Current Archaeology 437
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Scotland’s first warriors: Interpreting evidence of conflict from the Neolithic to the coming of the Romans
Interpersonal violence has been a fact of human existence for much of our long history – but how far is this reflected in the archaeological record? With a major new exhibition now open at the National Museum of Scotland, Matthew G Knight and Hannah Boddy examine traces of past conflicts spanning 4,000 years, and consider how to present these stories to modern audiences.
Urban exploration: Revealing Roman and medieval York through ground-penetrating radar
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has been used to great effect to map underlying archaeology on open-area sites, but how well does it perform in urban environments? John Creighton, Thomas Matthews Boehmer, Martin Millett, and Lieven Verdonck describe the trials and triumphs of recent surveys in York’s historic centre.
You are what you eat? Excavating the Oxford Jewry
Excavations in the historic heart of Oxford have shed light on the city’s origins and development – including uncovering some of its earliest-known Anglo-Saxon structures, remarkable evidence for the medieval city’s Jewish inhabitants, and aspects of city life away from the colleges, as Edward Biddulph explains.
The Thames Discovery Programme at ten
The Thames Discovery Programme – whose volunteers record the archaeology of the Thames foreshore – has recently celebrated its tenth birthday. Eliott Wragg, Nathalie Cohen, and Josh Frost explore some of the initiative’s most important findings from its first decade of life.
Sark: the unexplored isle – investigating millennia of isolation and connectivity
Even today, getting to the Channel Island of Sark is an adventure, involving a 55-minute journey by sea from Guernsey, and then a climb from the quay through a tunnel in the rock to reach the top of the sheer cliffs that surround the island on all sides. Given the challenges of getting to Sark, the island provides the perfect opportunity to study connectivity and isolation down the ages – one of Sir Barry Cunliffe’s perennial preoccupations, sparking his excavations there. Who came here, when, and why? And what does it tell us about the mobility of past visitors? Chris Catling reports.
Anglo-Saxon cemetery found in Lincolnshire
The investigation uncovered 24 burials, all dating to between the late 5th and mid-6th centuries AD, and almost all of the individuals were buried with elaborate grave goods
Writing early medieval England: tracing the first echoes of Anglo-Saxon voices
How did the kingdoms of early medieval England evolve into a single nation? A new exhibition at the British Library combines artefacts and manuscripts to tell the story of the Anglo-Saxons in their own words. Carly Hilts reports.
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey
New displays in Westminster Abbey’s eastern triforium (the gallery above the nave) explore the long history of the church, its royal links, and its importance as a national monument. Lucia Marchini takes a look at the recently opened Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries.
Dissent of man: exploring the archaeology of satire and subversion
What can objects tell us about how people objected to the authority of the day? A new exhibition at the British Museum tells the story of rebels ancient and modern. CA went along to find out more.
Harry Potter: a history of magic
What link is there between archaeology and a best-selling series of children’s books? To find out, Lucia Marchini tours the British Library’s major new exhibition.
Don’t scare the horses: Unpicking 17th-century protective graffiti at Bolsover Castle’s Riding School
The increasing popularity of historical graffiti surveys is providing valuable new perspectives on the past. Matt Beresford discusses recent discoveries at Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire, and how magical markings were used to protect animals as well as people during the Stuart era.
Capturing Orkney’s chambered cairns
What can cutting-edge photographic technology add to our understanding of Orkney’s Neolithic chambered tombs? Georgina Ritchie explores the possibilities of photogrammetry, with contributions from Steve Farrar and Hugo Anderson-Whymark.
Secondhand Stonehenge? Welsh origins of a Wiltshire monument
It has long been understood that the Stonehenge ‘bluestones’ – a catch-all term used to describe any of the monument’s uprights that are not thought to have been sourced locally – represent a variety of different types of rock, but their origins have been a subject for heated debate. Now archaeological and geological research have combined to pin down some of their sources, and to shed new light on how – and why – the stones were brought to Salisbury Plain. Mike Parker Pearson explains.
Go west: the search for the bluestone quarries
How is cutting-edge chemical analysis helping to pinpoint the source of some of Stonehenge’s standing stones – 140 miles from Wiltshire in the Preseli hills? Geologists Rob Ixer and Richard Bevins explain.
Exercise Magwitch and the prisoners of Rat Island
Popular legend has long told of the presence of graves on an island in Portsmouth Harbour, holding the remains of convicted criminals or Napoleonic-era prisoners of war. In the wake of severe storms that exposed human remains below the cliff, would archaeological investigation confirm the tale? Richard Osgood reports.
Windsor Castle: ‘The most Romantique castle that is in the world’
The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on 19 May took place against a backdrop of buildings that have been inhabited almost continuously since the 11th century. The fire of November 1992 at Windsor Castle (in what the Queen later called her annus horribilis) could have brought an end to that 1,000-year history; instead, the restoration that ensued was accompanied by extensive research into the castle’s fabric and development. The following edited extracts come from a new and exhaustive history of the building complex, which Samuel Pepys, visiting on 26 February 1666, described as ‘the most Romantique castle that is in the world’.
Bridging the divide: the role of science in archaeology
A public-interest piece in Nature – published in response to their research paper about the Bell Beaker culture – discusses the ‘sometimes straining’ relationship between archaeologists and geneticists.
Like a rolling stone: experimental archaeology at Stonehenge
Was the communal effort of constructing Stonehenge as important to its builders as the finished monument’s purpose? And what was it like to move one of its mighty monoliths? CA spoke to Susan Greaney, Julian Richards, and Luke Winter – and travelled to the Stonehenge Visitor Centre for some hands-on experience.
Face to face with Cheddar Man
A team from UCL and the Natural History Museum has successfully sequenced his DNA for the first time, revealing a wealth of details about his physical appearance.
Prehistoric pop culture: deciphering the DNA of the Bell Beaker Complex
More than 4,500 years ago, a hugely popular cultural phenomenon – today known as the Bell Beaker Complex – captured the prehistoric imagination, flourishing across much of Europe. Archaeologists are still deliberating over how this Complex, first identified in the 19th century, developed so quickly and effectively. Now the largest ancient DNA study to-date has shed revolutionary new light on the question, with surprising implications for our understanding of ancient populations – particularly that of Britain, which seems to have undergone an almost complete genetic turnover in just a few centuries. Kathryn Krakowka reports.
Urban orders: touring the friaries of medieval London
Almost nothing remains above ground of London’s medieval friaries: only the names of places like Blackfriars Bridge and station, the street – and City pub – called Crutched Friars, and the City street of Austin Friars, now overshadowed by Tower 42 (the former NatWest Tower), testify to their presence. By combining maps, archives, and archaeology, Nick Holder has succeeded in reconstructing their stories and assessing their impact on the London landscape, as Chris Catling reports.
Settlement and sacred structures: exploring cultic and commercial activity at Maryport
Excavations at Maryport have shed vivid light on activity outside the Roman fort, from possible temple buildings and buried altars to signs of more everyday life. Tony Wilmott, Ian Haynes, and John Zant explain more.