Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames by Lara Maiklem, 2019

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A lyrical and evocative narrative history of London and its people, told through objects found on the banks of the Thames by the city's most prominent mudlark
For thousands of years human beings have been losing their possessions and dumping their rubbish in the River Thames, making it the longest and most varied archaeological site in the world. For those in the know, the muddy stretches provide a tangible link with the past, a connection to the natural world, and an oasis of calm in a chaotic city...
For fifteen years, Lara Maiklem has walked the Thames foreshore, spending innumerable hours peering into the mud for items discarded by past generations of Londoners. The list of things Lara has rescued from the river is long and varied: from Neolithic flints, Roman hair pins and medieval shoe buckles to Tudor buttons, Georgian clay pipes, seventeenth-century love tokens and discarded war medals.
Mudlarking is the story of the River Thames and its people, told through the objects that Lara has eased from its muddy clutches over the years. Weaving her story through and around the history of the River, from prehistory to the present day, she uses her finds to bring the ordinary lives of long forgotten Londoners to life.

(295 pages)

I moved to London last month. I've been looking forward to this for six months, and it seems like there are a million reasons to be excited to be here. One of the biggest to me, however, is the history of the city. I love the idea that I live somewhere people have been making history for literally thousands of year. I've been fascinated with the idea of mudlarking the Thames since I learned about it several years ago on a VlogBrothers video, and it was one of the first things I wanted to try once I arrived.

That's why I snagged a copy of this book when I was at a bookshop in my first week here. And I'm glad I did. Because Maiklem's love and knowledge of the Thames leaks through every page, heightening my own excitement to discover the history that's "up for grabs" every time the shore recedes. It's a delightfully meandering exploration of some of her favourite mudlarking spots, complete with descriptions of the items she's found in specific spots (and the history she's either researched or imagined for each one). Some of her exploits sound more appealing to me than others - I don't think I'm quite as hardcore as she is as far as miles of mud and fast-moving tides are concerned - but overall I finished the book feeling super pumped to go out there and find some items of my own.

I've only gone out once yet so far, and that was just for twenty minutes. But I found some nails and bits of pottery that lit up my imagination and left me excited for more. The history of London is insane, and I'm obsessed with the idea that the tangible pieces of its past have been left behind in the Thames for me to find them. Mailkem's narrative has enhanced my excitement for this. I just bought her Field Guide to Larking, which I'm looking forward to using to learn how to mudlark myself.