New details about the domestication of dogs
Dogs are man’s best (and oldest – see CA 352 and 401) friends, but how they came to be that way is still a bit of a mystery. Based on morphological changes
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Antonine Wall fortlet found
Archaeological investigations in Bearsden, near Glasgow, have revealed evidence of a previously unknown fortlet on the Antonine Wall. This is the 13th Antonine Wall fortlet to have been confidently identified, adding to
Bronze Age watering hole found near Gloucester
Excavations south of Gloucester have uncovered a remarkably well preserved Bronze Age watering hole, with many of its wooden structures surviving in situ. The discovery was made last year during investigations by
Nelson urged mistress to vaccinate their daughter against smallpox
The victor of the Battle of Trafalgar may have been a naval genius. But it has now emerged that Admiral Lord Nelson was also uncommonly wise when it came to another subject:
Spanish Armada maps saved ‘for the nation’
They depict one of the most significant events in English history. Now a collection of incredibly rare maps representing the defeat of the Spanish Armada will remain in the country, following the
Former Cold War missile facility converted into Airbnb
It was once the launch centre for nuclear missiles capable of immense destruction. Now, a former military complex has found new life as an Airbnb guest house.
New Welsh home confirmed for military medical museum
A new home in Cardiff Bay for the Museum of Military Medicine has been given the green light by the local council. Currently based in the village of Mytchett, Surrey, where it
Digging into databases
Arguably, one of the biggest challenges that continually faces archaeology is accessibility. While that can be interpreted in several different ways, what I’m going to concentrate on in this month’s ‘Science Notes’
Reassessing Neanderthal teeth in Jersey
Recent analysis of 12 teeth, first excavated at the Palaeolithic site of La Cotte de St Brelade in Jersey between 1910 and 1911, may provide new evidence of cross-breeding between Neanderthals and
Victorian bathhouse revealed in Manchester
The remains of a Victorian bathhouse have recently been discovered beneath a car park in the Mayfield area of Manchester. The site was excavated by archaeologists from the University of Salford’s Centre
Elizabethan gardens found in Warwickshire
The remains of an extravagant but previously unknown garden from the Elizabethan period have recently been revealed at Coleshill in Warwickshire. The site was first identified a few years ago during an
Northamptonshire’s largest Anglo-Saxon cemetery discovered
A large Anglo-Saxon cemetery has recently been discovered at Overstone in Northamptonshire. With 154 interments, it is the largest burial ground from this period ever found in the county. The 15ha site
Stonehenge: a recycled Welsh monument
Recent research has potentially identified an intriguing new connection between Stonehenge and a partially dismantled stone circle in south-west Wales – furthering the connection between these two areas during the Neolithic period.
Life and death in medieval Cambridge
Analysis of more than 300 human skeletons, recovered from three different medieval burial sites across Cambridge, has provided interesting new details of the city’s inhabitants, and the individual risks they may have
Secrets of a Maya sweat bath
Recent research on an intriguing assemblage of artefacts excavated from a Classic Maya sweat bath in Guatemala is revealing new details about ritual activity at the unusual structure. This sweat bath at
Green-fingered finds
Home-improvements and gardening have been on the rise under lockdown in the UK, and, in a few cases, work in the garden has led to archaeological discoveries. One household in the New
Painting prehistoric pigs
A Sulawesi warty pig painted in red ochre on an Indonesian cave wall may be the world’s oldest known representational image of an animal, dating back at least 45,500 years, according to
A pyramid puzzle
A missing piece of wood, one of the three objects collected from the Great Pyramid of Giza by engineer Waynman Dixon in 1872, has been rediscovered in a cigar box in the
Frescoed food-shop unearthed at Pompeii
Recent excavations in the Regio V district of Pompeii have unearthed a well-preserved Roman thermopolium – a hot-food shop – in its entirety. The counter, with a painting of a Nereid (a
Assessing the accessibility of Atxurra
Cave painting is one of the earliest forms of human culture, one of the first outlets of our creativity. But the meaning that these paintings had to the communities who created them
Reviving Ousdale Broch
A recent conservation project has breathed new life into an Iron Age broch in northern Scotland. The Ousdale Broch, just south of Berriedale in Caithness, used to be considered one of the
Caistor Roman Project gets a boost
Caistor Roman Project (CRP) – a community archaeology group centred around the Roman town of Venta Icenorum at present-day Caistor St Edmund in Norfolk – received an unexpected morale-booster in August: an
Evidence of Roman reprisals in Essex?
A recently revealed Iron Age settlement in Cressing, near Braintree in Essex, appears to have been almost completely destroyed during the second half of the 1st century AD. Dating to around the