Stonehenge has to be the most intensively studied prehistoric monument in the world, which begs the question: ‘is there anything left to say?’ A new English Heritage study of the wider Stonehenge World Heritage Site landscape has come up with a few surprising facts which, if not all new, are perhaps not widely known, as Chris Catling now reports.
Everyone has heard of the aqueducts of Rome, but what about those of Medieval Exeter? Professor Mark Stoyle is on a mission to make them better known, as Chris Catling reports.
The Scottish island of Iona was one of the most influential Christian centres in Early Medieval Europe. But how much of its first monastery, built in the 6th century, has survived to the present day? As 2013, the 1,450th anniversary of its foundation, approached, it was time to find out, as Peter Yeoman explains.
What did the fragmentary Bronze Age boats found around Britain look like when complete, and what were they like to handle? The best way to find out, Robert Van de Noort told Current Archaeology's Carly Hilts, is to build one yourself.
Burnt mounds are an archaeological enigma: recent discoveries at Hoppenwood Bank, a bog near Bamburgh in Northumberland, call into question even the little we thought we knew. They show that some of these mainly Bronze Age features date back to the Early Neolithic, and are associated here with a series of substantial timber platforms. Graeme Young, of the Bamburgh Research Project, explains.
As the asparagus season gets under way, and possible Romano-British asparagus beds are discovered in Cambridge, Stefanie Hoss explores how a Mediterranean passion for this delicacy developed offshoots in the northern provinces.
For up to 4,500 years, a series of sunken dug-out canoes have been lying, forgotten, on the bottom of Lough Corrib in Co. Galway. Now these vessels are beginning to surrender their secrets once more, in an investigation by Ireland’s Underwater Archaeology Unit, spearheaded by Karl Brady.
Major new restoration work at Knole, one of England’s greatest mansions, has granted archaeologists access to previously hidden spaces, and uncovered a forgotten history. Nathalie Cohen takes us for a tour.
Few archaeologists had even heard of the Thornborough henges until 2002, when a local campaigning group started to kick up a fuss about gravel- and sand-extraction in the vicinity of the monuments. Now Thornborough is routinely described as ‘the Stonehenge of the north’. As Chris Catling reports, a decade of research has transformed our understanding of one of the most important monuments of its kind in Europe.
The Neolithic was a period of momentous change in which can be seen the birth of our modern world. It marks the moment when humans took control of the planet (not necessarily for the good), rather than simply existing upon it. Chris Catling reports on a recent debate hosted by the Royal Archaeological Institute focusing on why Britain and Ireland finally became Neolithic almost 1,000 years after farming had become the predominant lifestyle on the Continent.
Why were the bluestones used in Stonehenge transported more than 200km from Preseli in Wales? The survey of the eastern Preseli Hills and investigation of selected sites by Timothy Darvill and Geoff Wainwright have exposed some uncanny parallels with the Stonehenge landscape. Could these help explain the meaning of the famous stone circle?
In 1993, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee described the setting and presentation of Stonehenge as ‘a national disgrace’. Two decades later, we finally have a remedy – a spanking new visitor centre to cater for travellers’ bodily needs and to prepare them for an encounter with the monument. What is more, the road that once severed Stonehenge from the Avenue has gone, restoring the link between the monument and its processional way. Chris Catling went there, gazed in awe, and wants to go back again very soon.
From sea shanties to the shipping forecast, boats and the sea are woven into the fabric of English life and culture, and yet we only began to take shipwrecks seriously as historical and archaeological monuments in the 1970s. Chris Catling looks at what we have gained in the 40 years since the passing of the landmark Protection of Wrecks Act in 1973.
The Staffordshire Hoard is a glittering reminder of the creative talents of the Anglo-Saxons – but now pioneering research is revealing that their skills were more far sophisticated than previously imagined, as Carly Hilts learned.
Well known on the Continent and scattered along the coasts of Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland, dolmens are an immediately recognisable form of chambered tomb. They represent remarkable achievements for their Neolithic builders, crowned with stones weighing as much as 160 tonnes. Vicki Cummings and Colin Richards investigate how these distinctive monuments were constructed – and what happened when a project did not go to plan.
Controversy has recently flared over the location of the Battle of Hastings. In an exclusive Channel 4 special, Time Team investigates, undertaking the first ever dig on the traditional site and assessing the rival claimants, as Assistant Producer Alex Rowson reports.
The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II prompted the first comprehensive archaeological study of the Medieval throne on which British monarchs are crowned. It has been battered and vandalised over the ages, but unpicking this majestic artefact’s evolution shed new light on both its original form and that of the enigmatic Stone of Scone, as Warwick Rodwell reveals.
In his final column, Mick leaves us with some tips on how to unpick the evolution of a local parish on the ground. What could you discover in your neighbourhood?
On Monday 4 February the results of tests on a skeleton found beneath a Leicester carpark were announced to a global media audience. Lead archaeologist Richard Buckley stated ‘our academic conclusion, beyond reasonable doubt, is that the individual exhumed at Grey Friars in September 2012 is indeed Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England.’ Matthew Symonds and Carly Hilts look at what this momentous announcement tells us about Richard, and why the Leicester team are so confident they have got their man.
That's why skeletal remains and mummies are so popular in museum exhibitions - people can relate to them in a way that not everyone can relate to other archaeological finds such as pottery.