In the conclusion to this two-part article, Richard Hodges examines the circumstances surrounding the attack on the Benedictine monastery of San Vincenzo al Volturno in AD 881.…
Welcome
It is a question that has been debated by archaeologists and historians for decades: to what extent can one of the worst disasters in human history, the catastrophic volcanic eruption in c.1600 BC that devastated the ancient Aegean island of Thera (now known as Santorini), be linked to the mysterious collapse of one of the first European cultures, the once-dominant Minoan civilisation centred on the nearby island of Crete?…
Continue reading ->
Opinion
Writing archaeology
Neil went on to propose using what R G Collingwood called ‘the historical imagination’ by blending data and interpretation to ‘tell the story’. He was convinced that this ‘must be done if archaeology is to be interesting and worthwhile’.
The Princess of Khok Phanom Di
The Princess was not buried alone. Alongside her was a grave big enough for an adult, which contained the ochre covered skeleton of a little girl aged about 18 months, covered in about 15,000 shell beads and, lo and behold, a tiny clay anvil for shaping pots.
Ancient aquifers and a sovereign spirit
The death of Prince Philip was marked on Tanna with traditional rites and tribute ceremonies: the consensus among members of the sect is that the Duke’s spirit has returned to its island home...
Last word on Roman London
Traders poured in, London flourished, and in ten years it became the biggest town in Britain. But then, disaster! Boudica rebelled and London was destroyed: traces of burning from this episode are still visible in the lower layers of excavations.
The Picture Desk
Exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery: 'Anthony Kersting: Kurdistan in the 1940s'…
Don't miss
A new exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, tells the story of 350 years of interaction between the British and Japanese…
New research into the Venus of Willendorf has shed more light on the fascinating prehistoric figurine’s construction and its possible origins. The…
Neil went on to propose using what R G Collingwood called ‘the historical imagination’ by blending data and interpretation to ‘tell the…
What is it? This 6th-century ivory comb, which may have been used by its owner to style his hair and beard, was…
A round-up of some of the best military history events and exhibitions to check out in 2022, including a new exhibition at…
Calum Henderson explores the lives and works of war photographers Gerda Taro, Endre Friedmann, Françoise Demulder, Anja Niedringhaus, Lee Miller, and Catherine…
DAVID PORTER ON MILITARY HISTORY’S DOOMED INVENTIONS.…
The newly released, star-studded British movie Operation Mincemeat is, on one level, about the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. On another,…
Around 8000 years ago a huge underwater landslide off Norway triggered a tsunami (‘tidal wave’) that wreaked destruction…
Following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in Spring this year, archaeologist Simon Kaner insists there…
Fred Chiaventone recalls the service of the US Army’s first black regiments.…
Naval historian and museum curator Nick Hewitt explores a little-known British disaster of the Second World War.…
Neil Faulkner analyses one of the Second World War’s most curiously asymmetrical battles.…
Edmund West reports on a medieval naval battle that is little known but was of decisive significance.…
Inspired by the American and French revolutions, the Irish Rebellion of 1798 saw thousands take up arms against…
Analysis of human remains from the Links of Noltland, Westray, has revealed the first concrete evidence of a…
The people of Chichester – or Noviomagus Reginorum, as the settlement was known in the 1st century AD…
Rapid erosion has revealed spectacular Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology on the coast of Westray, Orkney. Contemporary with…
For decades, the accepted view of the Orcadian Neolithic was one of two cultural packages with a sharp…
For over a decade, archaeological research at the Ness of Brodgar has uncovered an astonishing array of Neolithic…
How can understanding the archaeology of peatlands help to ameliorate the current climate crisis? Rosie Everett and Gillian…
Nearly 50 years of excavations have explored much of Leicester’s north-eastern quarter – and now a newly published…
Come with me on a pub crawl — around Pompeii. There are some 163 pubs known so far…
Phil Harding and Emily Glass describe recent excavations by the charity Waterloo Uncovered, which has made exciting new…
Forget London 2012. What about Olympia in 388 BC? Archaeologist Neil Faulkner has just published a new book…
Vast quantities of artefacts were found in a mound in Oklahoma in the 1930s. Together they tell an…
Last year, the restored mosaics of the lavish audience hall and bathhouse of Hisham’s Palace near Jericho were…
One of the most celebrated works of ancient Greek sculpture, Phidias’ statue of Zeus, was once housed in…