Artifacts from London's "Pompeii of the North"

In London, archaeologists have been swarming over a site in the middle of a new office development project -- the European headquarters for the Bloomberg Group -- knowing it was an artifact goldmine. An ancient temple to the Roman god of light -- Mithras -- was discovered the last time they decided to put a building up 50 years ago.

What surprised archaeologists this time is the size of the haul and the condition of the finds -- 10,000 objects covering more than 400 hundred years of the Roman presence.

A Roman timber train is unearthed at the London site.

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View_of_excavations_at_Bloomberg_Place_looking_south_east.jpg — Museum of London Archaeology

The artifacts have all been preserved in near-mint condition by the riverside mud.

A view of excavations at Bloomberg Place, looking southeast.

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An inked Roman letter discovered at the London digging site.

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Sadie Watson, site director with the Museum of London Archaeology, said of the riverside mud conditions, "It also means that rust doesn't get in, so all the metalwork finds are preserved as good as the day they were dropped, pretty much."

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A bone sword handle discovered at the London dig.

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Archaeologists are so excited by the finds they've started calling this "The Pompeii of the North," after the real Pompeii, the Roman city outside Naples destroyed and famously preserved by a volcanic eruption.

Seen here, an undated photo of the Temple of Mithras excavation.

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A Roman bull plaque discovered at the London archeological dig.

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A Roman copper-alloy brooch discovered at the London archeological dig.

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Archeologists say the site provides knowledge not available before because the mud preserved organic material like wooden structures and even written material that provide an insight that stone buildings alone cannot.

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A Roman leather carbatina -- a shoe, discovered at the London archeological dig.

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The digging is ending as the new office complex will go up. But there's plenty of work to do.

Susanna McFadden, assistant professor at Fordham University, said, "There's so much to be assessed. I read an article saying something like there was something like 10,000 objects that had been discovered, which is really mind-blowing, really, really exciting. And from several centuries, so it's going to take years to sort out the chronology of all that material."

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An amber gladiator amulet discovered on the site.

The archeological treasures will eventually be on display in a public exhibit on the site.

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Roman_copper-alloy_plate_brooch_with_blue_enamelling.jpg — Museum of London Archaeology

A Roman copper-alloy plate brooch with blue enameling, discovered at the London dig site.

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An unidentified leather artifact discovered at the London dig.

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A ceramic oil lamp, depicting a stag.

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An intact Roman ceramic beaker, discovered at the London dig.

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A Roman tiled floor is unearthed at the London archeological site.

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A view of the massive excavation efforts at the London archeological dig.

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Timber foundation beams from a Roman building are intact, saved due to the river mud in which they are encased.

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A bone fist and phallus object discovered at the site.

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A Roman fist and phallus object discovered at the site.

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