Embroidering history: Reconciliation and recrimination on the Bayeux Tapestry
As the Bayeux Tapestry goes on show at the British Museum, Matthew Symonds explores some of the enigmatic messages encoded in its exquisite needlework.
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The frontier in Raetia: Heritage on the edge of the Roman World
From serving as the edge of an empire to falling within no fewer than three modern World Heritage Sites, Raetia’s Roman frontier has long been a place of consequence. David J Breeze introduces the ancient and modern significance of this remarkable monument.
Castles in the cliffs: Archaeology and myth in the Pyrenees.
In the 12th century, the counts of Foix began creating a unique network of fortifications using caves and other natural features in their part of the Pyrenees. Colin Duncan Taylor explores their origins and reveals how, starting in the 19th century, these castles in the cliffs were ransacked by early archaeologists and fortune hunters in search of fabled Cathar treasure.
The ultimate arms race: The Iron Curtain falls – Part 6: the Atomic Age
In the final part of our series on the coming of the Cold War, Taylor Downing examines the struggle for nuclear domination.
An enduring landscape: Uncovering 8,000 years of life and death on the Cotswold Edge
Recent excavations at Milestone Ground on the eastern edge of Broadway have revealed one of the most intriguing archaeological landscapes yet found in Worcestershire. Beneath quiet pasture lay evidence of human activity stretching back 8,000 years, including Mesolithic flint tools, Bronze Age burials, hundreds of Iron Age storage pits, a Roman farmstead, and the largest late Roman cemetery known in the county. Constance Mitchell reports.
Llanbedrgoch: Exploring a unique early medieval trading centre on Anglesey
Ninth-century Carolingian coins from the reigns of Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald are not the sort of objects you would expect to find on a remote farm on the Isle of Anglesey, so, when metal-detectorists began reporting these and other exceptional artefacts from the early medieval period, the National Museum of Wales (now Amgueddfa Cymru) sent Mark Redknap, then Curator of Medieval and Later Archaeology, to investigate. Between 1994 and 2012, Mark led ten seasons of fieldwork on the site, revealing the remains of a trading settlement with a form unparalleled in Wales. With the full report recently published, Chris Catling describes its key findings.
Lechlade’s buried secrets: Revisiting a long-lived ritual landscape in Gloucestershire
In 2017, excavations revealed an unusual Bronze Age burial alongside other signs of ceremonial activity spanning thousands of years. With some of the grave goods now on display, CA returns to the story of the Lechlade ‘chieftain’.
Time flies: Marking five years since the return of Time Team
In 2021, an archaeological household name returned to our (computer) screens, as Time Team relaunched on YouTube. Carly Hilts visited the team at their first dig of 2026 and spoke to the show’s creator and Executive Producer Tim Taylor about how technology gave the show new life – and could transform the future of how archaeological stories are told.
The warlord, the prince, and the village people: Examining three early Anglo-Saxon burial sites from Buckinghamshire
A new exhibition at Discover Bucks Museum in Aylesbury draws together antiquarian excavations and very recent finds to illuminate life and death at different levels of early medieval society. Carly Hilts visited the displays and spoke to their curator Brett Thorn.
A monumental legacy: Aubrey Burl and The Stone Circles of the British Isles
This year marks a century since the birth of the pioneering prehistorian Aubrey Burl, and the 50th anniversary of the publication of his landmark study The Stone Circles of the British Isles, which is often considered the foundational work on the subject. To reflect these milestones, Neil Mortimer offers an overview of how the book came into being – and the occasionally unconventional approach of its author.
The Libyan pharaohs of Egypt
Aidan Dodson explores the history of the kings of Libyan ancestry who dominated Egypt during the 10th to 7th centuries BC.
W A Stewart’s reconstruction of Hetepheres’ furniture
In the last issue, AE 153, Peter Lacovara celebrated the meticulous work of Dows Dunham in excavating the Fourth Dynasty (c.2613-2494 BC) Tomb of Queen Hetepheres I at Giza. In this issue, marking the 100th anniversary of the tomb’s discovery, Geoffrey Killen explains how William Arnold Stewart reconstructed the furniture found in the tomb.
The tentmakers of Old Cairo
Sandra Hardy explores the work of skilled artisans who continue the long tradition of pharaonic textile production.
The painted tomb of Insneferuishetef
Wolfram Grajetzki explores rare painted scenes from an Old Kingdom mastaba at Dahshur.
Reassembling Tutankhamun’s Tomb
The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 produced one of the most detailed archaeological archives ever created. Daniela Rosenow describes a new digital platform, the Tutankhamun Spatial Archive, developed by the University of Oxford’s Griffith Institute, which brings together this vast body of records, allowing researchers and the public alike to explore the tomb, its contents, and its excavation in entirely new ways.
August Mariette
Our series highlighting often overlooked Egyptologists continues with the legacy of a founder of the discipline, reassessed by Amandine Marshall.
Hilary Wilson on… Birds in fine feather
Hilary Wilson describes the many depictions of birds in ancient Egyptian tomb scenes.
Sizewell C, the story so far: Who did what, where, when – and why?
Oxford Cotswold Archaeology’s ongoing excavations on the site of the planned Sizewell C power station in Suffolk have uncovered a vast array of features and finds spanning 6,000 years of history. Project Manager Richard Mortimer guides us through some of the most significant discoveries to-date.
Buried on the boundary: Interpreting Venta Icenorum’s enigmatic ditch deposits
The latest excavation by the long-running Caistor Roman Project has uncovered a series of unusual deposits within the monumental triple ditches that encircled Venta Icenorum, capital of the Iceni. At the same time, recent GPR surveys have shed new light on aspects of the settlement that these once-imposing earthworks surrounded. Giles Emery and Will Bowden report.
A tempered history: Touring the material legacy of teetotalism
Temperance halls, hotels, coffee houses, memorials, and drinking fountains blossomed in the 19th century under the influence of the burgeoning teetotal movement. Most have now been converted to other uses, but they are still there – if you know where to look. A new Historic England book by Andrew Davison draws our attention to this forgotten heritage, as Chris Catling reports.
A cut above: Examining the use of woodworking tools in Late Bronze Age Britain
Archaeological wood specialist and traditional woodworker Hamish Darrah describes his ongoing research combining wear analysis and experimental archaeology to illuminate the diverse uses of woodworking tools in Late Bronze Age Britain.
Pointing to the past: Arrowheads, experimental archaeology, and the CA Awards
James Dilley, who crafted the upsized arrowheads that adorn this year’s CA Awards, describes the process of replicating prehistoric projectiles – and their archaeological inspiration.
Surveying Falerii Novi: Rethinking the development of a Roman town
Surveying an ancient town in Italy has presented fresh insights into a key moment for Roman urbanism. Matthew Symonds spoke to Martin Millett about what can be learnt from studying an entire townscape.