Archaeology in Black and White

Glastonbury Abbey is a ruined monastery, built in the 7th Century and then enlarged in the following centuries. It experienced numerous events, such as a legendary visit from Joseph of Arimathea, several fires, and the dissolution of the monasteries. There have been several excavations carried out during the 20th Century that were never documented properly and some studies were unfinished. The Glastonbury Abbey Archaeological Archive Project was a collaborative venture between the University of Reading and the Trustees of Glastonbury Abbey to reinvestigate the findings, setting aside previous assumptions made during the early excavations, mainly based on legendary traditions, to provide a rigorous reassessment of the antiquarian excavations and catologe and archive the records. The project underlined the presence of several mistakes in the records and provided important new information about the Abbey. It is interesting to note that the research revealed that many of the archaeological 'facts' were, in reality, myths perpetuated by the excavators over the years.

The collection contains digitised photographs recording the excavations from the Blight Bond, Donal Harden, Ralegh Radford and Wedlake archives. Alongside these are specialist reports representing original, unedited work from the original excavators supplemented by additional modern data. There are also reports and interpretations of a geophysical survey on the site, as well as spreadsheets, databases, sites plans and section drawings, and reports on the site's features, contexts, and finds.

"This collection brings to life the archaeological history of one of England's most iconic sites." Tim Evans, ADS Digital Archivist.