Hilary Wilson on… Bread, beer and economics – Part 1
Hilary Wilson explores the importance of grain for wages and taxes.
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Circular temple at Pelusium
The Egyptian mission excavating in North Sinai at Tell el-Farma – the site of the ancient border fortress of Pelusium – has uncovered a huge circular complex thought to be the remains
Coptic monastery
The remains of a Coptic monastery have been discovered by an Egyptian mission at Wadi el-Natrun, in Beheira Governorate. The structure, which dates from the 4th to the 6th centuries AD, sheds
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Excavating the CA archive: Major church buildings
In last month’s column, I examined a series of sites associated with William the Conqueror and the legacy of the Norman Conquest. One of these was Westminster Abbey, which I will now cover in more detail, alongside two other major church buildings
that regularly feature in Current Archaeology: St Paul’s Cathedral and Canterbury Cathedral.
Seeing red
Rising high above the floor of the Taff Valley, north of Cardiff, the conical towers of Castell Coch are a familiar sight to travellers driving along the A470. The Victorian architect William Burges designed the castle for the 3rd Marquess of Bute between 1875 and 1881, resulting in a masterpiece of High Victorian romanticism.
Migration, mobility, and a Mesolithic refuge
A study of human remains from two cemeteries in Bulgaria, all buried with distinctively ‘Gothic’ jewellery, brooches, and belt buckles, suggests that the ancient Goths were ethnically diverse and not a single homogeneous community.
Pilgrimage cities
Ritual practices have been part of human life for almost as long as we can trace archaeological remains. The supernatural and inexplicable attract, excite, and worry people, with religion and its associated rituals being one of the main ways through which humans try to make sense of the world, create structure, and seek support
Back to the drawing board: the Avro Manchester
David Porter on Military History’s doomed inventions.
Peru: using past technologies to solve future problems
Climate change and water shortages threaten the survival of rural communities in the Peruvian Andes. Robert Early explains how ancient Inca know-how is relevant today.
Finds tray – St Thomas Becket ampulla
This is a medieval ampulla, made of lead alloy and probably dating to the late 12th or early 13th century. Discovered by a mudlarker along the Thames foreshore in London, it was
Saline & District Heritage Society
Placename experts say that Saline (pronounced to rhyme with the Estonian capital Tallinn) means ‘little barn’ – probably a place of collection and storage for tribute due to the Scottish king.
The Watercolour World
The invention in 1900 by Eastman Kodak of the Brownie camera, selling for the equivalent in today’s money of £28, brought the watercolour age to an end. This too had begun, in
War Reporters: Julius Caesar
He was a charismatic leader, a seasoned military veteran, and a formidable politician. It is little wonder that he is rarely thought of as being an ancient example of the modern-day war reporter. Seema Syeda examines battlefield scoops throughout the ages.
Hand of Irulegi
What is it? This 2,100-year-old piece of bronze sheet cut into the shape of a life-size right hand has been dubbed the ‘Hand of Irulegi’, after the site in Spain where it
Basin and ewer
Dr Campbell Price describes a small cleansing basin and ewer set from the Musée du Louvre.
War of Words – ‘GLADIATOR’
Gladius was a general Latin word for ‘sword’. A gladiator was someone who fought with a gladius – a swordsman. As usually employed today, gladius refers to a double-edged short sword.
Excavating Kent
Large infrastructure projects have led to some remarkable discoveries down the years – think of Heathrow Terminal 5, as well as the more recent work along the route of HS2
New discoveries at Waterloo’s ‘unique’ burial ground
This image shows the remains of a horse excavated recently from a trench at Mont-Saint-Jean Farm in Waterloo, Belgium. The farm was the site of a field hospital for the Duke of
In-depth features
Beyond Montet: New discoveries in the royal necropolis of Tanis
Following Aidan Dodson’s history of the Libyan pharaohs of Egypt in the last issue, Roger Forshaw explores the latest discoveries from the site of Tanis, their capital city.
The mineral wealth of pharaonic Egypt
Colin Reader shows how ancient Egypt’s geology led to wealth, power, and influence.
In search of the lost Kingdom of Yam
Following in the footsteps of Harkhuf, desert explorer Mahmoud Marai discovers – along with his colleague Mark Borda – an inscription at Gebel Uweinat that sheds light on the whereabouts of the fabled kingdom.
Pain relief in ancient Egypt – Part 1: plant-based remedies
In the first of two articles interrogating ancient medical papyri, Ira Rampil investigates the use of herbal remedies to help relieve pain.
Jacques de Morgan at Dahshur
Julian Heath recounts the remarkable discoveries made by a French mining engineer and archaeologist.
Seeing the dead: Encountering individuals through Roman gypsum burials
Why were dozens of people from Roman York coated with liquid gypsum as part of their funerary rites? An ongoing interdisciplinary project at the University of York is exploring this enigmatic practice and the wealth of evidence that it preserves about the individuals who were buried in this way. Carly Hilts spoke to the initiative’s Principal Investigator Professor Maureen Carroll to learn more.
Forging Scotland’s story: Why a 245-year-old society is racing against time to raise £1.5 million
As the oldest antiquarian organisation in Scotland, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland has been deeply involved in documenting the nation’s past for almost 250 years. Deborah Roe is our guide to this rich history, and to ambitious plans for the Society’s future.
Lost seal of Edward the Confessor rediscovered: Interpreting 11th-century imperial imagery
One of the most important surviving Anglo-Saxon royal seals, belonging to Edward the Confessor, was thought to be lost after it went missing 40 years ago. CA reports on newly published research which describes the circumstances of the object’s rediscovery and offers illuminating insights into its innovative imagery.
New perspectives on a Neolithic crannog: Documenting a 5,000-year-old construction on the Isle of Lewis
The Outer Hebrides are home to over 170 crannogs (small, human-made islands), some of which are proving to be much earlier in date than suspected. Recently published research centred on Loch Bhorgastail has shed detailed light on the make-up of one such site, and has also pioneered an innovative new approach to documenting its above- and underwater remains. CA reports.
Flying high: Exploring wartime archaeology at RAF East Fortune
Currently home to the National Museum of Flight, RAF East Fortune near Edinburgh is one of the UK’s best-preserved Second World War airfields. Re-examination of finds from previous excavations, on the site, as well as new evidence from recent field observations, has shed light on its long military history, as Dr Matteo Randazzo and Olivia Jones report.
Beyond the luxurious: Tracing the Late Antique ivory trade
Study of ivory use in the early medieval world is revealing fresh insights into how this material was viewed. The results have important implications for our understanding of the scale of the trade, and its impact on the elephants it exploited, as Rowan S English and Julia Steding explain.
Monuments of kingship: Power, memory, and belief at Jelling
Study of the monuments at Jelling has revealed much about an extraordinary royal complex in 10th-century Denmark. Olympia Bobou, Ilaria Bucci, Rowan S English, and Rubina Raja explore the evolution of the site.
Grim devastation: Roman Republican sieges in Hispania and Gaul
Roman sieges could come with serious consequences for besieged and besiegers alike. Mike Dobson examines the evidence for such warfare in Hispania and Gaul.
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.