Current World Archaeology 137
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Ramses the Great: How a pharaoh built his legacy
Why is Ramses II considered to be ‘the Great’? An exhibition focusing on his life and times sheds light on how Ramses earned this accolade. Matthew Symonds shares what he learnt.
Beyond the luxurious: Tracing the Late Antique ivory tradeÂ
Study of ivory use in the early medieval world is revealing fresh insights into how this material was viewed. The results have important implications for our understanding of the scale of the trade, and its impact on the elephants it exploited, as Rowan S English and Julia Steding explain.
Drawn and Written in Stone: an inventory of stepped structures and inscriptions on rock surfaces in Upper Tibet (ca.100 BCE to 1400 CE)
For many thousands of years, humans have inscribed their presence on the landscape. They drew or pecked images of the fanciful, representational, or sacred on the walls of caves, rock shelters, rock
16th-century Spanish objects in Mississippi
Many of the objects found had been repurposed by the Chickasaws into tools and ornaments
Ancient human relative identified in China
The fossil human cranium, thought to belong to a male about 50 years old, was found in 1933
Excavating a Phoenician shipwreck off the coast of Gozo, Malta
The Phoenicians occupied the coast of the Levant for over 1,000 years, but knowledge of their trade network and practices remains elusive. In 2007, an ancient wreck containing a large cache of ceramic containers was discovered off Malta. This ship proved to be one of only a handful of known Phoenician vessels. Since 2014, further exploration of the site has yielded some very exciting results. Project Director Timmy Gambin and Lucy Woods reveal some of its mysteries, and the challenges of excavating a shipwreck 110m below sea level.
A legionary fortress at Valkenburg: discovering a springboard for the conquest of Britannia?
Fresh excavations at Valkenburg are shedding surprising new light on a seemingly well-known site. Wouter Vos, Edwin Blom, Brecht Cornelisse, Jasper De Bruin, Jeroen Loopik, Arjan Ruiter, Adrie Tol, and Lourens Van der Feijst lay out the arguments for an unsuspected legionary fortress, and its possible role in the invasion of Britain.
Made of stone: seeking the dawn of technology
In this dizzying digital era, it can be startling to remember that our love affair with technology began millions of years ago with someone banging two stones together. But it is increasingly apparent that desiring tools with which to shape our world is not just a human trait. As Tomos Proffitt and Alastair Key told Current World Archaeology’s Matthew Symonds, we were not – and are not – alone.
News in brief: Shigir idol, Emperor Constantine, ancient tattoos
New dating of the Shigir Idol, the oldest known wooden monumental statue in the world, has revealed that it was created even earlier than previously thought.
Current World Archaeology 108
Nero: monster or maligned?
It would be fair to say that Nero’s reputation survives him. But could it be that this notorious imperial bad boy has been unfairly condemned by history? While the charge sheet levelled against him by the ancient historians is truly horrifying, archaeology paints a more nuanced picture, as Thorsten Opper told Current World Archaeology’s Matthew Symonds.
An expectant mummy
Tests indicate that the woman was between 20 and 30 years old and was 26-28 weeks pregnant at the time of death.
Life and death in a Cypriot Bronze Age society
Excavations in the Bronze Age cemetery at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus, are shedding light on trade networks and complex burial practices, as Peter M Fischer and Teresa Bürge explain.
The Maltese Archipelago at the Dawn of History
This, the third volume to tackle the legacy data from Malta (Tanasi et al. 2011; 2015), effectively lays the groundwork from which to launch renewed archaeological investigations. Its reinterpretation of past excavations
Gold spiral ring
This ring is a significant discovery because it represents the earliest gold object from a clear and well-dated context discovered in this region so far.
Prehistoric structures in Saudi Arabia
At the excavated mustatil, archaeologists uncovered an assemblage of cattle horns and skull fragments interpreted as an offering, perhaps related to a ‘cattle cult’, further supporting the ‘ritual’ interpretation of these sites.
Growing up in the Ice Age
Growing Up in the Ice Age represents both the first book-length work on the lives of children throughout the Plio-Pleistocene, and a superlative example of how the study of children can be
Cloggs Cave: a temporary hunting camp or secluded retreat and source of magical supplies?
How do we interpret archaeological sites? Excavations conducted 50 years ago at Cloggs Cave, in south-eastern Australia, revealed what seemed to be a temporary hunting camp. Fresh research, though, points to this cavity having been used as a secluded place of magic and danger, accessed only by a few powerful individuals. Russell Mullett and Bruno David told Current World Archaeology’s Matthew Symonds what has changed.
Early human activity at Wonderwerk Cave
The site, which was first excavated in the 1940s, has a unique stratigraphic record containing evidence of human activity from the Early Stone Age to the present day.
Pre and Protohistoric Stone Architectures: comparisons of the social and technical contexts associated to their building
Generically, monuments are organised using four recognised architectural elements: the mound, the entrance or façade, the passage, and the chamber. I suppose a fifth element could be landscape. These clear building traits
Venetian beads found in arctic Alaska
Eight of the ten beads were found at Punyik Point, a site in the Brooks Range, located on ancient trade routes from the Bering Strait to the Arctic Ocean.