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The Bayeux Tapestry
Britain has been overcome by Bayeux Tapestry fever (as has CA: see our feature on here and more in Sherds on here) with the famous embroidery returning to British soil for the
Stonehenge: the story of an icon
This Stonehenge paperback will sell, probably deservedly, very well. Its text gives a suitable level of detail, while also reflecting current mainstream (and therefore English Heritage) views, and hence is correctly pitched
Shropshire: art, architecture, and archaeology from Roman Wroxeter to the sixteenth century
The latest in the British Archaeological Association’s regional conference volumes covers Shropshire. The 16 contributions might seem at first sight to concentrate on the county’s best-known Roman and medieval sites – such
The Archaeology of Industrial Cheshire in 20 Digs
The Archaeology of Industrial Cheshire in 20 Digs is a well-illustrated introduction to Cheshire’s industrial past. Each concise chapter combines documentary evidence with excavation results to trace the development of the county’s
Roman Britain in Twenty Towns: a visitor’s guide
The idea of a guidebook is an ancient one – Pausanias’ Guide to Greece is perhaps the first – but these days the idea of wandering around sites clutching a book conveying
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
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.