Page - 137 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

8 Water andDecentringUrbanism in theRomanPeriod 137 Fig. 5:Museumof London, recreated kitchenof aRoman erahouse fromLon- diniumcontaining knivesandother metalworkuncov- ered from theWal- brook stream. Merrifield73 undertook at number of studies of thismetalwork,which includeda largenumber ofknivesandother toolsaswell aspinsandother items.His studies indicated thatmanyof the objects had been deposited in good condition, and somemaynot even have been used at all, andsomeappear tohavebeendeliberatelybentbeforedeposition.Heargued thatmanyof the objects were deposited for reasons relating to ritual or magic, and the location of the stream was an integral component of this activity.Many knives and othermetal items are on display in the Museum of London but rarely do the displays acknowledge the complex use lives or multiplemeaningsof theseobjects (Fig. 5). Merrifield’s analysis of the objects and their deposition in this watery area of the town shows that the water formed an integral part of the town here and influenced human action and experience of the settlement. Themeanings attached to thewater formed part of human behaviour, and, as such, the water cannot be separated from other components of the town. The religious ormagic activity also tells us about beliefs and also identities within the town. Theactivity is likely to indicate recognitionof the religious importanceof the streamandwider location, which continued through the life of the town. The activity is perhapsmost likely to have beenundertakenby local people that came to live andwork in the town, but itmay also have beendoneby incomers fromoutsideBritain that felt the need to recognise themeanings attached to thiswatery areawithin the town. 73 Merrifield 1987;Merrifield 1995;Merrifield–Hall 2008.