Underwater Survey sheds light on shipwrecks from Dunkirk

New research has been charting the wrecks of ships lost during Operation Dynamo, the Allied evacuation from Dunkirk in the summer of 1940. Historic England and its French counterpart, Drassm, carried out a survey of 30 wrecks in the waters around the French port in September and October this year.…

New exhibition to explore the ordinary lives of Roman soldiers

A new exhibition is set to explore what ordinary life was like for soldiers in the Roman army. Legion, opening in February at the British Museum, will boast more than 200 objects on display, including the world’s only intact legionary shield and recently unearthed body armour. According to the museum,…

Database records monuments to the British Civil Wars

It was one of the most significant conflicts in the country’s history. Now, a new database has been set up to record the monuments and memorials to the British Civil Wars. The wars were fought throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland between the Parliamentarians (also known as the Roundheads) and the…

Images provide clues to the final moments of Midway ships

Haunting new images have been revealed of shipwrecks caused by one of the most significant naval battles of the Second World War. The Battle of Midway, fought on 4 June 1942, saw the United States Navy inflict a crippling blow on the Japanese Imperial Navy in the North Pacific Ocean,…

‘Glencoe Massacre’ coin hoard discovered

Excavations at a site believed to have been used as a ‘summerhouse’ by Alasdair Ruadh ‘Maclain’ MacDonald, chief of the MacDonalds of Glencoe from 1646 to 1692, have revealed a coin hoard underneath the grand fireplace. The University of Glasgow carried out the excavations in Glencoe this past August, as…

Brownfield site yields unexpected finds in Cambridge

When a team from Oxford Archaeology and RPS Consulting were called in to evaluate a brownfield site at King’s Hedges, on the northern outskirts of Cambridge, they did not expect to come across much as the site had already seen significant development. To their surprise, however, a number of exciting…

World News

Earliest engravings? A series of marks, found in the La Roche-Cotard cave on the north bank of the Loire River in France, could be the earliest examples of Neanderthal engravings yet found. Surveys of the cave walls in 2013 and 2016 found a series of shallow engravings, including more than…

Second World War catapult found in Oxfordshire

Work by MOLA in advance of the development of a Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire has uncovered the remains of an experimental catapult from the Second World War. Known from historical records, the catapult in question was called the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) Mark III Catapult and was…

Revealing the lives of Iron Age and Roman farmers in Nottinghamshire

Extensive excavations near Newark-on-Trent have revealed a complex farmstead that was in use from the late Iron Age through to the Roman period. Back in June, the investigations – carried out by MOLA ahead of the construction of the Newlink Business Park – revealed the remains of two Roman wells…

Stonehenge Altar Stone is probably not from Wales

New research is calling into question the origin and function of the Altar Stone at Stonehenge. A century ago, Herbert Thomas announced that the non-sarsens, dolerites, and volcanic tuffs making up the Stonehenge bluestones had been transported to Wiltshire from outcrops in the Preseli Hills in west Wales. He knew,…

Pair of rare Roman-era swords found in Gloucestershire

A pair of Roman swords – the first to be found in the Cotswolds, and thought to be only the second time two have been found in the same context in the whole of Britain – has been discovered during a metal-detecting rally in Gloucestershire. The swords were found by…

Gems and trade

Egyptian researchers have used three spectroscopic techniques for rapid analysis of gemstones from Egypt, revealing their origins and providing a window into historical trade routes. Gemstones peridot (olivine) and emerald, and semi-gemstones beryl, amazonite, and amethyst, from mines in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, were analysed and compared with stones…

Egyptian dinosaur and whale discoveries

Dinosaur bones discovered in 1977 in the Kharga Oasis have recently been identified as a species of herbivorous dinosaur new to science. The remains, which included vertebrae and limb, pelvis, and shoulder bones, date to about 75 million years ago, and belong to a titanosaur measuring around 10 to 15…

Shipwreck off el-Alamein

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a ship that sank in the Mediterranean Sea, approximately 650 metres off the coast of el-Alamein. Dating to the 3rd century BC, the ship was carrying a cargo of wine amphorae imported from Rhodes. The team, from the Central Department of Sunken Antiquities of…

Basilica columns

A joint team from the Ministry of Antiquities and the University of Colorado have completed the restoration and reinstallation of a number of huge granite columns at Ashmunein, in Minya Governorate. Known as Hermopolis Magna in the Graeco-Roman era, the city was the centre of worship for the god Thoth…

The scent of eternity

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Germany have recreated the smell of the mummification balm used on the noblewoman Senetnay, wet nurse to Amenhotep II. The team used gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and other techniques to analyse the residue of balm found in two of Senetay’s canopic…

Roman farmstead excavated at Milton, Cambridgeshire

Earlier this year Archaeological Research Services Ltd excavated a Roman farmstead west of Milton, on the northern outskirts of Cambridge, providing new insights into rural domestic life and adding to the picture of affluence in this area of Roman Britain. The excavations, which were carried out in advance of the…

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