 · answer #5 · answered by Prudence W 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yeah, they dammed it up at both ends, dug a parallel canal to handle all the rivers that feed into it with a massive reservoir to handle the tidal surge & they pumped the millions of litres of water in the Thames out into the sea.
Unfortunately, this proved so expensive and took so much time, they didn't have any spare budget to comb the miles of mud and silt for any thing of value.
They did find my lost set of keys, though, so not all bad news.
2006-09-25 03:06:16 · answer #6 · answered by echo c 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Coffer dams have been built in areas of archaeological interest,especially around the area that Boadicea (Boudicca's) threw the Romans in and some nice artifacts have been found see London Museum. Iceni threw defeated enemies weapons into water as part of pagan rituals.
2006-09-27 08:12:53 · answer #7 · answered by Ashley K 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, but if you visit the London Museum you can see a display of all kinds of interesting things which have been found at the bottom. There are bound to be valuable items among them.
2006-09-25 13:30:15 · answer #8 · answered by Doethineb 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, but many artefacts have been found in the Thames and in the mud on its shore.
2006-09-25 03:00:09 · answer #9 · answered by ? 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you mean pumped out, no it can't be done. There have been all sorts of things found in and by the side of the river though.
2006-09-25 03:09:50 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋