This week on The Past, we are delighted to celebrate a very special milestone: the 400th issue of our sister publication Current Archaeology – the ground-breaking specialist magazine, first published in March 1967, that is now firmly established as Britain’s favourite archaeology title. Over more than five decades, CA has…
From which island did the exiled Napoleon escape in February 1815, setting off the chain of events which led to the Battle of Waterloo?…
Boris Johnson is not, of course, the first political leader to take a dim view of the free movement of people and goods between Britain and the Continent. More than 2,000 years earlier, Julius Caesar ordered the destruction of ships engaged in cross-Channel trade from ports along the Brittany coast…
France and England were once connected by land. River crossings aside, when would it last have been possible to walk between the two?…
Taken in the 1940s, Kersting's powerful black-and-white pictures document life among the much-persecuted Yazidi community in what is now the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq. They include captivating portraits of individuals as well as stunning architectural views…
Between which five present-day countries is the roughly defined geo-cultural territory of Kurdistan mostly now divided?…
These days, the rugged and beautiful Caucasus Mountains – which stretch almost 800 miles between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea – are sadly perhaps most closely associated with the vicious series of ethnic and territorial disputes that have flared up along Russia's troubled southeastern border since the break-up…
What name was given at birth to the 1st-century apostle now known as St Paul?…
Very often, the stories we tell about archaeology are of objects being dug up, excavated, or otherwise unearthed. Sometimes, however, little actual digging is required, because the object being searched for has been there all along – right in front of the eye, hiding in plain sight, just waiting to…
Tesserae played a central role in which Roman art form?…
As the UK's most famous ancient monument, it is a sight familiar to millions around the world. But despite its popularity both as a tourist attraction and as an icon of Britishness, there is a sense in which Stonehenge has always felt strangely isolated.…
Which 12th-century chronicler suggested that Stonehenge had originally been transported from Ireland to Salisbury Plain with help from the wizard Merlin?…
With sea levels predicted to rise by as much as +2.0m by 2100, a recent UN study found many of the Mediterranean's greatest archaeological sites to be at serious risk of damage or loss. This week on The Past, we look in detail at how one site – the magical…
Can you identify these Mediterranean UNESCO World Heritage sites?…
Halfway between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates, the Syrian desert city of Palmyra was once known as the 'Venice of the sands' – a name which reflected not only the magnificence of its architecture but also its importance as a trading centre for the camel caravans which for many centuries…
An oasis city surrounded by Syrian desert, Palmyra was an important stop on which trade route?…
The Hundred Years' War began in 1337. For how long did it actually continue?…
Throughout history, military commanders have employed new tactics and groundbreaking technologies to gain an edge over their opponents. This week on The Past, we learn about the game-changing impact of the English longbow, as used to devastating effect against the French in the early part of the Hundred Years'…
How many enslaved Africans are estimated to have been forcibly transported to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries?…
Almost half a century before the ownership of slaves was finally outlawed across most of the British empire, a devout young student at St John’s College, Cambridge, entered an essay competition and won first prize. That 1785 essay – entitled ‘Is it right to make slaves of others against their…
These days, John Craxton is perhaps best known for the vibrant, sun-drenched illustrations he produced as book jackets for his close friend, the travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor. As a young painter in the 1940s, however, he was a leading figure in the post-war British art scene, alongside Graham Sutherland,…