The conquests of Genghis Khan are traditionally associated with horrifying brutality, but this reputation has overshadowed another side to the empire that he forged. Matthew Symonds spoke to Marie Favereau to find out more.
Analysis of two votive offering vessels from Pompeii is enhancing our understanding of Roman domestic rituals.
Analysis of two votive offering vessels from Pompeii is enhancing our understanding of Roman domestic rituals.
For the first time in human experience, a substance could be melted and converted into something new. If you set off by car from the Volga River to Hungary, you will have
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.
Most CWA readers will have visited some ruined cities for one reason or another; the majority of us will have let ourselves be fascinated by imagining how life in the past might have been, and how much or how little it would have resembled the modern equivalent, with its venues for leisure and work; for sleep and entertainment; for labour and exploitation; for aesthetically pleasing and artistic expressions
When Anita Lasker came to Britain in March 1946, 80 years ago, having survived Auschwitz and having been liberated at death’s door from Belsen, she found that no one wanted to hear about her terrible experiences in the camps. Britons wanted to move on from the horrors of the past and look to the promise of the future.
What is it? This collection of decorated ivory plaques found in Jerusalem was probably once inlaid in a piece of ornate wooden furniture. The plaques, which are believed to date to the
The vessel was… packed with precious objects and placed upside down. What is it? This lidded, silver-gilt vessel is c.150mm tall, and 92.4mm in diameter at the rim. It was discovered as
David Porter on Military History’s doomed inventions.
The life of Wyndham Halswelle – Olympic athlete and soldier in the Second Boer War and Second World War.
Coins of Harold II Godwinson (r. 1066), killed at the Battle of Hastings, are not common – the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme has recorded only 28 such single finds in 24
Glassmaking was introduced to Smethwick by Thomas Shutt, who started making crown window-glass on a site alongside the Birmingham Canal in 1814. When he died in 1822, his company was sold to
Dr Campbell Price describes an architectural portal between the realms of the living and the dead.
Viollet-le-Duc needed connections: he had elected not to study architecture, preferring to learn on the job.
With Marc DeSantis
What is it? This divine sculpture was made on Rurutu, one of the Austral Islands in Polynesia. When it was given to British missionaries in 1821, its name was recorded as A’a.
A major step forward in understanding and dating ancient Egyptian ceramics.
A new project is examining the traces of Roman mining associated with extracting
a particularly prized stone. Guillermo León, Catalina Urquijo, Dionisio Urbína,
José Luis Córdoba, and the spelunkers of the Cuenca Ara Club of Speleology describe the demands of archaeological investigation deep within the bowels of central Spain.
A recent discovery in Sweden has revealed details about the final moments of a Mesolithic man. Caroline Arcini, Ann Westmark, Gracijela Bozovic, and Marie-Louise Aurumskjöld take us through what unfolded.
In the second part of our special feature, Graham Goodlad examines the changes in design and technology that underpinned the 20th-century transformation of US airpower.
Onwards and upwards a timeline tracing the developing fortunes and many incarnations of America’s air force in the 2oth century.
In the first part of our special feature, Graham Goodlad charts the development of America’s air-arm from its earliest beginnings, while in our second article he focuses on the hardware deployed by American forces.
From ‘Big Bertha’ to exploding motor boats, Germany’s military engineers were the source of much innovation during the First World War, as David Porter explains.
They were once a common method of changing governments around the world. But, as Nigel Jones explains, coups have fallen from fashion in the 21st century.
At the turn of the 20th century, a violent uprising swept northern China, and an international expedition was sent to rescue those trapped in Peking’s diplomatic quarter. Stephen Roberts tells the story.
The Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) has been excavating sites along the banks of the River Great Ouse since 1994, keeping one step ahead of sand- and gravel-quarrying that is steadily transforming the landscape from solid ground to a series of lakes that will eventually form a large nature reserve. Chris Catling reports on the latest volume to emerge from this project, which brings together a series of excavations exploring a c.5km length of the river at the point where it enters the Fen marshlands near Earith in Cambridgeshire.
Many of Cornwall’s churches preserve centuries-old murals of saints and religious scenes. Laura Miucci shares some of the stories behind these colourful creations, and explores how organised Community Archaeology visits to sites like these can boost the well-being of participants.
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.
Colin Reader shows how ancient Egypt’s geology led to wealth, power, and influence.
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.
In the first of two articles interrogating ancient medical papyri, Ira Rampil investigates the use of herbal remedies to help relieve pain.
Julian Heath recounts the remarkable discoveries made by a French mining engineer and archaeologist.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
