Somme, 1916
In the first part of our special, Stephen Roberts marks the 110th anniversary of the offensive that saw the bloodiest day in Britain’s military history, before looking in more detail at the Battle of the Boar’s Head in the second part.
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A parade of military history at Chalke
Chalke History Festival returns to the Wiltshire countryside this summer for a week of talks, performances, living history encampments, and more. A star-studded lineup of speakers will explore a vast variety of
Warship sunk by Nelson discovered on seabed
M arine archaeologists have uncovered the wreck of the Dannebroge, a Danish warship sunk during the Battle of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801. The Dannebroge sat at the centre of a chain
Comment
War Classics – Just and Unjust Wars
Students of military history find much to fascinate in the subject: strategy, tactics, weapons, uniforms, battles, and the lives of the great generals. Exactly how wars come about and the ethics of combat may seem secondary issues, yet they are woven into the history
Excavating the CA archive: The Norman Conquest
The news that the Bayeux Tapestry will be making a once-in-a-lifetime visit to Britain from September 2026 until July 2027 made me think about sites associated with the Norman Conquest that might be of interest to the readers of Current Archaeology
History of the National Trust
It is said that reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body, so as well as trying (but not always succeeding) to keep the body trim by going for a short run every day, Sherds also (more successfully) sets aside time to spend with a book in the evening.
Who cares for places of worship?
Under the rather ponderous headline ‘Revealing Misunderstandings about Stewardship of Our Ancient Churches’, Historic England has just published the results of its survey into public awareness of the crisis facing the nation’s places of worship. The results show that people are blithely unaware that many are at risk of closure and sale.
Sphinx of Hatshepsut (Cairo)
Campbell Price selects one of a pair of sphinxes from the first ‘avenue of sphinxes’, at Deir el-Bahri.
Lancashire Parish Register Society
We are grateful to LPRS Council member Simon Oliver for contributing this month’s ‘Odd Socs’ column.
Finds Tray – Silver cross pendant
This is a gilded silver cross pendant or pectoral cross, dating to the early medieval period – most likely the 8th century. It was discovered in August 2021 by a metal-detectorist in
Statue of Ramesses VI
What is it? This granite statue depicts Pharaoh Ramesses VI, who reigned 1144-1137 BC. On the back is a hieroglyphic inscription that reads: ‘May [he] live, [the] good god, son of [the
Honor Frost (1917-2010)
Frost fitted herself out with an improvised breathing hose at a party in order to explore a 17th-century well.
Loughborough Bellfoundry Trust
In October 2020, a public inquiry was under way to consider whether planning consent should be given for the conversion of London’s Whitechapel Bell Foundry into a ‘boutique’ hotel. An alternative proposal
Egyptian afterlives: an interview with Salima Ikram
As shown by the excitement surrounding the discovery of Tutankhamun 100 years ago, mummies and Egyptian tombs have an impressive ability to capture our imagination. Richard Marranca speaks to Egyptologist Salima Ikram to find out more about these funerary finds, from early medicinal mummies to recent revelations at Saqqara.
Bronze Age lipstick
What is it? This small, intricately decorated cylindrical vial, measuring 6.7cm long and 1.9cm in diameter, is made of a greenish chlorite-schist and contains a deep red cosmetic mixture believed to be
17th-century silk dress from the Palmwood Wreck goes on display in the Netherlands
The garment comes from the Palmwood Wreck, which was discovered in 2014 off the Texel coastline.
Exploring a Roman house in VR
In order to explore how this lavish home was experienced by Roman viewers, researchers first used 3D-modelling software to create a reconstruction of the house. This 3D model was based on information from an earlier Lund University project that digitally mapped a neighbourhood in Pompeii, in combination with records from the excavation of the house and other information about Roman architecture.
Mogao Caves, 1943-1944
The oldest of the Mogao Caves temples that survive date from around AD 420. Among them is Cave 275, built during the Northern Laing period (AD 420-439).
In-depth features
The day Sussex died: The Battle of the Boar’s Head, 30 June 1916
In the second part of our special, Stephen Roberts focuses on the little-known battle whose appalling casualty rate laid down a marker for the Somme.
The Somme in 10 objects
Infographics: Amy Brunskill / Images: public domain, National Army Museum, Canadian War Museum
A sideshow to a sideshow: The Great Arab Revolt, 1916-1918
As thousands died on WWI’s Western Front, a young officer by the name of T E Lawrence was among those fighting a very different war in the Middle East. Here, Nicholas Saunders reveals how a British-backed uprising proved a turning point in history.
Never surrender: The siege of the Alcázar of Toledo, July-September 1936
No episode of Spain’s bloody and brutal Civil War is more swathed in myth than the siege of Toledo’s historic Alcázar. Ninety years on, Nigel Jones tells its story.
Little Bighorn: The five key myths
One of the most talked-about battles in US history took place 150 years ago this summer. Here, Fred Chiaventone identifies some common misunderstandings about Custer’s Last Stand.
The ultimate arms race: The Iron Curtain falls – Part 6: the Atomic Age
In the final part of our series on the coming of the Cold War, Taylor Downing examines the struggle for nuclear domination.
Llanbedrgoch: Exploring a unique early medieval trading centre on Anglesey
Ninth-century Carolingian coins from the reigns of Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald are not the sort of objects you would expect to find on a remote farm on the Isle of Anglesey, so, when metal-detectorists began reporting these and other exceptional artefacts from the early medieval period, the National Museum of Wales (now Amgueddfa Cymru) sent Mark Redknap, then Curator of Medieval and Later Archaeology, to investigate. Between 1994 and 2012, Mark led ten seasons of fieldwork on the site, revealing the remains of a trading settlement with a form unparalleled in Wales. With the full report recently published, Chris Catling describes its key findings.
Lechlade’s buried secrets: Revisiting a long-lived ritual landscape in Gloucestershire
In 2017, excavations revealed an unusual Bronze Age burial alongside other signs of ceremonial activity spanning thousands of years. With some of the grave goods now on display, CA returns to the story of the Lechlade ‘chieftain’.
Time flies: Marking five years since the return of Time Team
In 2021, an archaeological household name returned to our (computer) screens, as Time Team relaunched on YouTube. Carly Hilts visited the team at their first dig of 2026 and spoke to the show’s creator and Executive Producer Tim Taylor about how technology gave the show new life – and could transform the future of how archaeological stories are told.
The warlord, the prince, and the village people: Examining three early Anglo-Saxon burial sites from Buckinghamshire
A new exhibition at Discover Bucks Museum in Aylesbury draws together antiquarian excavations and very recent finds to illuminate life and death at different levels of early medieval society. Carly Hilts visited the displays and spoke to their curator Brett Thorn.
A monumental legacy: Aubrey Burl and The Stone Circles of the British Isles
This year marks a century since the birth of the pioneering prehistorian Aubrey Burl, and the 50th anniversary of the publication of his landmark study The Stone Circles of the British Isles, which is often considered the foundational work on the subject. To reflect these milestones, Neil Mortimer offers an overview of how the book came into being – and the occasionally unconventional approach of its author.
W A Stewart’s reconstruction of Hetepheres’ furniture
In the last issue, AE 153, Peter Lacovara celebrated the meticulous work of Dows Dunham in excavating the Fourth Dynasty (c.2613-2494 BC) Tomb of Queen Hetepheres I at Giza. In this issue, marking the 100th anniversary of the tomb’s discovery, Geoffrey Killen explains how William Arnold Stewart reconstructed the furniture found in the tomb.
The tentmakers of Old Cairo
Sandra Hardy explores the work of skilled artisans who continue the long tradition of pharaonic textile production.
The painted tomb of Insneferuishetef
Wolfram Grajetzki explores rare painted scenes from an Old Kingdom mastaba at Dahshur.
Reassembling Tutankhamun’s Tomb
The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 produced one of the most detailed archaeological archives ever created. Daniela Rosenow describes a new digital platform, the Tutankhamun Spatial Archive, developed by the University of Oxford’s Griffith Institute, which brings together this vast body of records, allowing researchers and the public alike to explore the tomb, its contents, and its excavation in entirely new ways.
August Mariette
Our series highlighting often overlooked Egyptologists continues with the legacy of a founder of the discipline, reassessed by Amandine Marshall.
Hilary Wilson on… Birds in fine feather
Hilary Wilson describes the many depictions of birds in ancient Egyptian tomb scenes.
Buried on the boundary: Interpreting Venta Icenorum’s enigmatic ditch deposits
The latest excavation by the long-running Caistor Roman Project has uncovered a series of unusual deposits within the monumental triple ditches that encircled Venta Icenorum, capital of the Iceni. At the same time, recent GPR surveys have shed new light on aspects of the settlement that these once-imposing earthworks surrounded. Giles Emery and Will Bowden report.
A tempered history: Touring the material legacy of teetotalism
Temperance halls, hotels, coffee houses, memorials, and drinking fountains blossomed in the 19th century under the influence of the burgeoning teetotal movement. Most have now been converted to other uses, but they are still there – if you know where to look. A new Historic England book by Andrew Davison draws our attention to this forgotten heritage, as Chris Catling reports.
A cut above: Examining the use of woodworking tools in Late Bronze Age Britain
Archaeological wood specialist and traditional woodworker Hamish Darrah describes his ongoing research combining wear analysis and experimental archaeology to illuminate the diverse uses of woodworking tools in Late Bronze Age Britain.