My Home | Shop | Login | Subscribe | Shop
The comprehensive website for archaeology, history, heritage and the ancient world. Find out more about us here
Current Archaeology

Current Archaeology

Grave concerns: Exploring the history of the British cemetery and its uncertain future

The cemetery – defined as a burial ground without an attached primary church or chapel – is a place where artistic, architectural, horticultural, historical, and literary interests are combined. Many were planned as places of botanical and geological instruction, while the epitaphs, extolling the moral virtues of the deceased, were intended to encourage emulation by the living. Appreciating their great value is a vital step towards ensuring that these spaces do not succumb to neglect and decline, as Chris Catling reports.

CA 439 Letters – September

Milestone Ground at midsummer The description of 59 pits forming a long, neat line at the Milestone Ground, Worcestershire (CA 435) is intriguing, especially as such features found elsewhere in prehistoric Britain

Sifting through the remains of Scotland’s kelping industry

November 5, 2020

For a brief period, from around 1750 to 1820, the west coast and islands of Scotland experienced a boom in demand for kelp, a seaweed-derived substance used in the soap and glass-making industries. Kevin Grant – formerly St Kilda Archaeologist with the National Trust for Scotland, now Archaeology Manager at Historic Environment Scotland – has been studying the fragile and elusive remains of this once-thriving industry, as Chris Catling reports.

The origins of Old St Oswald Church, Fulford

November 5, 2020

Many a church guide claims that their present building sits on the site of a more ancient structure. But how accurate are these claims? Recently the Fishergate, Fulford, and Heslington Local History Society (FFH) – a community group with a long-standing and very active interest in their historic landscape – decided to try to find out whether this was true of the deconsecrated medieval church, dedicated to St Oswald, that sits on the east bank of the River Ouse, in the village of Fulford, some 2km south of York. Chris Catling reports.

Illuminating Isurium: exploring Aldborough’s Roman remains

November 5, 2020

Isurium Brigantum was a thriving and prosperous Roman town in what is now North Yorkshire, but it has attracted relatively little modern archaeological attention. Now, though, a decade of geophysical surveys have shed vivid light on its make-up, and a wide-ranging new book presents a compelling narrative for how the once-bustling settlement evolved. Carly Hilts reports.

The Havering hoard

October 1, 2020

Two years ago, London’s largest Bronze Age hoard was discovered on the eastern fringe of the city. It is now on display at the Museum of London Docklands. What do its contents tell us about life in the Thames river valley 3,000 years ago? Current Archaeology’s Carly Hilts visited the exhibition to find out.

Investigating the age of the Cerne Abbas hill figure

July 13, 2020

The Cerne Abbas Giant, a 55m-tall chalk hill figure depicting a nude man, has been in the care of the National Trust for 100 years. To mark this anniversary, small-scale excavations retrieved dating samples from the Dorset landmark – and, although the present lockdown has put analysis on hold, intriguing clues are already beginning to emerge. Mike Allen and Martin Papworth report.

Bronze Age burials at Lechlade skatepark

May 19, 2020

Archaeological investigations in Lechlade-on-Thames, Gloucestershire, have revealed two very unusual Bronze Age burials in an extensive ceremonial landscape spanning many phases of prehistory. The excavations were carried out by Foundations Archaeology in

News in brief

May 19, 2020

British Museum revamps Collection Online The British Museum has recently launched a new version of its Collection Online website, featuring over half its collections, making it one of the largest such databases

Bring me my chariot: investigating burial practices in Iron Age Yorkshire

April 21, 2020

What sparked the unusual chariot burials associated with the Arras Culture in East Yorkshire? Migration has been proposed as an explanation, but a new book asks whether there are other ways by which chariot-making knowledge and burial practices could have been transferred. The reality is perhaps more mundane but, at the same time, highly informative about the diversity of lifestyles and burial practices in the British Iron Age and the ways in which people expressed their regional identity. Chris Catling reports.

1 … 102 103 104 105 106 … 113

By Country

Popular
UK • Italy • Greece • Egypt • Turkey • France

Africa
Botswana • Egypt • Ethiopia • Ghana • Kenya • Libya • Madagascar • Mali • Morocco • Namibia • Somalia • South Africa • Sudan • Tanzania • Tunisia • Zimbabwe

Asia
Iran • Iraq • Israel • Japan • Java • Jordan • Kazakhstan • Kodiak Island • Korea • Kyrgyzstan •
Laos • Lebanon • Malaysia • Mongolia • Oman • Pakistan • Qatar • Russia • Papua New Guinea • Saudi Arabia • Singapore • South Korea • Sumatra • Syria • Thailand • Turkmenistan • UAE • Uzbekistan • Vanuatu • Vietnam • Yemen

Australasia
Australia • Fiji • Micronesia • Polynesia • Tasmania

Europe
Albania • Andorra • Austria • Bulgaria • Croatia • Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark • England • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany • Gibraltar • Greece • Holland • Hungary • Iceland • Ireland • Italy • Malta • Norway • Poland • Portugal • Romania • Scotland • Serbia • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden • Switzerland • Turkey • Sicily • UK

South America
Argentina • Belize • Brazil • Chile • Colombia • Easter Island • Mexico • Peru

North America
Canada • Caribbean • Carriacou • Dominican Republic • Greenland • Guatemala • Honduras • USA