Lost royal city found in Iraqi Kurdistan?
Occupation of the fortress appears to have been relatively short-lived, with the main phase of activity probably dating to the 1st century BC.
World Archaeology
Knucklebones used for gaming and divination found in Israel
Researchers discovered that many of the bones had been modified – shaved down, polished, perforated, or filled with lead – in order to improve the roll of the dice.
Researchers decipher ancient Chinese recipe for bronze production
The recipe in question is recorded in an ancient Chinese text known as the Kaogong ji, which is believed to be the world’s first encyclopaedia of technology, probably dating to c.300 BC.
Research sheds new light on Cahokia’s North Plaza
The study found that the plaza would have been underwater for most if not all of the year at the time of the site’s creation.
Living and Cursing in the Roman West: curse tablets and society
Review by Charlotte Spence. Stuart McKie’s reassessment of curse tablets sets itself up as a ‘paradigm shift’ in the scholarship and our understanding of these objects; and this is something he well achieves. The focuis on the examination of the…
Roman sanctuary found in the Netherlands
Several Roman sanctuaries are known in the Netherlands, but this is the first to be discovered on the northern boundary of the empire.
Let’s go on a pub crawl around Pompeii!
Join Andrew Selkirk for a trip around the bars in Pompeii and find out where to go with your loved one for a slap-up meal.
America’s oldest ochre mine identified
Artefacts made of non-local materials indicate that the quarry may have been the source of much of the ochre found across the American midcontinent
CWA 114 Crossword, and answers to 113
Across 6 Ancient Greek historian and geographer (6)8 Emperor whose return to Rome from campaigns in Spain and Gaul was honoured by the building of the Ara Pacis (8)10 Member of a Germanic people believed to have invaded Britain in…
CWA 114 Letters
Your observations, your objections, and your opinions.
Athens at the Margins: Pottery and People in the Early Mediterranean World
Review by Robin Osborne. Thirty-three years ago, I attempted to push 7th-century BC Athens and Attica into the limelight. I managed to stimulate critical engagement from Anna-Maria D’Onofrio and James Whitley, but failed to convince the wider world that this…
World news in brief: maya dentistry, medieval hand grenades and early Islamic burials
A round up of some of the latest archaeological news from around the globe.
Dedicated followers of fashion: what did the Romans ever do for Athens?
Ancient Rome’s enthusiasm for all things Greek is well known, and archaeological echoes of these influences can be found across the Empire. Looking in the other direction, though, what traces did the Romans leave in Athens, the city at the heart of their idealised view? Carly Hilts reports.
The Temple of Khnum
Conservators working in the Temple of Khnum in Esna, Upper Egypt, have uncovered new details of the building’s colourful ceiling frescoes. Construction on the temple began in the Ptolemaic period and continued into the Roman period, with decoration completed during…
Qatar: Evidence of the Palaeolithic Earliest People Revealed
Review by George Nash. The visible prehistoric sites of the Arabian Peninsula are all too clear to see, with burial-ritual and settlement sites of the Neolithic, Bronze Age, and, in particular, Iron Age providing the most obvious presence. Less visible…
Bronze figurine
What is it? This small female figurine made of bronze is 14.7cm tall and weighs 155g. The figure has an egg-shaped head with a prominent nose, and a flat body with looped arms, two knobs on the chest signifying breasts,…
The Great Maya Aquifer: exploring a hidden world beneath the Yucatán Peninsula
Southeast Mexico is rich in caves. This extraordinary underworld has influenced human activity for thousands of years. Now a project dedicated to understanding and preserving this realm is shedding new light on the archaeology of the Yucatán Peninsula, as Guillermo de Anda told Matthew Symonds.
Life and death in an early South Australian colony
Information about the health of early migrants to South Australia was obtained through analysis such as micro-CT scanning of their teeth.
Tutankhamun: excavating the archive
A century after Tutankhamun’s tomb first captured the world’s attention, a new exhibition at the Bodleian Library offers fresh insights into the famous discovery through archival material. Amy Brunskill visited to find out more.
Exploring a Roman house in VR
In order to explore how this lavish home was experienced by Roman viewers, researchers first used 3D-modelling software to create a reconstruction of the house. This 3D model was based on information from an earlier Lund University project that digitally mapped a neighbourhood in Pompeii, in combination with records from the excavation of the house and other information about Roman architecture.