Archaeologists who uncovered traces of a city’s Roman and medieval past under what is now a city shopping centre are up for a national award.

A team of University of Leicester experts excavated the area of the Highcross shopping centre.

Their discoveries cast light on the how the city’s inhabitants used to live. The team has been nominated in the 2023 Current Archaeology Awards for Research Project of the Year.

Teams from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) dug the area before the original Shires shopping centre was constructed in 1991 and then again when it was extended and renamed from 2003 to 2006.

The nomination follows ULAS research being published in a book tracing the development of the Roman and medieval town, beginning some 2,000 years ago.

The university said the research demonstrates there was a vibrant and diverse community living within opulent town houses decorated with mosaics and wall paintings.

It also revealed links between Leicester and the wider Roman Empire and starts to tell the story of the city’s early migrant population.

The research also covers the “lost” medieval parish churches of St Peter and St Michael, demolished 500 years ago, and the 1,600 burials that surrounded them.

Votes can be cast on the Current Archaeology Awards website until 1 February 2023.

Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name.

Kiritimati (also known as Christmas Island) is a Pacific Ocean atoll in the northern Line Islands.

It is located in the Indian Ocean, around 350 kilometres (220 mi) south of Java and Sumatra and around 1,550 km (960 mi) north-west of the closest point on the Australian mainland.

It lies 2,600 km (1,600 mi) northwest of Perth and 1,327 km (825 mi) south of Singapore. It has an area of 135 square kilometres (52 sq mi).

Christmas Island had a population of 1,692 residents as of 2021, the majority living in settlements on the northern edge of the island.

The main settlement is Flying Fish Cove. Historically, Asian Australians of Chinese, Malay, and Indian descent formed the majority of the population.

Today, around two-thirds of the island’s population is estimated to have Straits Chinese origin (though just 22.2% of the population declared a Chinese ancestry in 2021), with significant numbers of Malays and European Australians and smaller numbers of Straits Indians and Eurasians.

Several languages are in use, including English, Malay, and various Chinese dialects. Islam and Buddhism are major religions on the island. The religion question in the Australian census is optional and 28% of the population do not declare their religious belief, if any.

The first European to sight Christmas Island was Richard Rowe of the Thomas in 1615. Captain William Mynors named it on Christmas Day (25 December) 1643.

It was first settled in the late 19th century.

Christmas Island’s geographic isolation and history of minimal human disturbance has led to a high level of endemism among its flora and fauna, which is of interest to scientists and naturalists.

The majority (63 percent) of the island is included in the Christmas Island National Park, which features several areas of primary monsoonal forest. Phosphate, deposited originally as guano, has been mined on the island since 1899.

Beaches

Christmas Island has 80 kilometres (50 mi) of shoreline but only small parts of the shoreline are easily accessible.

The island’s perimeter is dominated by sharp cliff faces, making many of the island’s beaches difficult to get to.

Some of the easily accessible beaches include Flying Fish Cove (main beach), Lily Beach, Ethel Beach, and Isabel Beach, while the more difficult beaches to access include Greta Beach, Dolly Beach, Winifred Beach, Merrial Beach, and West White Beach, which all require a vehicle with four wheel drive and a difficult walk through dense rainforest.

On Christmas Eve, children, especially boys, often go out singing ‘kalanda’ (carols) in the streets. They play drums and triangles as they sing.

Sometimes they also carry model boats decorated with nuts which are painted gold. Carrying a boat is a very old custom in the Greek Islands.

If the children sing well, they might be given money, as well things to eat like nuts, sweets and dried figs.

Every December, in Aristo-telous Square in the city of Thessa-loniki (which is the second biggest city Greece) a huge Christmas Tree and three masted sailing ship are put up. It’s a popular tourist attraction.

There are also large boat displays in other large Greek cities like Athens. Decorated ships are an old tradition in Greece where small ships were put up in homes when sailors had returned from sea voyages.

Christmas Trees are popular in Greece. The first known Christmas tree in Greece was in 1833 and was set-up by King Otto next to a large decorated boat. Over time, especially in the late 20th century, decorated Christmas trees became more popular than decorating a boat. But now having a boat as well as a tree is becoming more popular!

Going to a Midnight Mass Service is very important for most Greeks. After the service people can go home and end their Advent fast.

The main Christmas meal is often lamb or pork, roasted in an oven or over an open spit. It’s often served with a spinach and cheese pie and various salads and vegetables.

Other Christmas and new year foods include ‘Baklava’ (a sweet pastry made of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey), Kataifi (a pastry made from a special form of shredded filo dough and flavored with nuts and cinnamon), Theeples (a kind of fried pastry).