Review by Bryony Coles The blurb on the back of this book gives an uncommonly accurate description of its contents: ‘a popular science book that tells the story of one of the most important, but least known major archaeological sites in Europe’. Before turning to this story, though, I should…
From a small spindle whorl to an expanse of moorland, there are many objects, individual sites, and entire landscapes in Britain that offer a portal to the past. In her engaging new book, Mary-Ann Ochota is our guide to the archaeology of the country, as she takes readers on a…
The Ness of Brodgar: as it stands Nick Card, Mark Edmonds, and Anne Mitchell (eds) The Orcadian, www.orcadian.co.uk/shop, £35.99 ISBN 978-1912889082 Review CH…
Gloucester: the Roman forum and post-Roman sequence at the city centre H E Hurst Gloucester Archaeological Publications, £25 ISBN 978-0948386022 Review Richard Hodges…
Hillforts of the Tay: community archaeology at Moncreiffe Hill and Castle Law, Abernethy AOC Archaeology Group Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust, £5 ISBN 978-527264052 Review Miles Russell…
Hinterlands and Inlands: the archaeology of west Cambridge and Roman Cambridge revisited Christopher Evans and Gavin Lucas McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, £45 ISBN 978-1902937892 Review Kasia Gdaniec…
Excavations at Chester: the northern and eastern Roman extramural settlements, excavations 1990-2019 and other investigations Leigh Dodd Archaeopress, £30 IBSN 978-1789696271 Review Nick Hodgson…
The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s was one of the most-important religious, political, and social events ever to unfold in England and Wales. This act, and the associated (but separate) Reformation of the Church, brought about fundamental change across the country, in ways which cannot have failed to…
Within the context of burial and ritual, archaeologists have found it near-impossible to understand why mundane objects became the focus for ritual deposition. I suppose it is all too easy to look at anthropology and ethnography to get some of the answers, especially when we look at our own throwaway…
Among the 856 heraldic shields emblazoned on the ceilings of the cloister of Canterbury Cathedral is hidden a story of the social and political history of 14th- and 15th-century England. In this large and intensively researched volume, Paul A Fox sets out to unravel the connections between the families and…
Within its 225 square miles, the Isle of Man boasts an impressively diverse historic landscape spanning some 10,000 years of human activity. In this compact but wide-ranging book, our guide is Matthew Richardson, curator of social history at Manx National Heritage. Travelling chronologically, we begin when humans first arrived on…
Sharing elements with a standard regional study of a hillfort in geographical context, this series of papers is distinctly wider in scope. It is neither underpinned by recent excavation, nor by reassessment in detail of the 1930s interventions. Instead, ten authors tackle three themes in 14 chapters. They examine the…
This volume in the British Archaeological Reports series presents the results of excavations by Archaeological Solutions Ltd in advance of gravel-quarrying on a hilltop next to the Thames Estuary in Essex, just to the south-west of the Mucking ridge, where comparative Bronze Age and Anglo-Saxon occupation is well documented. The…
Published 500 years after the event took place, this book serves as a quincentenary celebration of the legendary first meeting between Henry VIII, the English king (r. 1509-1547), and Francis I, the French king (r. 1515-1547). Known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold, the festivities were held over…
The results of CT imaging on Hatshepsut, Ramesses III, Tutankhamen, and a host of other New Kingdom mummies are revealed in a gripping new book by Zahi Hawass and Sahar Saleem, as Kimberley Watt illuminates.…