Homage to Gallarus Oratory
Fifty years ago, one of the most daring expeditions in modern times left Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula. Tim Severin set out with a crew of three in a curragh – a skin-boat shaped
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From the fringes of the Roman Empire: Locally crafted empires
In our high-speed modern world, it can be easy to forget that the ancient world was experienced at a slower speed. Rubina Raja shares the insights that can spring from exploring the edges of the Roman world on foot.
The plaster casts of Pompeii
The first permanent exhibition of the plaster casts of Pompeii has opened at the Archaeological Park.
Surviving Rome: the economic lives of the ninety percent
Sometime in the 1st century AD, a crass graffiti artist carved a 2m-long graffito into the wall of a stairwell within the House of Julia Felix at Pompeii. The mudslinger didn’t mince
Alexander: god, king, man
Every new book about Alexander the Great needs to have its own unique selling point if it is to fight its way successfully into public consciousness. In the case of Edmund Richardson’s
Travels through Prehistoric Spain: a guide
In Travels through Prehistoric Spain, Jude Brown and Gary Lock provide a richly rewarding and deeply engaging exploration of Spain’s prehistoric heritage. Written with enthusiasm, knowledge, and genuine affection for both archaeology and
War on Film – World War II with Tom Hanks
Taylor Downing reviews the latest film and television releases.
Hammer of the Gods
Don Hollway’s account of the life of the Norse warlord Olaf Tryggvason (king of Norway in the years c.995-1000) covers a period of momentous social and religious change in the lands bordering
Tojo: the rise and fall of Japan’s most controversial World War II general
Hideki Tojo was Japan’s most important policymaker of WWII. As detailed in Gary Bass’s 2023 study Judgment at Tokyo, he was the highest official to face the death penalty at the ensuing
SAS: Great Escapes 5
War correspondent, film producer, and writer: many MHM readers will already know Damien Lewis’s work. In his latest book about British Special Forces, he presents five more hair-raising accounts of WWII escapes.
Why Barbarossa Failed: Germany and Russia in the Second World War
On the face of it, Operation Barbarossa – Nazi Germany’s 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union – is straightforward to understand. Germany was at first strikingly successful, then faltered, and ultimately failed
Siege in Ireland 1641-53
Between 1639 and 1653, the whole of the British Isles was engulfed by civil war. Despite popular opinion, however, it was not pitched battles that dominated the fighting, but sieges. Not for
Beauty and Destruction: wartime London in art
Reviewing the best military history exhibitions, with Peter Popham.
Urban exploration: Revealing Roman and medieval York through ground-penetrating radar
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has been used to great effect to map underlying archaeology on open-area sites, but how well does it perform in urban environments? John Creighton, Thomas Matthews Boehmer, Martin Millett, and Lieven Verdonck describe the trials and triumphs of recent surveys in York’s historic centre.
Go digging!
This month’s selection of summer digging opportunities includes projects from Staffordshire, Stirling, Edinburgh, and Nottinghamshire.
Festival of Archaeology
This month sees a return of the Council for British Archaeology’s annual Festival
of Archaeology, with a wealth of in-person and online events taking place across
the UK in July and August. The theme for 2026 is ‘Archaeology and Nature’.
Here is a selection of regional highlights; for more details of each (including
prices and booking information, where relevant), and to explore the full programme, see http://www.archaeologyuk.org/festival.html.
Grand designs: Exploring the largest ever prehistoric reconstruction at Stonehenge
A huge replica of a Neolithic hall, based on archaeological evidence excavated at Durrington Walls, has opened at Stonehenge. Carly Hilts reports.
Current Archaeology’s July Listings: exhibitions, events, and heritage from home
There are lots of great ways to get involved with history and archaeology over the next few months, including exhibitions, lectures, and conferences exploring a wide range of subjects. If you would prefer to get your heritage fix from the comfort of your sofa, though, there is a variety of resources on offer online, too, from virtual site tours and digital offerings by museums to podcasts, TV shows, and more. Kathryn Krakowka has put together a selection of some of the options available.
Myths on the Edge of Empire: how Classical mythology spread throughout Roman Britain
This book explores an important, new aspect of archaeological interpret-ation that deals with the description and transmission of mythical romanitas. One of the most prominent and novel features of Dr Turner’s study
Mosaics in Britannia
Stephen Cosh, together with his colleague Dr David Neal, are the authors of a truly monumental and authoritative five-volume survey of all the Roman mosaics of Britain, the only province of the
Seeking the Saxon Shore: a guide to the coastal forts of Roman Britain
This new book from Pen & Sword is a most welcome one: many people are familiar with the Saxon Shore forts of east and south-east England, but there has not been a