Current Archaeology

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

Current Archaeology

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

Current Archaeology

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

Museum news

Current Archaeology

The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions.

News

Return to Rat Island

Current Archaeology

July 27, 2019

Remains from a minimum of 11 individuals – doubling the number so far found – were recorded and retrieved under license.

Feature

Managing the Wall: How to care for a 73-mile-long monument

Current Archaeology

July 19, 2019

Hadrian’s Wall was built to safeguard the Roman frontier – today, the fortification itself needs special care. Humphrey Welfare discusses the unique challenges of managing a monument that runs from coast to coast and spans diverse authority areas.

Feature

Communities in the conflict zone: Ten years of discoveries at Vindolanda

Current Archaeology

July 5, 2019

The Roman auxiliary fort of Vindolanda is best known for the remarkable cache of 1st- and 2nd-century wooden writing tablets that was found on the site in 1973, but ongoing archaeological work on the site continues to reveal a wealth of insights into both military and civilian life. From a murder mystery and evidence for a previously unknown goddess to shoes and sporting equipment, Andrew Birley takes us through some of the highlights uncovered in the last ten years.

Feature

Sharing snapshots from South Shields and Wallsend

Current Archaeology

July 5, 2019

What is the latest thinking on the forts that lay towards the eastern extremity of Hadrian’s Wall? Paul Bidwell and Nick Hodgson report.

The Picture Desk

Community spirit: Hadrian’s Wall, Cumbria

Current Archaeology

July 5, 2019

For Historic England, Hadrian’s Wall has always been a site needing active research – many questions about the frontier remain unanswered, and only by the kind of refreshed understanding that research brings, and by addressing the interests and concerns of the public, can the frontier remain relevant.

Feature

Reconstructing Roman Carlisle: Fort life on a shifting frontier

Current Archaeology

July 5, 2019

The Roman fort at Carlisle was founded decades before the construction of Hadrian’s Wall. How did the site’s use change as the frontier was fortified, and what can we learn about the lives of its inhabitants? John Zant reports.

Feature

Settlement and sacred structures: exploring cultic and commercial activity at Maryport

Current Archaeology

July 4, 2019

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.

Objects

The story of an urn: investigating an unusual cremation vessel

Current Archaeology

July 4, 2019

Analysis of one of the Birdoswald cremation vessels has revealed a wealth of new information – as well as some very unusual contents. Tony Wilmott tells all.

Feature

Buried at Birdoswald: excavating a Roman cremation cemetery outside the fort

Current Archaeology

July 4, 2019

To-date, the 3rd-century cremations discovered above Birdoswald fort remain the only Roman cemetery to have received major archaeological attention along the line of Hadrian’s Wall. What light does it shed on the people who lived and died on the frontier? Tony Wilmott explains.

Feature

How the Pilgrimage of Hadrian’s Wall began

Current Archaeology

July 4, 2019

Running every decade since 1849, the Pilgrimage of Hadrian’s Wall might claim to be Britain’s oldest archaeological tour. David Breeze traces the origins of this trip to the Roman frontier.

Feature

The delightful (baker’s) dozen: artefactual insights into Hadrian’s Wall

Current Archaeology

July 4, 2019

The 73-mile length of Hadrian’s Wall, as well as the forts and structures associated with it, has yielded thousands of intriguing objects shedding vivid light on life on the Roman frontier. Rob Collins picks out 13 key finds that highlight how the material culture of the monument can enhance our understanding of the people who lived and worked along it.

Feature

You are what you eat? Excavating the Oxford Jewry

Current Archaeology

May 10, 2019

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.

Feature

The Thames Discovery Programme at ten

Current Archaeology

April 3, 2019

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.

Feature

Sark: the unexplored isle – investigating millennia of isolation and connectivity

Current Archaeology

March 2, 2019

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.

News

Anglo-Saxon cemetery found in Lincolnshire

Current Archaeology

February 24, 2019

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

Feature·Museum

Writing early medieval England: tracing the first echoes of Anglo-Saxon voices

Current Archaeology

January 15, 2019

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.

Museum

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey

Current Archaeology

December 3, 2018

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.

Feature

Dissent of man: exploring the archaeology of satire and subversion

Current Archaeology

November 18, 2018

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.

Museum

Harry Potter: a history of magic

Current Archaeology

October 27, 2018

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.

Feature

Don’t scare the horses: Unpicking 17th-century protective graffiti at Bolsover Castle’s Riding School

Current Archaeology

October 27, 2018

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.

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